from Staff
Ramon Farfan won bragging rights as the best overall bus operator in Jacksonville for the second consecutive year, topping nine-time former champion Dennis Collins and 12 others at the 2008 JTA Bus Roadeo held Sunday.
Farfan will join JTA’s champion mechanics team of James Davis, Rick Ballard and Dallas Fisher (winners at a separate mechanics competition held at JTA on January 12) in Tampa next month to determine the best drivers and mechanics in Florida. The state winner will then compete at the International Roadeo later this year in Austin, Texas.
“I am proud of all our winners. Each year, the competition gets better,” said JTA Executive Director and CEO Michael Blaylock. “I was pleased to see operator Ramon Farfan win the competition for the second year. The experience of last year’s competition will make him a strong candidate representing Jacksonville in the state competition.”
The Jacksonville Bus Roadeo challenges the operators on uniform appearance as well as a series of driving maneuvers designed to test the operator’s complete driving ability. Each competing bus operator raced their multi-axle, transit behemoth through several skill-testing categories, including passenger stops, left and right turns and reverses, serpentine driving and off-street obstacles (avoiding barricades). In addition, drivers were recognized for closest to the curb (yardstick award) and identification of bus defects.
Collins finished as first runner-up, followed by Al Doster and then John Abraham. This year’s Rookie of the Year was Larry Britton.
Farfan, who finished third in last year’s state competition, also won two individual honors with the yard stick award and bus defect award.
The maintenance competitors completed a written exam, brake system diagnostics board, HVAC trouble-shooting, bus defect inspection and the engine diagnostics and repair (in which they had 10 minutes to diagnose a problem with a test engine, repair the defect and then start the engine — the engine had seven planted defects and one of the seven disabled the engine).