CT mechanics rule at ‘roadeo’
Published 10:11 pm Thursday, May 7, 2009
The best bus mechanics in North America come from Snohomish County.
At least that’s the conclusion that could be drawn from Community Transit’s victory in a competition earlier this week with 36 maintenance teams from around the United States and Canada.
The Snohomish County transit agency’s maintenance team of Joe Hulett and Steve Hanks of Everett, and Howard Evans of Stanwood, took top prize in the International Bus Maintenance Roadeo. The event was part of the American Public Transportation Association’s annual Bus and Paratransit Conference in Seattle this week.
The maintenance contest includes seven events that test each team’s knowledge of situations they encounter every day while working on buses.
Defects were put into different parts of the buses for the teams to find and fix. Scores were determined by evaluating speed and number of problems found and fixed, agency spokesman Tom Pearce said. The mechanics also were given a written test.
“Sometimes you see the same problems from year to year in competitions, so you know what to look for,” said Hulett, who has 15 years’ experience with Community Transit. “They didn’t have any of those this year, but all the problems they did have, we’ve seen in the shop.”
Evans has been with Community Transit for 24 years, Hanks for 23 years.
When the points from each event were totaled, Community Transit scored 1,855 points, more than 100 ahead of second-place Omnitrans from San Bernardino, Calif.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
