CT team places third in championship

From left, Community Transit’s team Steve Hanks, Howard Evans and Joe Hulett finished third in the International Bus Maintenance Roadeo. The mechanics wanted to go and compete so bad that they paid their own way to Cleveland. Champions always want to defend their title. Unfortunately, with the budget cuts Community Transit has dealt with recently, the agency had no budget to send its 2009 International Bus Maintenance Roadeo championship team to this year’s competition.

But Community Transit mechanics Howard Evans, who lives in Stanwood, and Steve Hanks and Joe Hulett wanted to go bad enough that they offered to pay their own way to the competition.

They made the most of it, too, with a third-place finish out of 25 teams at the 2010 International Bus Maintenance Roadeo, part of the American Public Transportation Association’s annual Bus and Paratransit Conference last week in Cleveland.

“We are all extremely proud of Howard, Steve and Joe. It’s quite an accomplishment to finish in the top three two years in a row,” said Community Transit CEO Joyce Eleanor.

“Our roadeo teams always put in a lot of their own time to get ready for the event, but the fact that they were willing to cover the costs as well makes this high finish even more special for them.”

The team members have a lot of experience: Evans has been with Community Transit for 25 years; Hanks, of Everett, has been with the agency for 24 years; and Hulett, also of Everett, has put in 16 years.

The Maintenance Roadeo is designed to test teams on skills they use every day in the shop. It consists of seven challenges: a written test, a bus inspection, two engine-transmission combinations, a brake system, a heating-air conditioning system and an electronic controls system. The challenge to the team is to find defects in the six hands-on challenges. Evans, Hanks and Hulett had the top overall score in the written test and tied for the highest score in the electronic controls system.

They had the secondhighest score on the brake system and third highest in air conditioning. The team ended up with a total score of 1,575 points. LYNX from Orlando, Fla., won the competition with 1,642.5, and VIA Metropolitan Transit of San Antonio, Texas, finished second with 1,622.5.

Of the 25 teams competing in the Maintenance Roadeo, Community Transit’s team was the only one among the top 10 that is not a large urban transit provider.

For Community Transit information call 425-353- RIDE or 800-562-1375 for bus information, or (888) 814-1300 for carpool or vanpool information, or go to www.communitytransit.org.