TransLink hosted the 2010 Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) fall conference this week! See the CUTA 2010 category for more conference coverage.

Just want to mention that three of our transit operators were honoured with employee awards from CUTA this year! Here’s the story from our press release:

Three bus drivers with Coast Mountain Bus Company were honoured today at the annual Employee Awards presented at the 2010 Fall Conference of the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), which wrapped up in Vancouver.

Danny Haddow and Jim Baxter received awards for “Heroism on Duty”, while Angus McIntyre, who retired earlier this year after 41 years as a bus driver, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We are proud of Danny and Jim, and have a deep admiration for the work Angus did over the years, both as an operator and as an ambassador for Coast Mountain Bus Company,” says Stan Sierpina, CMBC Vice-President, Customer Service. “There are many more stories like these among our 3,000 bus drivers – both heroic deeds and quiet acts of kindness that can have a big impact on people. It’s important to note that we only heard about Danny’s and Jim’s actions because our customers told us. The only horn these employees would blow is in the middle of a steering wheel!”

Haddow happened on the scene of a car crash and spotted that smoke was starting to fill the driver’s compartment. He parked his bus, pulled the driver to safety, then went back to make sure no one else was trapped inside. Once that was done, Haddow continued on his route; a passenger on the bus brought the incident to the attention of Haddow’s bosses at CMBC.

Baxter was credited with remaining calm and instilling that calm in his passengers when a drunk man became belligerent. Sensing the passengers were feeling threatened, Baxter activated the emergency alarm, sending a message to Transit Communications (T-Comm) that there was a problem. The drunk passed out, and Baxter quickly got all the passengers off the bus, then locked the man inside until police arrived to take charge of the situation.

Both Haddow and Baxter continued on their routes after the incidents, running “just a little” behind schedule.

Thirty-six of McIntyre’s 41 years behind the wheel were accident-free, and he was and remains a favourite of passengers, management and co-workers. Wearing his original BC Hydro uniform to accept the award (he also wore the uniforms of Metro Transit, BC Transit and CMBC during his career), McIntyre was also inducted into the CUTA Hall of Fame – the first “front-line” transit employee to be so honoured.

Angus McIntyre is still involved with transit, as treasurer of TRAMS – the Transit Museum Society – often taking transit enthusiasts on excursions on one of the vintage trolley buses restored by the society. (TRAMS provided a selection of its restored coaches – including a 1937 Hayes inter-city bus – for viewing at Trans-Expo 2010, the trade show that accompanied the CUTA Fall Conference.)

Members of the public are encouraged to bring good deeds of our employees – including bus operators, SkyTrain Attendants and other front-line personnel – to the attention of TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company. Simply call Customer Information at 604-953-3333 or use the Customer Feedback form on the TransLink website.

And this isn’t the first time our employees have won these awards either! In 2009, another of our operators also won a CUTA award for saving four from a house fire, and in 2008, two employees won—one for charity work and one for helping out a passenger in need with money from their own pocket.