Municipal elections to elect mayors and city councillors are coming up on October 17th, 2026. Movement is asking you to pledge to vote for candidates who will push for better transit!
Local governments have some of the most power to fix problems with transit, so we’ve asked candidates to commit to:
- Installing transit priority to make buses faster and more reliable
- Expanding sidewalks and improving bus stops to make bus stops more comfortable
- Increase housing along transit routes to improve access to transit
- Fund transit expansion through new revenue tools to make transit more abundant
- Making transit inclusive and safe with adequate lighting and public washrooms
As the election draws nearer, we will publish the list of candidates who have signed on.
Not sure if you’re eligibile to vote? Check the province’s voter eligibility page.
Why should I vote? Why should I pledge to vote for a transit hero?
The current mayor of Seattle was elected with a margin of 2,000 votes. The percentage was an impossibly tight 50.20% vs 49.47%. Those 2,000 votes set the city on an entirely different course. Your vote in the upcoming municipal election matters.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is a transit hero, who championed bus lanes on a street that the previous mayor refused to touch. That bus route was so slow that local transit activists could actually dance faster than it. Last year, Seattle city staff said bus lanes were impossible because they would cause apocalyptic congestion for cars, extending travel times by up to 34 minutes on this 2 kilometre stretch of road. Did that happen? Of course not.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also a transit hero! He’s speeding up 175 bus routes across New York City, starting with faster buses in the Bronx. We could elect transit heroes here as well, but only if we actually vote!
Ask yourself: has your commute improved or gotten worse in the past four years? Have their been any improvements to your bus stop like a bench or shelter? Is your bus stuck in even more traffic than it used to be? These things are directly impacted by your city government.
By signing the pledge, we are showing candidates that there are lots of people who care about transit this election. This motivates them to take action to make it better, and shows them that transit riders are important votes who they can count on to get elected. Take the pledge to make sure you don’t accidentally miss out on this huge opportunity to make transit better, one that only happens once every four years.
How do I vote?
First of all, check if you’re eligible on the province’s voter eligibility page. Then you should look up the city you live in “information for voters” or “municipal election 2026.” There are municipal elections across all of British Columbia, and there are different ways to vote like vote-by-mail or advance voting, and you need to check your city’s website for information about how your city will run the election, because they are all different. For all cities, you can vote on Oct 17th.
Make sure to pledge to vote for a transit hero so that we can send you reminders and more information about voting!
I signed the pledge, how else can I help elect transit champions?
Amazing! There’s so many things you can do, even if you can’t vote.
Talk to your friends and family about voting. Remember, voter turnout is only 30% for local elections, so chances are there are people in your life who aren’t voting. A lot of the time people just aren’t aware of the impact of these elections, or the large number of candidates makes it difficult for people to find information and make informed decisions.
Talk to candidates about transit. Candidates are showing up to community events and knocking on your door. They want to hear from you! Make sure to ask them about how they plan to make transit better. You can also reach out to them on social media, email, or find them at townhalls and debates.
What exactly is Movement asking municipal candidates to promise to do in the Transit Hero Pledge?
Check out our full list of asks here!
Which candidates have signed on to the Transit Hero Pledge?
Parties and candidates can sign on to all or some of the asks, and we’ll publish the list of who signs on in the coming weeks.
How did Movement create the list of asks for candidates?
The asks are informed by our community members and inspired by our transit network dreams for Burnaby, Vancouver, New West and UBC as well as Surrey and its surrounding area. We’ve done workshops and consultation with diverse groups including non-English speakers, neurodiverse people, youth, and the urban Indigenous population, which has also helped inform our work. Transit riders have different experiences, especially depending on their access to transit, so we can’t speak for all of them, but we do our best. We have an passionate team of volunteers and staff who are transit enthusiasts and transit experts.
If you have any questions, you can reach us at hello@movementyvr.ca.
How does the municipal government affect transit? How is it different from what the provincial or federal government do?
That is an excellent question, we hope we can help clear things up:
Municipal governments (made up of a mayor and council) have jurisdiction over city streets, sidewalks, bus shelters, and land-use planning, so all of these classic transit experiences are controlled by your mayor and councillors:
- Your bus being stuck in traffic because it lacks a bus-only lane or another form of bus priority
- Getting soaked in the rain because your local bus stop lacks a shelter, or standing to wait because there’s no bench
- Depending on a bus that only shows up once an hour because there aren’t enough housing options close to rapid transit
- Having a ton of transfers because major decisions about the transit network being made by people who don’t even take transit
- Needing to use the washroom badly and waiting until you reach your destination because there aren’t enough public washrooms
TransLink’s Mayors’ Council is made up of Metro Vancouver mayors, and they make important decisions shaping the region’s entire transit network, as well as fare increases, other sources of revenue, major projects, and some types of bus priority like all-door boarding. When you cast your vote for a mayor, make sure it’s one who cares about making transit better because they have a lot of extra responsibilities!
(As an aside, Metro Vancouver has four boards that also are made up of Metro Vancouver mayors and councillors, however they don’t have much to do with transit.)
The provincial government provides a big chunk of funding for transit, and they also make the rules that decide what municipalities and TransLink can and can’t do to fund transit or do certain things, like automated enforcement of bus lanes.
The federal government is typically only involved when it comes to funding for major transit projects.
All levels of government affect transit, but arguably the biggest impact happens at the municipal level! And your vote can make a big difference, because this is the level of government with the lowest voter turnout.
I’m a Metro Vancouver Mayor or Council Candidate and I want to sign the Transit Hero Pledge for Candidates. How do I sign?
Yay! We’re so glad to hear that. Please fill out this form.
If you have trouble accessing it, please reach out to hello@movementyvr.ca.