BC Transit

In 1896, the Consolidated Railway Company was formed, taking over ten other companies engaged in electric light rail systems, or tramways, and electric lighting in Vancouver, Victoria, and New Westminster. The following year, in 1897, the BC Electric Railway was incorporated to take over the property and business of the Consolidated Railway Company. In the 1930s and 1940s, the electric streetcars and interurban trams were converted to trolleybuses and gas-powered buses, as part of the BCER's "From Rails to Rubber" program. In 1961, the province took over the BCER through the BC Hydro Act, forming the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority as a crown corporation.

In 1979, the province's Livable Region Plan led to the transfer of transit responsibilities to three agencies: the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) was to be responsible for transit policy and planning; the Urban Transit Authority (UTA), to represent provincial government interests in public transit; and the Metro Transit Operating Company (MTOC), a separate crown corporation that took over operations from BC Hydro. The new structure was meant to provide local governments with more decision-making power and funding of their local systems.

In 1983, BC Transit was created when the province merged the UTA and MTOC, removing the role of GVRD. Regional transit commissions were created in Vancouver and Victoria, tasked with approving local tariffs, planning, and some funding.

In 1999, the responsibility for the transit system in Greater Vancouver was reassigned to TransLink, which had been founded a year earlier. The rest of BC still remains under BC Transit.

In 2000, BC Transit became one of the first transit systems in North America to use double-decker buses, which were also low-floor.

After Greyhound Canada ended all services in western Canada, BC Transit began the operation of BC Bus North, its first dedicated intercity buses in Northern British Columbia, in 2018.

In 2019, to address rising concerns of driver safety, the installation of driver safety doors on all buses began. The first bus with this modification was in Victoria.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, BC Transit went to a province-wide free-fare operation and required boarding through the rear door of buses with multiple doors. This lasted just over two months, with fares and front-door boarding resuming on in June of the same year.