November 6, 2025
We're proud to celebrate SCARP student Vaidehi Gupta, who was selected to attend the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA)'s Young Leaders Summit (YLS) as a delegate in Montreal this year!
Vaidehi was accepted to participate when she wrote about her volunteering work with Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders and working for UBC Campus + Community Planning in their Sustainable Transportation Department.
On the opportunity, Vaidehi reflected,
This experience aligns with my personal values and promotes a sense of hope and vision for improving transit policy and the lived experiences of individuals.
While at the conference, Vaidehi attended various sessions with engaging speakers, hearing from leaders and planners in transit, urban planning, and mobility innovation. She went on some technical tours to explore the scenes of transit operations across Montréal. A main component of this conference was the Case Competition: they were put in teams and assigned a mentor(s) to brainstorm a question to develop a creative solution to a real-world transit challenge.
Vaidehi's team created the idea to use post-concert and sporting event cases to pitch a feature within an existing transit app, alongside a “best practices toolkit” for transit agencies to give the public more security in transit availability after these events (which won first place in the challenge). As Gupta explained, "My team was supported by our knowledgeable mentors, Denis Agar and Boer Cui, and they gave us helpful insight on scoping of our solution, which included a toolkit for best practices for agencies after large-scale special events!"
There were also multiple networking opportunities, which gave her the chance to connect with transit agencies, industry professionals, and fellow young leaders from across Canada.
What a great way to meet fellow young transit leaders and hear from experienced and dedicated professionals in the industry of transit, planning, + urban mobility!
More about Vaidehi Gupta
Vaidehi Gupta is a second-year MCRP student with interests in planning that range from social and equity-based planning, community engagement to sustainable transportation. From Surrey, she volunteers with many non-profits and grassroots organizations in her own community and serves on the PSA as the External Relations Coordinator. She aims through her work with policy, research, and activism to create cities that are healthy and lively.
Congratulations Vaidehi on this tremendous opportunity, and far more to come!