The Commuter Challenge gets a re-fresh from InceptionU ahead of Canada Environment Week
Kathryn Winkler has always been an avid cyclist. Combining her love of cycling, care for the environment and interest in technology, she enrolled at InceptionU in the fall of 2023.
This is the 30th year Kathryn has been leading the Commuter Challenge - a volunteer passion project. These days, she envisions a new future for the initiative. The hope is that a team of InceptionU student developers will be able to update and refresh the software.
The Commuter Challenge website allows participants to track kilometres, calories burned, fuel saved and their carbon footprint. It gamifies sustainable commuting allowing participants to see their total impact in real time.
The Commuter Challenge started in the early 90’s with data collection for the challenge used checkmarks, spreadsheets and fax machines to send results around to participating workplaces. Working in IT during her day job, Kathryn knew there was a better way.
Through a grant from the Climate Action Fund the challenge was automated and was launched as a national program. The challenge grew in popularity as it motivated companies with awards based on which company had the highest percent participation of sustainable commuters. Sustainable commuting included anything that wasn’t a single-occupant vehicle - walking, cycling, teleworking and carpooling.
Over time the software has became out of date, needs improvements, upgrades and a refresh.
After meeting InceptionU co-founder Greg Hart at an urban design event, she learned about the Tech Adjacent program. She registered in the fall of 2023 in the Lean Sales pathway - the hope was that she could hone her sales skills to get the Commuter Challenge generating revenue.
Then, she could focus on paying for website re-development.
While enrolled at InceptionU, she learned about the MVP project where local companies are selected to work with a team of student developers who will build or re-design websites. The companies can access over 2,000 development hours (for a nominal fee) as part of their project work - it’s a win-win for the companies and the learners.
She submitted her project idea and was grateful that it was selected by a team of four rockstar developers - Alejandro Meixueiro Pastrana, Rafiq Lightwala, Ceejy Singh and Obroh Oghenerie.
Their enthusiasm for the project was infectious.
As part of her commitment to the project, Kathryn got involved in the agile process by functioning as the product owner and worked closely with the professional scrum master, had daily stand-up meetings with the team, offering feedback and guiding them on her vision.
In just six short weeks, they started the project using a new dev stack and designed a long-needed module to the system. The team used JavaScript, REACT and MongoDB database.
Check out this video which explains their project.
She is currently trying to find new funding so she can hire the team full-time and they can continue working on the project.
“I’m excited to see the project get new life after it took a few hits such as the oil downturn in 2015 and then the pandemic. The team members that stayed on are very passionate about the project and I think that we’re ready to take the next big leap. The Commuter Challenge is more relevant than ever. It can become an international movement that promotes behaviour change,” says Kathryn.
She dreams of a day where sustainable commuting isn’t just a choice, but a way of life.
Interested in joining the Commuter Challenge? It runs June 2-8 during Canadian Environment Week and workplaces and individuals can register at commuterchallenge.ca. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to Kathryn at:
