Commuters forced to take transit during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics may be sticking with their SeaBus, SkyTrain or bus now that the Games are over, according to quarterly statistics from TransLink. Revenue ridership -- the number of people that paid to take a TransLink service -- was up a surprising 19.3 per cent in March over the same month in 2009.

The figure doesn't compare to the staggering 50.7-per-cent hike in revenue passengers during the Games in February of 2010, compared to February 2009. But March's total wasn't just inflated by ridership on the new Canada Line, because the ridership in January 2010 was only up 3.1 per cent over January of 2009.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie guessed Friday that at least part of the increase was due to riders from areas such as south Surrey and White Rock -- riders who, anecdotally, were pleasantly surprised by their trip downtown during the Games.

"We're pleased," said Hardie. "That [increase] does probably exceed what we were expecting. We were probably looking overall in the year for maybe a two-to three-per-cent lift in ridership."

Revenue ridership systemwide was 17,988,305 in March and 15,938,397 in January. Both figures are well behind the 22,878,141 figure for February.

Hardie was unable to say how helpful the increased ridership will be to TransLink's bottom line -- or its ongoing funding shortfall for the $1-billion-plus Evergreen Line.

Maureen Bader of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was cautiously optimistic about the figures. "It's good to see that more people are looking at their options," she said. "It will be more interesting to see if the trend continues.

"It may have been a hangover from the Olympics," said Bader, who remains concerned about TransLink's ongoing property-tax take, along with its share of the gasoline tax and parking sales tax. "The underlying problem with Trans-Link is that they got a pile of cash grants from different levels of government to build all kinds of infrastructure. They don't have the revenue to operate that infrastructure without a massive increase in transit ridership that's never going to happen," she said.

"What we as taxpayers need to think about very strongly is whether the Evergreen Line should really go through, given the fact that TransLink is not going to have the funds to operate it."

Although TransLink is raising another $130 million annually out of the Lower Mainland, it doesn't cover its $400-million capital share of the Evergreen Line link to Coquitlam.