Transit enthusiast turns passion into profession
Transit enthusiast turns passion into profession
Many of us overlook the coolest things in our daily lives because they’re simply always there. One of these things can be transit. A transportation network can shape the lives of the people it serves, and it perhaps subconsciously shaped yours.
Like it did for transit enthusiast Kyle Monda. From a young age, he marveled at buses and trains. Little did he know that later in life, he would be riding the same trains as part of his profession.
If there is an epitome of this year’s I Love Transit theme “Move Beyond,” it’s Kyle’s story. He went from being a transit enthusiast to becoming a SkyTrain Attendant in the summer of 2021.
As a kid, Kyle enjoyed travelling and taking transit. “When I was young, if my mom wanted to do a really fun trip with me, we would take the West Coast Express into town from Maple Ridge.”
As a design and visual arts graduate, he realizes that “we’re influenced by the way our cities are designed and the built environment.” Because of this, his fascination for transit has grown into a desire to learn how transit can reduce a city’s greenhouse gas emissions – a mission TransLink is working towards in our Climate Action Strategy.
Being an ELMTOT
Kyle is a long-time member of the Expo Line Meme TransLink Oriented Teens (ELMTOT), a Vancouver transit online community that started off as a Facebook group in 2018 and has grown to almost 7,000 members. He has been a member since inception.
“I think the group has definitely connected a lot of people who have gone on to influence policy in their own way, who have joined TransLink, who have joined educational institutions, and who have gotten into lobbying.”
This certainly holds true for him now that he is a member of the SkyTrain team.
When he is not assisting customers, Kyle is admiring his favourite view along the Expo Line, particularly the stretch between Commercial–Broadway Station and Main Street–Science World Station. Can you visualize that view?
If you too love transit, why not see if you can turn that into a career with us!
Or simply comment below why you love transit.
Transit in bc is honestly the best in the world! I’ve lived in Seattle and Hong Kong and we’re so lucky to have a transit system that’s so simple and efficient!
Wow!! That’s amazing!! Nice going Kyle!!!
Having visited Vancouver just before the pandemic (August 2019), one of the highlights was its transit system. I loved both Canada and Expo lines, how unique they were and different from each other, having underground style and overground one in the same city is really cool. With buses you could go to any major attraction which was very much appreciated and their next stop announcements were quite distinctive. Finally, I also had the chance to ride the SkyBus to visit North Vancouver and its attractions. Hope to visit it again and why not, live permanently <3
Being a transit enthusiast , I have enjoyed traveling in expo line , millennium line, seabus and west coast express since 2013. I have traveled all the way to mission via west coast express then to abbotsford , then Coquitlam and then back to burnaby. I would always marvel at the views from west coast express and millennium line. Being a transit enthusiast , I also follow some of the missions of translink and latest developments within the company. As ridership increases , people will quit using personal vehicles and thus pollution will reduce. I like the marketing campaign of translink to encourage people to use transit and their safety measures to keep transit safe like texting to transit police , etc have really helped to keep transit secure. Overall , I feel this is one of the best transit systems in the world and skytrain attendants do a fabulous job maintaining presence, doing customer service and responding to emergencies. Being a west coast station attendant , I look up to skytrain attendants because they have to work in a very busy environment with high train frequency.
After visiting Vancouver in August of 2019, just before the pandemic hits, I can say that the city’s public transportation system was a definite high point of my trip. Having an underground system and an overground system in the same city is awesome, and I appreciated how different the Canada and Expo lines were from each other.
He is doing a great job. He deserves some compliments.