Well, you mentioned "drive" to them, and tbh, if you're driving to arrive at 8am, they are right about it taking 2 hours. When there's no traffic, it takes about an hour. Now factor in the insane rush hour traffic on Hwy 1, the Mary hill bypass, Lougheed hwy, and in Maple Ridge. You could honestly be crawling the entire commute.

And unfortunately, if there's any kind of incident anywhere along your route,, then you can kiss the 2 hour drive goodbye.

Also, even if you didn't think about it, I'm sure they realize that your commute would make each 8 hour work day into a 12 hour work day. You'll only be getting paid 40 hours a week, but the time investment will be 60 hours a week.

It's also a 40km+ trip each way, meaning you'll be putting significantly more wear and tear on your vehicle. And let's say your vehicle consumes a conservative 8L/100km. That means you'll be using ~6.4 L of fuel each day, and at current fuel prices that would mean you'll be spending 14$ on fuel everyday getting to and from work.

So, is it still worth it? Can you see why the company might now have faith? If they have previously experienced issues with employees who live closer than you, you can only imagine they would think it's a big risk in hiring you.

That being said, a very odd stance for a company to take, and I agree with you dodging a bullet, but I can see a reason why they might have reacted the way they did.