Sixty-one want close shave with a bus

Press, 6 February 1986, Page 4

Sixty-one want close shave with a bus

Big red Christchurch Transport Board buses will be driven with millimetre accuracy on Sunday as drivers test their skills in the annual Caltex Bus Roadeo. Sixty-one contestants, including four who were not bus drivers, have entered the event, to be held at the Wigram R.N.Z.A.F. base in conjunction with the annual Wings and Wheels Classic. The competition course is marked with large drums, in an area of about 200 sq m. The buses must make U-turns, pull into simulated bus stops,

reverse and pass stopping tests, all in front of judges with tape measures to check exactly how close the drivers pass the drums. The Roadeo was an extension of all the driving skills a bus driver used, said Mr Robin Ayling, of the Transport Board. The contest would start at 9 a.m. and finish about 3 p.m., whatever the weather. "Buses still operate when it rains,” he said. The first prize in the Roadeo would be $3OO, a pewter goblet, and a trip for two to Wellington later

this year to compete' in ■ the national bus-driving competitions. The prize in - the section for persons who were not bus drivers would be a $5O Caltex petrol voucher and a free week-end at a Transport . Board staff holiday house. Mr Ayling said Caltex was keen to hold bus roadeos in every city, and j have an annual national event to find the top New Zealand bus driver. “At present, Christchurch and Wellington are the only cities which have roadeos. We are trying to expand this,” he said.