Who We Are
We are a group of transit riders, professionals, and enthusiasts fighting to make transit better in Metro Vancouver.
Anyone is welcome to join the fight – we need your help! Consider joining our mailing list or donating.
Staff

Denis Agar
(he/him)
Executive Director
About Denis
Denis is a passionate believer in the power of public transit to improve lives. Originally from a small town in Eastern Ontario, he eventually figured out what “urban planning” was and has been obsessed with it ever since. He landed his dream job at TransLink in 2013, and it was there that he came to understand how desperately this region needed an organized group of transit riders. He witnessed multiple instances where powerful opponents of bus lanes and transit funding kept winning in Vancouver, while organized transit riders in other cities like Miami and New York were turning the tide. He quit in 2023 to work on the concept full-time with some of the passionate volunteers listed above.

Michelle Scarr
(she/her)
Director of Operations and Strategy
About Michelle
Michelle really got to know the transit system in Metro Vancouver during her 1.5 hour per direction bus-skytrain-bus commute between her hometown Burnaby and UBC. She graduated with a math degree, and then moved to a walkable, central neighbourhood in Ottawa and worked for the federal government for a few years. She returned to the transit-lacking suburbs of Metro Vancouver in 2021, and since then has worked on various political campaigns and advocacy groups (like Movement) that aspire to build equitable, sustainable, and safe cities. She is inspired by the intelligent, hardworking and dedicated volunteers and friends she’s met in pursuing this cause, and truly believes that we can and we will make transit way better.

Aman Chandi
(she/her)
Director of Community Engagement
About Aman
Aman grew up in a walkable, transit-oriented part of Vancouver. For years she refused to get her driver’s licence, after losing her grandfather in a car crash. Aman’s family later moved Surrey where her movement was restricted by cars, she had no choice but to drive. Aman is a creative and passionate advocate, over the past decade, she developed broad expertise in social planning, community engagement, project management, knowledge mobilization, visual thinking, and facilitation. Aman serves on the board of Women in Urbanism Canada and is also the co-founder of Méla, a grassroots initiative dedicated to planning and co-creating affirming and joyful public spaces that honour multiple intersectional cultures in urban space.

Nav Sharma
(he/him)
Program Coordinator
About Nav
Nav Sharma is a marketing professional with a strong interest in all things urban. He is involved with several groups and projects promoting better public safety, accessibility, land use, and transportation options for all. Nav’s fondest early memories were the SeaBus and SkyTrain rides with his grandparents to Lonsdale Quay from White Rock where he grew up. Living in a number of different suburbs in his youth, he quickly learned how his quality of life reflects the urban landscape. By age 12, Nav was learning and creating in the digital marketing space for non-profit and local business. With Movement, he brings his digital marketing education, experience and passion for all things urban to promote improvements to public spaces and places, connecting needs of community with local economy.

Will Dawson
(he/him)
Program Coordinator
About Will
Will Dawson’s interest in public transportation comes from both an interest in environmental policy and moving to Vancouver from an American suburb. He has fallen in love with Vancouver since moving here at an impressionable age, eager to find ways to expand the things that make the city great. His advocacy with Movement begins after one too many times being stuck in traffic while riding the 49 bus to university. Will has since graduated from UBC and hopes to get further involved with both transit planning and environmental science. Will is working to support a stronger transit system and improving the lives of transit riders across the region.

Hafsah Dastgir
(she/her)
Program Coordinator
About Hafsah
Hafsah Dastgir is passionate about youth engagement and public transit justice, especially in racialised communities like Surrey, where she grew up. Seeing firsthand how limited transit and a lack of public spaces isolate youth and newcomers shaped her commitment to building more accessible cities. Her work is grounded in the belief that equitable mobility is key to community power. Hafsah will be pursuing a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning at UBC this fall, where she hopes to develop a skill set to create a more equitable and accessible city.

Sam Paterson
(she/they)
Program Coordinator
About Sam
Sam Paterson is a community organizer, storyteller, and lifelong transit rider based in Vancouver. With a background in community engagement, event planning, and creative communications, they bring both lived experience and a deep commitment to accessible, equitable transit. At Movement, Sam works to empower riders—especially those from equity-deserving communities—to connect with decision-makers and advocate for a system that works for everyone.

Er Jun Ma
(he/him)
Program Coordinator
About Er Jun
Er Jun is an advocate for improving transportation in communities—from more reliable, resilient, and faster public transit, to safer and more enjoyable infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, and others on wheels, to shifting the focus from cars to humans. His time growing up in car-dependent suburban Toronto and Vancouver, where his mobility was constrained by unreliable, infrequent, slow, and sparse transit service, and his time at UBC, where he spent over three hours each day commuting by transit to and from class, were the sources of his frustration and the catalysts for his advocacy. As a Political Science and Urban Studies student, he worked with various community organizations to champion these issues to elected representatives at all levels of government. Er Jun also joined the Engagements and Partnerships team at UBC CAPACity, an urbanism- and urban planning-centred student club to create spaces for learning, connecting, organizing, and career development. He had the opportunity to visit cities in East Asia, where he saw the widespread political support for transit across and its ability to move more people, faster, to more places, all while improving the equity and livability of cities. With the hard work of volunteers and supporters, he is confident that this is also possible in Metro Vancouver.

