Another I Love Transit week has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the fun stops here. We are thrilled to announce our winners… yes, you read that right, WINNERS of this year’s I Love Transit Camp. Once again, so many amazing entries rolled in for this unique opportunity that we couldn’t choo choo choose just one!

This year, our theme was Connections—the future of transportation in Metro Vancouver. We asked teachers and students to unleash their inner explorer and take learning beyond the classroom. From solar-powered transit vehicles to automated buses, there were no shortage of creative ideas from these up-and-coming transit fans.

Once again, Bowinn Ma, Parliamentary Secretary for TransLink, helped us announce the winner! And this year, we had a dedicated team of TransLink judges to pick a winner.

*drumroll* The winners are…

Mr. Andrews’ Grade 4/5 class from Cape Horn Elementary School in Coquitlam! They rallied together to edit, direct and star in a fun video sharing what they love about transit as well as their vision for the future of transportation in Metro Vancouver. Here’s a summary of their written portion:

Our class feels there will be great changes happening in the future. With the population increasing in the same amount of space (rezoned duplexes), there will be more frequent services, and more SeaBus. Because of the aging population there will be more services for HandyDART and more bus service during peak hours. The Millennium Line will expand to go out even further east. As more communities are connected, there will be an increase in bicycling with the rising fuel costs, so there will be more bike lanes put in. Beside the bike lanes there will be more nature planted like in New Westminster and Burquitlam. Far into the future, there will be underground tunnels like the Boring Company and people will be transported from one city to another in a matter of minutes. SeaBus will be replaced by faster catamarans that are super quiet to not disturb the whale population

And Ms. Szelagowicz’s Grade 3/4 class from Tomekichi Homma Elementary School in Richmond. They dedicated weeks of class time to work on an in-depth group project sharing their love about transit and future vision for the future of transportation in Metro Vancouver through pictures, poems, stories and more! Here’s a summary of their written portion.

We would like to contribute to the future of transit by learning more at transit camp so that we can improve our models of speedy electric trains, hydro-powered buses that self-drive and submarines as well as looking at technology and safety improvements. With air traffic being used by transit in the future we would connect easily to the whole of the Lower Mainland. We, of course, would want transit to always be inclusive of wheelchair users and pet-friendly options. We are so very excited to be a part of the project and ideas for the future!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter our I Love Transit Camp contest! While we could only award two winners for I Love Transit Camp, we loved all of the entries and all of the creativity shared.

Author: Sarah Kertcher