C-TRAN - Last Stop on Market school event

Target Audience: The target audience for this entry was primarily elementary school students who could be potential future riders. The event was held at Minnehaha Elementary School in Vancouver, WA, meaning that much of the audience may not currently ride public transportation but could in the future.

Strategy Objective:This was a chance for students to connect the book they read in class with life skills they may already use or could use in the future. The main goal was to provide education about riding public transit, but the challenge was to make it fun and engaging for younger students. To accomplish this, we brought the book to life: we printed scenes from the book and placed them in the windows of the bus and on the outside of the vehicle, changed the head sign to 5 Market (the route from the book), and even brought along an actual C-TRAN bus stop sign with 5 Market Street printed on it. These were simple, inexpensive ways to call back to the material the students read. Everything was created in-house with C-TRAN staff and materials.

Situation Challenge: Minnehaha Elementary School students read The Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, and their teachers asked C-TRAN to bring a bus to the school to go over some essential bus riding tips with the students. C-TRAN embraced the opportunity to recreate the story in a tangible way for students, but relied on entirely in-house materials, equipment and staff at no additional cost.

Results Impact: Many elementary school students may be too young to ride the bus independently but could potentially ride with their families or other people. This event was not only entertaining for the children but also taught them basic bus riding skills to better understand how public transportation works. For many students, it may have been their first exposure to public transportation and has the potential to help shape how they view the service as they grow older. Minnehaha Elementary may also be the first of more to come: After the event, C-TRAN heard from other local schools interested in recreating the same hands-on lesson and experience for their students. We also received hand-written (and drawn) thank you cards from the students at Minnehaha.

Why Submit: This initiative was submitted because it offered a unique opportunity to partner with a local school to educate students in a low-cost yet effective way. It shows stewardship to our community by meeting with students at their school and making our standard travel training more memorable and meaningful to them.