Between June 5 & 11, Thunder Bay’s green commuters walked, cycled, rode transit, carpooled and telecommuted their way to first place for a community with a population between 50,000 and 100,000.
“Thunder Bay is an active and vibrant city and should be proud of their efforts” says City Coordinator Ashley Priem. “The end of Commuter Challenge does not mean that people have to stop being active, carpooling or taking transit. Now that they know how easy these commuting options are, I hope people will consider making a healthy and green choice more often.”
Thunder Bay Commuters logged at total of 25,651 km which helped avoid 4288 kg of CO2 emissions and save 1657 litres of fuel. In addition to improving environmental health, commuters impacted their own health by burning a total of 444,290 calories!
Workplaces with the highest participation rates included the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Sencia, Bay Credit Union, and WSP Canada and all will receive a bike rack for their business for their efforts.
Bike racks were also awarded to businesses who avoided the most CO2 emissions which includes Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, Sencia and Bay Credit Union.
Individual awards were also presented to the commuters who logged the most kilometres biked, walked, carpooled, and by transit. Katrina Mennell from the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, who kayaked to work during the challenge, won the award for most creative commute.
Participation is key to the success of the Commuter Challenge but so is the help and support of Workplace Coordinators throughout the city. Workplace Coordinators are the people who sign up their workplace on the Commuter Challenge tracking site, and then encourage their co-workers to sign up. The Commuter Challenge wrapped up with a celebration and awards ceremony on Wednesday June 15th at the Mariners Hall.
