JÄGER: I tried to cover the election using only public transit — here's what I learned

When now-former premier David Eby called the snap election on September 22, I had mixed emotions.

On the one hand, my team and I were already up to our necks in municipal coverage and another race was the last thing we needed — but on the other, I knew a provincial campaign would bring opportunities to travel.

Back in '24, I had a blast chasing politicians around Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, attending press conferences and rallies in as many different places as possible. Two years on, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to go out and do it all over again.

When the writ dropped, my wife and I found ourselves in Maple Ridge in place of my father and sister, who were visiting family in Germany. My first opportunity to question a candidate in-person came just two days later, on October 24, when David Eby stopped at an industrial training centre just up the way from my parents' house.

I lived in East Maple Ridge for 18 years, but if you're unfamiliar with the area, it's the type of place where transit directions on Google Maps more often than not mirror the walking option one tab over. To TransLink's credit, bus service has improved recently, but it's still limited.

I drove to the presser, only because my other option was walking 20 minutes up to Dewdney and 240th, catching the 749 to 256th, then trekking another 3km north.

On the way back — annoyed I had to focus on the road instead of posting my clips and writing my article — I vowed to try and cover the rest of the election sans automobile.

During our remaining 10 days in Maple Ridge, I bent those rules a little bit; on one occasion my wife dropped me off at a SkyTrain station as she headed to work in Burnaby, and twice I missed the 746 on account of fixing my hair and had to drive to the West Coast Express station.

The campaign was hectic — I learned pretty quick to be ready for anything at any time. On October 6, for example, I hopped on the West Coast Express to cover the BC Conservatives' 10am presser in downtown Vancouver. Just as we rolled into Moody Centre Station, I checked my email and saw the BC NDP had informed me a few minutes earlier that David Eby was holding a media availability of his own in Coquitlam at 9:30am.

I made a snap decision to attend the latter, texted the details of the former to my colleague, and shuffled down the stairs. To my dismay, by the time I got to the doors we had already begun rolling out of the station — next stop: Waterfront.

To add insult to injury, when I returned to my seat, someone had claimed it as their own and even had the audacity to close their eyes upon seeing me to ensure I wouldn't ask for it back.

Unperturbed, I planned my next move as the Tricities gave way to Burnaby, and, eventually, Vancouver. Upon arrival at Waterfront, I made a mad dash for the SkyTrain and hopped on, en route to the place from whence I came. Thanks to what might have been the quickest transfer from Expo to Millennium line of my life, I made it back to Coquitlam just as David Eby was set to start speaking.

Tripod in hand, mics in pocket, I ran (yes, ran) from Lafarge Lake-Douglas station to Town Centre Park and set up right in time for the media question portion of the program. When that was over, I retraced my steps yet again for an event hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade at the Fairmont downtown.

Sitting on the West Coast Express back to Maple Ridge that evening, I thought about how nice it would be if the train ran in both directions all throughout the day. Yes, the Evergreen Extension has been a game-changer — and had saved me just hours earlier — but I knew those commuting to or from east of Coquitlam were hooped if they missed the last trains in the morning or evening.

Boonie-bound transit users will fondly remember the West Coast Express "TrainBus." The coach service, which shuttled passengers from Mission and Maple Ridge westbound twice daily in the late morning, and returned twice in the afternoon and three times later in the evening, was a godsend for those whose schedules didn't match up with the train.

It was sadly sacrificed at the altar of the Evergreen Extension, with those needing to get to Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, and Mission told to forego comfort and take the 701 or R3 RapidBus instead.

But I digress...

On October 6, my father and sister returned from Germany and my wife and I headed home to our West End apartment. Life in the country had been nice, but I was glad to be back in a place where trying to get anywhere without a vehicle wasn't a humiliation ritual.

The following day, BC Greens leader Emily Lowan was in town; press conference at Canada Place in the morning, rally at Dude Chilling Park in the evening. I took the bus to both — with a BC NDP campaign stop at a Filipino restaurant on Commercial in between.

Less than 24 hours later, I found myself in Steveston, a 75-minute Canada Line and bus ride south. The journey was seamless; no complaints.

That evening, I got an email from the BC Greens informing me that West Vancouver-Sea to Sky candidate Jeremy Valeriote would be unveiling the party's tourism and transit platforms in Whistler the next day.

Tourism AND transit ... in Whistler?! Lord knows I wasn't going to miss that. But how to get there? TransLink service only goes as far north as Lions Bay, and there is no bus from that town further up the Sea to Sky, so I went with a private operator, EpicRides — $45 round trip.

