Queen’s University and the City of Kingston are once again taking part in the Commuter Challenge, a friendly competition between Canadian cities and workplaces to encourage Canadians to take active and sustainable forms of transportation. The challenge rewards walking, cycling, carpooling/ride share, taking transit, and telecommuting. 

The Commuter Challenge ties in with the Queen’s Alternative Transportation Working Group’s goals and objectives to enhance the accessibility, efficiency, and sustainability of transportation at Queen’s. The program will also enhance the culture around sustainability and alternative transportation at the university. This will in turn help to achieve the carbon reductions targeted by the Queen’s University Climate Action Plan.  

The contest takes place from June 5-11 and the Queen’s community can take part by registering via the unique team link, and then logging their sustainable transportation throughout the week. 

Participants walk, run, cycle, carpool or take public transit to work and then log these trips at CommuterChallenge.ca. Each kilometre traveled is tallied on the website, as workplaces and cities go head-to-head in a friendly contest to decrease CO2 emissions. Queen’s last participated in 2019 due to the pandemic with 423 participants, 200 more participants than the year before. In 2019, Queen’s had avoided 5,016 kg of CO2 emissions and saved 2,341 litres of fuel. 

Facilities has two videos, created by StudioQ, to promote transit use and the Transpass Program. The City of Kingston will provide a free month for everyone trying transit. Why not give it a try during the week of the Commuter Challenge?

Roll-in-Breakfast Information

Queen’s will host a Roll-In Breakfast on Tuesday, May 31 in front of the JDUC, at the corner of University Avenue and Union Street, from 7:30 to 9:30 am. Free breakfast and coffee will be available for all individuals who cycle to work as part of Cycle Week (May 29-June 4), organized by Cycle Kingston. 

Watch the Queen's Facilities and City of Kingston Twitter feeds for city-wide events taking place in support of Cycling Week and Commuter Challenge week.

For more information on alternative forms of transportation, please visit the Commuter Services Site.