DTA Drivers Take Top Honors At MN State Bus Rodeo

Once again Duluth Transit Authority members represented our region with some impressive skills at the 2021 Minnesota State Bus Roadeo in St. cloud last weekend. Duluth Bus Operators Paul Mattson and Rick Roser competed in the competition at the St. Cloud University Campus on July 10 and took home some top prizes.

Paul Mattson won first place, and Rick Roser took third. Both of them have been top three winners in past years. In 2018, Paul Mattson won first place when the competition was held in Duluth.

Duluth Transit Authority

So what exactly is a Bus Roadeo? Here's a great video of what the competition looks like from a drone perspective and also the driver's view.

The driving event is designed to test the skills of bus operators. Exercises include obstacle avoidance, turning skills, parking precision, closing distance, and other things a bus driver encounters in daily driving. If you've seen buses trying to navigate through the downtown Duluth construction in the last few years, you definitely know how important these skills are.

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There is a large bus competition division and also a small bus competition. There were 11 large bus competitors and 15 small bus competitors this year in 2021. There was not a competition in 2020 because of COVID-19. You can see past winners on the MPTA website.

Duluth Transit Authority General Manager Rod Fournier is proud of his employees,

“The DTA is proud of the skills and professionalism of our Bus Operators. Seeing Paul and Rick come back with these results is no surprise, and really speaks to their talent and dedication that they both bring to work every day.”

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