In the morning I walked down to Burrard Station and hopped on the bus, remembering the time I overheard tourists from a more advanced nation recoil at the realization there was no train to Whistler nor could a bus ticket to Canada's premier resort municipality be purchased from the Compass vending machines.

At the time, many called me out for suggesting this was "embarrassing" for BC. They argued that we lack the population density and capital to have nice things and should compare ourselves favourably to other Canadian cities. I believe, as much now as then, that we ought to raise the bar a little higher.

As we drove parallel to the tracks I once traversed via train as a child en route to Quesnel with my parents, a sadness washed over me. So much potential, squandered. But why? I added that to my list of questions for Jeremy.

Door to door, it was just over two hours, during which time I was thankfully able to work. Try clipping a presser and writing an article while driving! Actually, for legal reasons, please don't.

I turned out to be the only journalist who made the trek, and as a result, I got to ask one question and six follow-ups. After talking with Jeremy and his team, I left Whistler hopeful that soon the train from North Vancouver would once again roll into the resort town's main station — or that we'd at least see public buses up and down the Sea to Sky.

For a little while, I stayed local; it wasn't until October 16 that I had to leave Vancouver again to cover a presser. That day, BC Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson was at a construction site in Port Moody, conveniently located a 10-minute walk from Inlet Centre SkyTrain Station. Easy!

Two days later, he held an event down at MLA Ian Paton's farm in Delta. Yes, I went — and yes, I had to drive.

The next time I ventured out of Vancouver was October 20. Destination: Sidney. With the campaign winding down, I wanted to make it over to the Island at least once, and that day, Vancouver mayor-elect Pete Fry happened to be holding a joint media availability with Emily Lowan so the former could endorse the latter and the latter could congratulate the former. Perfect!

I headed out shortly after 7am and docked at Swartz Bay at 11am — one Canada Line, one bus, and one ferry later. That's the part of the journey I don't mind; it's the bus ride from Swartz Bay down the peninsula that I'm less thrilled about.

The best way to make public transit attractive is for it to be faster than driving, so why, pray tell, does the only alternative to hopping in a taxi or getting picked up by a buddy take nearly twice as long?

With the amount of people making the journey, you'd think by now there would be a train or at least light rail connecting the Island's busiest ferry terminal to the province's (second) most important city.

It's become a ritual of mine to complain about the bus every time I stand in line — well, only after I've checked to make sure I have cash or recently topped up the virtual card in my Umo app.

Perhaps the only solace is the fact that double-decker buses are pretty neat.

Surrey was a major battleground in the campaign, with David Eby and Lorne Doerkson spending outsized amounts of time in the city. Thanks to my colleague, I managed to avoid heading out there until the final few days. On the morning of October 21, I was out for a walk with my wife in our neighbourhood when I got an email from the BC NDP — presser in Surrey in two and a half hours.

Some quick Google Mapping revealed that I had to leave at that exact moment if I was to have any hope of arriving on time. Begrudgingly, I called my colleague and asked him if we could drive over together. Hey, at least I took the bus down to his place in South Van.

We followed the same procedure for the BC Conservatives' rally the following evening.

On October 23, the last day of the campaign, David Eby held his final presser — again in Surrey. The address on the invite was just a couple blocks away from King George SkyTrain Station. Nice and convenient, right?

Upon arrival I realized, to my confusion, that I was at a Korean church. I called the party's media coordinator and was informed that the address should have had an extra 5 in it, and was actually a few kilometres east. Thankfully a Global News video guy showed up on scene and helped turn what would have been a 27 minute bus ride/walk into a 12 minute drive.

In some ways that was a fitting end to my public transit campaign quest; the system works great if your starting point and destination are along routes established decades ago, but at the end of the day, cars still reign supreme.

Don't get me wrong, I think Metro Vancouver's public transit system is the best in the country, but having done my fair share of travelling, I know how much better it could be. Beyond the Lower Mainland, though, the situation is inexplicably bleak. 

Perhaps the newly-elected government will change that — or perhaps not. That isn't a Conservative/NDP critique, it’s a sober acknowledgement that for whatever reason, most of our elected officials seem incapable of seeing what's possible and working to make it so.

We were once a province connected by rails and sails; our geography required it. At Expo 86, we pioneered transportation technology that was the envy of the world. These days, while others reach for the stars, our politicians sit on their own hands and try to convince us they're tied.

More and more often I find myself feeling like those German tourists at Burrard Station and, as the election results revealed, the majority of British Columbians — frustrated by a province that has for too long been satisfied with mediocrity.

Jarryd Jäger is managing editor and chief reporter at Sitka Media.