Over the weekend of May 20-24, Phil Davis, Marcel Longmire and Hugo Villarreal competed against maintenance teams from the United States and Canada to diagnose and repair planted problems on transit buses. The event took place at the International Bus Roadeo, which was held in Memphis, Tenn. as part of the American Public Transportation's annual Bus and Paratransit Conference.
Davis, Longmire and Villarreal were challenged to identify various problems in electrical, air brake and air-conditioning systems as well as total bus operating systems, and through their efforts they were able to claim first place in the competition.
VIA's maintenance team also competed in the Texas State Bus Roadeo in April. In this event, they competed against teams from Austin, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, Houston, and Longview, and they prevailed over all of them to become the best maintenance team in the state, earning them a trip to the international competition in Memphis.
