St. Albert's bike rack champion is headed to an Edmonton conference this weekend to help shape the future of sustainable transit.
The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) is holding its first-ever regional youth summit on sustainable transportation this Friday through Sunday at the University of Alberta's main campus. Dubbed, "Leading the Way," the conference will draw 54 people aged 18 to 28 from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories to share ideas about walking, cycling, and transit.
CUTA normally holds national summits, says conference spokesperson Dennis Nowicki, but switched to regional ones this year to better address local issues. Delegates will hear from a variety of local experts on how to plan and promote alternative transportation and will get a chance to pitch a transit plan to a "Lion's Lair" of transit celebrities, such as St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse.
Alexa Pendzich, 24, is one of three delegates from St. Albert. Pendzich led a two-year campaign to get bike racks installed on St. Albert's buses.
Pendzich says she's looking forward to working with others at the conference to make green ideas a reality. "I don't own a car, I don't drive and I absolutely love it. I love the freedom of being able to commute on something sustainable."
Seniors need transit systems, says Crouse, who will also speak at the conference, and it's today's youth that will design and build them. "They are the engineers and the decision makers."
Bridging the gap
Transportation accounts for about 32 per cent of St. Albert's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2010 greenhouse gas inventory report from Stantec, and is a major plank in the city's emissions reduction strategy.
Part of that involves getting more people to ride the bus. Ridership dipped by about two per cent last year, according to the 2010 Report on the Environment, after three years of steady growth.
Youth tend to use transit a lot when they go to school, says Dawn Fedorvich, spokesperson for St. Albert Transit and a speaker at the conference, but ditch the bus for cars once they graduate. "It's kind of a cultural thing," she says — we value success and see car ownership as a symbol of success. "We want to find ways to keep [these youth] as long-term users of transit."
Bus rides reduce air pollution and can save people gas, insurance and parking money, Fedorvich says. She hopes conference delegates can help her come up with new ways to get people onto the bus. "This group already has a wealth of knowledge and we hope to tap into it."
Transit officials have to make buses and bikes a hip alternative for young people, Pendzich says. That could mean designer bike racks, for example, or more focus on its convenience. "You can listen to music, read a book and communicate with people. It really helps transform societies."
Pendzich says she hopes to become a bigger part of the sustainability movement in St. Albert, which could mean a job in transit. "I'm really looking to fill a need in our community."
Visit www.leadingthewayyouthsummit.com for details.