Rachel Ruecker
(she/her)
Program Coordinator
About Rachel
Rachel Ruecker has been taking the bus since the first day of grade 8 back in 2010 and has not looked back. When university took her to New York City, a city where public transit is the de facto mode of transportation, she began nerding out on transit and why it can’t be better. Since her return to Vancouver she has embraced full numtot status and is the transit app IRL amongst her friends. As a comedian and writer, she is fascinated by third spaces and the ways in which communities are built, and, of course, the role robust public transit infrastructure plays in that. As a storyteller she is interested in the stories that can and can’t get told at the expense of effective transit. Who gets to work in the city? Who gets left behind because of a lack of transportation? She also loves romanticizing her 2 a.m. bus ride back to the burbs every night after performing stand up.

Ravjot Sarao
(she/her)
Program Coordinator
About Ravjot
Ravjot is studying finance at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is excited by exploring how to channel community capital into impact-first organizations. She has close ties to Surrey, as she lived there before moving to Ontario for university. Ravjot is particularly interested in working to increase transit access and efficiency due to its instrumental role in the student community, and also as a tool to expand economic access for a majority of the population while contributing to a cleaner and safer society. Before joining Movement, Ravjot worked with youth-led organizations that studied the key issues plaguing Canadian youth today, which exposed her to the value of accessible transportation in underserved communities. She is looking forward to building on this knowledge through actionable initiatives with the team at Movement.

Suki Pan
(she/her)
Program Coordinator
About Suki
As someone who survived daily rush hour commutes from Richmond to UBC, Suki understands firsthand how unreliable transit creates real barriers, especially for students, essential workers, and low-income residents. Now she channels that experience into advocating for transit systems that are fast, frequent, and fair. Suki combines her research on sustainable transportation with practical advocacy skills. Her experience at GLOCAL Foundation and UBC gave her a unique understanding of how transit intersects with Vancouver’s critical issues like housing affordability, climate action, and community wellbeing. Through strategic digital engagement, she hopes to turn everyday transit riders into powerful advocates. When not working to improve our transit systems, she’s probably exploring Vancouver’s cafe scene in search of the perfect latte.
Volunteers
We love our volunteers! Here are just a few of them, there are many more who aren’t on the website. If you’d like to join us, please fill out the volunteer intake form.

Ahasan Bhuiyan
(he/him)
Organizer
About Ahasan
Ahasan is an engineering student at Simon Fraser University and an advocate for better public transit planning. He is interested in researching transportation accessibility and policies that support multimodal trips using public transit. He resides in Surrey and is usually the chair for our monthly volunteer meetings.

Vincent Chiu
(he/him)
Organizer
About Vincent
Vincent was exposed to the possibilities of excellent urban planning, design and mixed-mode transportation networks when he worked for the Dutch for 3 years as part of a sustainable urban development innovation centre. As a transit-rider since he was 15, and later becoming a frequent cyclist, he is one of the many people who know first-hand the importance of a well-funded public transportation system.As a transit-rider since he was 15, and later becoming a frequent cyclist, he is one of the many people who know first-hand the importance of a well-funded public transportation system.

Arden English
(he/him)
Organizer
About Arden
Arden is an undergraduate student studying planning at Simon Fraser University. He also produces educational videos on his YouTube channel “The Greater Discussions” covering topics around city planning and transportation within the context of British Columbia. Having grown up in a suburban, car-centric city in Metro Vancouver that lacked sufficient public transit, he uses this personal experience to fuel his advocacy for better transit options around the region. He believes anyone should be able to get to where they need to be in the quickest way possible, no matter the method they choose to get there.

Michael Hall
(he/him)
Organizer
About Michael
Michael grew up in Surrey and graduated from UBC with a degree in oceanography. After graduation he set off to hike the 2,660-mile Pacific Crest Trail, he learned to trust that even if you can’t see progress being made, if you are putting in work step by step then results will abound. He loves living in Uptown New Westminster where he is reminded that sharing space with others makes for a fruitful and vibrant community. Volunteering with Movement he hopes to impart what he learned on the PCT by always being reminded that even if you can’t see change happening, if you continue to advocate and put in effort, then, slowly, change will happen. He loves photography, works as an environmental scientist, and loves the 106 bus!

Gen
(she/they)
Organizer
About Gen
Gen is a proud transfem transit user and enthusiast who firmly believes that the transit system can be improved and increase transit mode share at the same time. Coming from Hong Kong, she has been riding transit since a young age and has been passionate about it ever since. In her free time, Gen helps advocate for better transit while studying to (hopefully) become a transit planner.

Sam Jeong
(he/him)
Organizer
About Sam
Sam is a recent graduate from the Urban Studies program at UBC. He first joined Movement after being frustrated about being stuck on the bus in his very own neighbourhood of Kerrisdale, and is currently strategizing on engaging the community on improving reliability along the 41st Avenue corridor. After graduation, he hopes to be working on transportation planning and lowering barriers to provide accessible public engagement. His favourite restaurant is Pho Mimosa and Pholicious, and he thinks they should be your favourite too (no pressure).

Angela Kim
(she/her)
Organizer
About Angela
Angela Kim is a lifelong transit rider, her work as an advocate with Movement began with the Save The Bus campaign. Making engaging short videos on social media to explain and promote the campaign. Once a computer science major, she fell in love and changed her education path after taking an urban planning course as an elective. She is an involved community advocate in New Westminster, working to build an equitable city as an advocate and as an urban planner.