USU drivers place in rodeo
Aggie Shuttle bus drivers participarted in the bug bus category of the Urban and Rural Specialized Transportation Association (URSTA) bus rodeo in Salt Lake City on Sept. 30.
Shuttle drivers Sarah Murray and Lance Hunter took second and third, respectively,
USU participants attended the URSTA conference and rodeo on Sep. 29 and 30, along with peers from the Logan Transit Disrict (LTD) and Cache Valley Transit District (CVTD). The conference is for groups of transportation providers throughout Utah and has been attended by Aggie Shuttle drivers since its conception more than 20 years ago.
Murray, who is pursuing a master’s degree in history, and Hunter, an electrical engineering major, competed against other drivers from UTA, Park City Transportation and other agencies in a written test, a wheelchair-loading contest, a vehicle inspection and a driving course.
“The driving contest is by far the funnest,” Hunter said.
“It is the part you worry about the most in practice, ” Murray added. “I was really surprised I even took second. In four years, Lance (Hunter) has always beat me, and when they called his name for third, I thought I just didn’t place.”
The course consists of basic maneuvers, such as backing up, stopping the bus and changing lanes, as well as more extraordinary parts like a cone slalom. The cones could range from a couple of feet wider than the bus or only a couple of inches.
“We just had to try and see how many we didn’t knock over,” Hunter said.
“They are both excellent drivers; I’m proud of both of them, ” said Alden Erickson, transportation supervisor at USU.
The Aggies have placed in the top three at least six times in the last five years of the bus rodeo, along with first-place fnishes two years in a row, 2006 and 2005, from an LTD/CVTD driver. This year the winner was Jeff Spruance, who has been driving for the company for more than four years.
Spruance is a member of the Safety Solutions team, which is a small group of LTD/CVTD employees that meet monthly to discuss safety concerns. He also trains new drivers behind the wheel.
“Jeff is an amazing guy and an awesome employee. If all my employees were like Jeff, I’d just be a blue-collared accountant,” said LTD/CVTD supervisor Nathan Coates.
Erickson said Spruance, Murray and Hunter’s placements, “Speak very highly not just of USU, but of Cache Valley as a whole.”
Spruance will attend the national bus rodeo in Reno, Nev., sponsored by the Commercial Transportation of America Association, in May 2007, as Utah’s representative. The CTAA is a national lobbyist group for transportation needs.
The local contestants that attended URSTA were chosen through a rodeo between LTD/CVTD and Aggie Shuttle earlier this year with the same categories and guidelines as the statewide one.
“The fact that we compete against some of these bigger agencies and place speaks volumes about the caliber of drivers we have,” Erickson said.
-chelseyg@cc.usu.edu