Manatee, Sarasota transit drivers compete in 'roadeo'

It’s a driving face-off for the area’s best transit drivers.

Bus drivers for Sarasota and Manatee counties will compete in a series of competitions around a test course, set up with cones, barrels and bus stops, as part of the first Manatee-Sarasota Bus Roadeo this Sunday.

The competitions will test drivers’ ability to negotiate tight turns, to operate transit buses backwards and stopping within six inches of an object.

The event will be held at Manatee’s Fleet Services Center, 1108 26th Ave. E., Bradenton. The competition is free and open to the public. 

It officially begins at 9 a.m., but driving will start closer to 11 a.m.  

“It’s fun to see people drive these big vehicles on an obstacle course,” Manatee’s Transit Operations Superintendent Jim Egbert Egbert said. “They’re maneuvering a 40-foot long vehicle weighing over 39,000 pounds without passengers. This is not your dad’s Oldsmobile.”

The transit and paratransit winners from each organization will advance to the Mega Bus Roadeo in Fort Myers.