AC Transit Team Repeats As ‘Best of the Nation’s Best

Press Releases
10/01/2001

(Oakland, CA) AC Transit’s team took “Best of the Best” honors again this year – for the third year in a row – in the 26th annual American Public Transportation Association (APTA) International Bus Roadeo, held Saturday in Philadelphia. Mechanics James Souza, David Splan and Eduardo Villareal, who finished in first place in both the local and Northern California regional roadeos, earned a top total score of 1,492 points in this year’s national event, outperforming competitors from more than 50 North American transit systems. Hayward Division Operator Jesse de la Cruz, the transit industry’s 1999 and 2000 national champion, finished 24th in this year’s field of more than 70 topnotch contenders from across the nation. Like all entrants in APTA’s annual competition, de la Cruz and AC Transit’s three-member team of mechanics earned the right to vie again for national honors by achieving high scores in the District’s local Year 2001 Roadeo and in the Northern California regional competition. At the national level, the combined scores gained by AC Transit’s operator and mechanic team on APTA’s roadeo score board totaled 161 points – a level of performance matched only by the contenders from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in Philadelphia, who shared center-stage with the District during this year’s awards ceremony. Our team’s “Best of the Nation’s Best” honors, derived from the combined Operator and Maintenance competition score, once again puts AC Transit’s roadeo performance atop the list of first-rate contenders representing 50 of the nation’s major transit systems.