RTD won the American Public Transportation Association's "Grand Champion" award after scoring the highest combined maintenance team and bus operator score at this week's International Bus Roadeo.
Alas, though this news immediately evoked visions of local bus drivers ripping through an obstacle a lá the 1994 movie Speed for me, RTD did not take top honors in either operation of a 35 foot bus or a 40 foot bus this year.
However, RTD did have a notably strong showing in the maintenance side of things, winning top maintenance team and first place finishes two of eight other subcategories.
RTD beat out 37 other teams participating in the maintenance competition, which "tests mechanics’ abilities to troubleshoot and quickly fix mechanical problems in engine, transmission, brake and HVAC modules," according to a press release from RTD.
Such accomplishments have not yet been memorialized in a Hollywood film, but the closest thing I found to a video homage was this "bus rapping" employee training video from the Southern California Rapid Transit District:
If you had any doubts as to the value of winning a maintenance award, just think about the fact that someone in the Los Angeles transit system saw fit to make a 2 minute and 45 second employee training video on the subject. Albeit because absenteeism was allegedly costing the system $5 million annually.
