Talk about a road test: OCTA’s Roadeo puts bus drivers and mechanics through their paces

Drivers of the 40-foot blue and orange buses skillfully maneuvered around orange cones, making sharp turns and backing up, and then drove between two rows of barrels before coming to a quick stop.

Oh, and to increase the challenge, the rows narrowed, and the driver was supposed to go 20 mph, pretty fast for conditions.

One driver called the barrels the toughest part of the Orange County Transportation Authority’s Roadeo.

Saturday marked the 40th year for the annual event, a competition that honors one bus operator and one mechanic for their professionalism.

The OCTA challenged its coach operators to test their driving skills during the timed obstacle course and its maintenance workers to show off their particular repair knowledge.

“There’s a lot of pride with our drivers,” said Darrell Johnson, OCTA chief executive officer, as he stood watching the buses pull up to the start line at the Santa Ana transit service base. “It creates an internal competition to see who is the best.”

The eight participating drivers were from the Garden Grove and Santa Ana bases and had several years of experience behind the wheel. Selected by their managers, they had to possess a record free of reported accidents, disciplinary action and customer complaints.

Judges were stationed on the obstacle course to score the smoothness of stops and the distance between a parked bus and the curb, not to mention the drivers’ appearance. Their uniforms must be in good condition: Shirts must be ironed and tucked in, and pants should fit, nothing slouchy.

Competitor Al Valenzuela, who is based at the Garden Grove bureau and has been driving for OCTA for 30 years, has competed in the Roadeo four times and is a former winner.

He said the toughest event is the barrels.

“It’s like a big puzzle,” Valenzuela said. “You have to position the bus just right and it’s pure concentration.”

As the eight drivers battled it out on the course, 12 maintenance workers in a separate area tackled a series of mechanical problems.

Just for fun, three OCTA administrative staff members whose names were picked out of a lottery, and who had about a week of training, took the wheel.

They did not demonstrate much ease in weaving through the serpentine course and executing sharp right turns.

Sara Meisenheimer, who works in transit, knocked over traffic cones and dragged them under the bus.

When she parked, her driving coach leaped out of the double doors and kissed the ground.

As judges tallied scores, drivers and their families headed over to the company’s carnival, where they could eat lunch, play games and build camaraderie.

In the driving category, first place was awarded to coach operator Darvy Traylor of Irvine. Traylor, who is based in the Santa Ana department, had placed first in 2013. Felipe Michel, a 2010 Roadeo winner from the Santa Ana office, took second, and Freddie Guerrero, also of the Santa Ana office, took third. Guerrero was the reigning champion last year.

The maintenance team from the Santa Ana department placed first, which will send Ray Consiglio, Ernie Booe and Patrick Courchaine to represent OCTA at the national American Public Transit Assn. competition in May in Charlotte, N.C.

Traylor will join the three in the national competition.

“It’s apart of our business to have quality drivers,” Johnson said. “It’s nice to reward our best.”