Contact: Christine Dunn, 650-508-7927

Devendra Chandra (l) and Joe Santos (r).

Two San Mateo County Transit District employees have received the district’s highest honor: Operator Devendra Chandra of Millbrae has been chosen Bus Operator of the Year and Utility Worker Joe Santos of Daly City is the Maintenance Employee of the Year.

CEO/General Manager Mike Scanlon said, “The bar is set very high at SamTrans. When one of our employees receives the Employee of the Year Award, you know they are truly outstanding.”

Chandra, who will celebrate his 19th anniversary with the district in August, said, “I always wanted to be a bus driver.”

The Fiji Island native grew up on a farm, where he learned to drive trucks and tractors. After the paint company he was working at closed, Chandra’s brother-in-law, who worked at SamTrans, encouraged him to apply for a job.

Chandra, who has received the National Safety Council’s Award for Safe Driving for 18 consecutive years, said, “I meet all different kinds of people, my day goes by so fast. Every day is different and challenging.”

Dispatcher Manuel Terrazas said that Chandra is a role model for other operators. “He always goes the extra yard, for his passengers and for SamTrans.”

He described Chandra as dependable, knowledgeable and courteous. In fact, the

only problem Terrazas has is when the popular operator goes on vacation. “His regular passengers complain when he is gone,” said Terrazas.

Chandra drives five different routes every day -- CX, DX, 120, 133 and 141 -- covering Northern San Mateo County and downtown San Francisco.

In his 18 years with the district, Santos has never had an accident. And, he has never been late to work. “They don’t come any better than Joe,” said Bus Maintenance Superintendent Jerie Moeller. “He sets the standard.”

Santos is one of the employees responsible for cleaning and maintaining the district’s 339 buses and 77 paratransit vehicles.

SamTrans has a reputation for having squeaky clean buses. Every night after the buses return from their routes, utility workers sweep them out and then drive them to the service island for inspection, fueling and cleaning.

According to Santos, the Maintenance Department gets the job done by working as a team. “Everybody gets along,” said Santos. On a typical week night at North Base, 10 utility workers clean 150 buses.

“I am very lucky to work for SamTrans,” said Santos. “I am where I am today because of SamTrans. I always recommend working at SamTrans.”

Two of his sons must have been listening - Josepito Santos Jr. is a SamTrans bus operator and Joswell Santos is a mechanic at North Base. Santos and his wife, Rosa, have six children.

SamTrans employs 355 bus operators, 62 mechanics and 28 utility workers. The fixed-route bus system consists of 55 routes.

The transit district offers Redi-Wheels paratransit service for persons with disabilities who are unable to ride SamTrans. The district also provides shuttles that link transit centers with major employment sites; is the managing agency for the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which administers the expenditure of Measure A funds; and, is a partner in Caltrain rail service and the BART extension to Millbrae.

03/20/06 - crd