BC Transit offers free rides in 31 communities on provincial election day, October 24
BC Transit will waive fares on Saturday, October 24 in 31 of the 48 communities it serves, including Campbell River, Nanaimo, Prince George, Kamloops and Victoria.
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BC Transit will waive fares in 31 of the 48 communities it serves on provincial election day, Saturday, October 24, 2026, according to CHEK News. The free rides also cover handyDART service.
Local government partners in each community decide whether to participate. Of the 48 communities BC Transit operates in, 31 chose to offer free fares on election day.
Communities with free transit on October 24
CHEK News lists the following 31 communities:
Bella Coola, Campbell River, Central Fraser Valley (Abbotsford and Mission, excluding interregional Route 66 FVX), Chilliwack (excluding Route 66 FVX), Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley (excluding interregional routes 66 CVX, 99 SVX and 70 NCX), Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Hazelton (excluding interregional routes 163 and 164), Kamloops, Kitimat (including Skeena regional routes), Merritt, Mount Waddington, Nanaimo (excluding interregional Route 70 NCX), Pemberton, Port Alberni, Port Edward, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Quesnel, Revelstoke, Salt Spring Island, Smithers (Routes 22 and 23, plus free curb-to-curb service), South Okanagan-Similkameen (Penticton local routes only), Squamish, Vernon (local routes only), Victoria, West Coast Transit, West Kootenays, Whistler and Williams Lake.
Not all routes are free in every community. CHEK News reports several route exclusions, which are listed in the sources section.
handyDART included
The free fare also applies to handyDART service, CHEK News reports. If you use handyDART and live in one of the 31 communities on the list, your trip to and from the polls will be at no cost on October 24.
How to vote on October 24
Voting day is Saturday, October 24, 2026. You can find your polling place and confirm your voter registration at elections.bc.ca. If you want to vote before election day, advance voting is open through October 21 at locations across British Columbia. Candidate and party profiles for the BC provincial election are at /bc/provincial-2026/news.
Questions this story answers
Which BC communities have free transit on election day, October 24?
CHEK News reports BC Transit will offer free rides in 31 communities on October 24, 2026. The list includes Bella Coola, Campbell River, Central Fraser Valley (Abbotsford and Mission, excluding interregional Route 66 FVX), Chilliwack (excluding Route 66 FVX), Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley (excluding interregional routes 66 CVX, 99 SVX and 70 NCX), Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Hazelton (excluding interregional routes 163 and 164), Kamloops, Kitimat (including Skeena regional routes), Merritt, Mount Waddington, Nanaimo (excluding interregional Route 70 NCX), Pemberton, Port Alberni, Port Edward, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Quesnel, Revelstoke, Salt Spring Island, Smithers (Routes 22 and 23 only, plus free curb-to-curb service on election day), South Okanagan-Similkameen Penticton local routes only, Squamish, Vernon (local routes only; Route 1 is free for riders boarding within Vernon), Victoria, West Coast Transit, West Kootenays and Whistler and Williams Lake.
Is handyDART free on provincial election day?
Yes. CHEK News reports that the free transit on October 24 also applies to handyDART service in the participating communities. If you use handyDART and live in one of the 31 communities on the list, your ride to and from your polling station will be at no cost on election day.
Who decides whether a community offers free transit on election day?
According to CHEK News, local government partners make the decision in each of the communities BC Transit serves. BC Transit operates in 48 communities in total. Thirty-one of those communities chose to offer free fares on October 24, 2026.
Does my community have free transit on election day?
The 31 communities listed by CHEK News are the ones with free transit on October 24. If your community is not on that list, check with your local transit provider, as some communities have their own transit systems that are not run by BC Transit. Your polling place is listed at elections.bc.ca.
When is provincial election day in BC?
The BC provincial general election is on Saturday, October 24, 2026. Advance voting is open from October 16 to 21 at voting places across the province. You can register to vote and find your polling place by visiting elections.bc.ca. Voters must be 18 or older and a Canadian citizen to vote in the provincial election. If you are not sure whether you are registered, Elections BC lets you check online.
Are there exclusions to the free transit offer?
Yes. CHEK News notes several route exclusions. In Central Fraser Valley and Chilliwack, interregional Route 66 FVX is not free. In Cowichan Valley, interregional routes 66 CVX, 99 SVX and 70 NCX are not free. In Hazelton, interregional routes 163 and 164 are not free. In Nanaimo, interregional Route 70 NCX is not free. In Smithers, only Routes 22 and 23 are free, plus curb-to-curb service on election day. In South Okanagan-Similkameen, only Penticton local routes are free. In Vernon, only local routes are free, and Route 1 is free only for riders boarding within Vernon.
Was free transit also offered on municipal election day?
Yes. CHEK News notes that the prior Saturday, October 17, also had free transit for municipal elections in 34 communities. The October 24 provincial election day offer covers 31 communities, which is a different set. If you rode free on October 17 for the municipal vote, you should check the October 24 list again, as not all communities that participated on October 17 are on the October 24 list, and the two sets are decided separately by local government partners.
Where can I find my polling place for the October 24 provincial election?
You can find your polling place and confirm your registration at elections.bc.ca, the Elections BC website. Advance voting is open from October 16 to 21. Candidate profiles for your provincial district are at /bc/provincial-2026/news.
Sources
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