Week of Apr. 24, 2006

Nussbaum leads the pack as Metro’s best mechanic

They are the unsung heroes in blue coveralls, using their skills and knowledge to keep you safe on the road whenever you travel on a King County Metro Transit vehicle. And once a year, the vehicle maintenance staff has a moment in the spotlight when they select one of their own to be “Vehicle Maintenance Employee of the Year.”

The 2006 honoree is Brian Nussbaum, a mechanic from Metro’s Atlantic Base. For 20 years, he has shown exemplary talent and dedication in maintaining buses and trolleys that are in top shape mechanically and physically.

“Brian is an outstanding employee,” said Mike Eeds, the maintenance supervisor at Atlantic Base. “You give him a job and it gets done.”

Nussbaum’s “can do” philosophy will be highlighted in a poster soon to be placed inside all of Metro’s 1,380 coaches, where bus riders can catch a glimpse of the man under the hood and read about what makes him so special:

“You can always depend on Brian Nussbaum, ace mechanic,” reads the poster. “He's hardworking, reliable and helpful. Brian has been an extraordinary wrecker driver and mechanic since 1987. If Brian can’t fix it, it isn’t broken. Brian will get it done, so we can get you there!”

Nussbaum is typical of the more than 700 employees who make up the vehicle maintenance staff. They are not as visible as bus drivers, but they are a linchpin in Metro’s commitment to high-quality safety and service.

“Metro's nationally recognized transit safety record is a testament to the importance placed on safety by the vehicle maintenance staff,” said Vehicle Maintenance Manager Jim Boon. “Inspections, quality assurance, general repairs, procedures, and documentation all focus on providing safe vehicles to operate on the streets of our communities.”

Boon says the vehicle maintenance group plays an important role is attracting riders to Metro’s routes by making the system reliable, efficient, and clean. It’s not only having clean seats, windows and floors inside the bus, but also running buses that operate with clean-burning fuels and the latest technologies.

Boon’s staff has to be mechanical experts with a foot in both the 20th and 21st Century. Metro operates a diverse fleet of vehicles that includes electric trolleys, rebuilt buses that have 40-year-old original parts, and the newest hybrid diesel-electric buses.

“This is a group of mechanics with very diverse skills, and great enterprising spirit,” said Boon. “Our general guideline is that heavy-duty diesel and dual power buses will be kept on the road for a minimum of 12 years and rubber-tired trolleys for 18 years. Vehicle components are overhauled, rebuilt or replaced as necessary to achieve these lifetimes. It takes a lot of knowledge and ingenuity to live up to those goals.”

Vehicle maintenance is a 24/7 operation at each of Metro’s seven bus bases. In the course of one year throughout the system, the maintenance staff will: perform more than 112,000 repairs; conduct more than 10,000 safety inspections; rebuild 150 transmissions; replace dozens of heavy-duty engines; and run a bus through a wash cycle 300,000 times.

“It’s the mechanics like Brian Nussbaum who keep our system running,” said Boon. “Without him and his co-workers, Metro bus drivers would have nothing to drive.”

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