Subject: Bus workers still driven
Date: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 3:53 PM

Bus workers still driven 

For 22 years, 2 men have repaired fleet 

John Faherty The Arizona Republic Nov. 9, 2005 12:00 AM 

If you have ever ridden a bus in Phoenix, you have seen their handiwork. If
you ever enjoyed a comfortable seat on your way home, you have them to
thank. And if you ever wondered who keeps these massive vehicles of the
Phoenix Transit Department in presentable order, say hello to Lorenzo
Estrada and Calvin Parish. For the past 22 years, these two men have been
working together side by side every day to keep the buses in good shape. 

Yes, that would be longer than many marriages. "We've really never had a
disagreement," Estrada said. "We're pretty much opposites," Parish said.
Over the years they have developed a rhythm to their days. They know each
other's strengths and weaknesses. They know when to jump in and when to back
off. "We each know when to give the other guy a little room," Estrada said.
They fix seats, erase graffiti, repair straps, patch paint, fix windows and
replace floors. They don't work on the engines, but just about everything
else is their domain. They work at the City of Phoenix Public Transit
Department bus depot on Lower Buckeye Road in an industrial area of south
Phoenix. Parish takes the bus to work nearly every day. Estrada does
sometimes. Estrada, 45, first became interested in the upholstery business
watching his father work on car interiors in the family's Phoenix back yard.
Cars and trucks would come in looking terrible and leave looking terrific.!
He has been working on the buses since 1984. He actually does a little
backyard work now himself. He and his son just finished a '64 Chevy Impala
that his son drives proudly. 

Seats need most attention 

Estrada and Parish spend much of their time working on seats. The driver
seats are very sophisticated and really earn their keep. Some buses will
roll for 1 million miles with bus drivers big and small behind the wheel and
on the seat for every pothole. Passenger seats also see their wear and tear.
Mostly tear. When a seat comes in needing repair, 75 percent of the time
it's because of vandalism. The vandalism is usually the work of young people
on the back of the bus, away from the driver. Video cameras have cut down on
the problems, and having uniformed and plain-clothes officers periodically
onboard helps. But still, it is a constant battle. It does not just upset
Estrada because it is his job to fix it. "I'm a taxpayer," he said. "We are
all taxpayers. 

It's my bus. It's your bus. Why would you want to destroy it?" As a habit,
every time Estrada gets on a bus, he walks all the way to the back just to
check it out. Recently, he saw a young person damaging one of the seats and
putting graffiti on the seat back. He told the bus driver who then called
the police on his radio. A short time later a police officer boarded the bus
and made an arrest. "To me, that makes me mad," Estrada said. "I work on
this every day. It took about one and a half hours out of my day that I
would have been home, but it just makes me mad." When a bus driver comes in
from his shift, he or she fills out a report on things that may need repair
or refurbishment. Both Estrada and Parish have found it is important to fix
a bus right away when things start looking a little rough. If a bus looks
nice, people tend to keep it nice. The opposite is equally true. Sometimes a
bus on a certain route will keep coming back with graffiti or! damaged
seats. Sometimes the men will see the same names written on the walls and
seat backs. When that happens, they will tell security they may want to work
that bus line with a little more vigilance. For a long stretch, the work of
a man who went by the name Puppet kept showing up. "If I ever catch up with
Puppet, there is going to be trouble," said Parish with a laugh. For Parish,
the best part of his job is when the two men work on special-event or
holiday buses. They have a Christmas bus that debuts each year on the day
after Thanksgiving. They have a Fourth of July bus. They can outfit a bus
inside and out for various parades. Recently they worked on a bus to
transport a group of war veterans. But for Estrada, the best part of the job
is working with Parish. "We've been 20 years together."