“The yellow school bus is an American icon,” and no one knows that better than Joseph Cristiano, this year”™s recipient of the Technician of the Year Award from the New York Association for Pupil Transportation and the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute.
The Brewster tech-mech, as the position is frequently called, was chosen from among school bus mechanics throughout New York state servicing some 50,000 school buses.
A resident of Millbrook, Cristiano was born to a Yonkers butcher and his wife, was raised in Yorktown and graduated from Yorktown High School. Not being an individual prone to indecision, he chose to enroll in Lincoln Technical Institute”™s campus in Mahwah, N.J., right after high school to study diesel and automotive mechanics.
He launched his career in the truck industry in Stamford, Conn., “but I liked the safety of school buses,” he said. “Trucks are inspected annually. School buses are inspected every six months.” Thus, the transition to employment with Vanguard in Yorktown Heights and his moving on three years ago to Brewster Central School District.
There is no such thing as a typical day in the life of a school bus mechanic, Cristiano says. “Drivers go out and write defects on a driver”™s report and hand them in after the runs. The mechanics get the vehicle into 100 percent shape.” Driver notations could be a headlight that is out or a buzzer that doesn”™t work. There are 150 items that are regularly checked.
Cristiano is one of eight mechanics working on 119 vehicles, which include primarily school buses, but also some Suburbans and vans, but also include Brewster building and grounds trucks. The New York Association for Pupil Transportation (NYAPT) reports in New York state that 2.3 million children ride on a yellow school bus each day, with mechanics repairing vehicles for approximately 54,000 drivers. “Student passengers in New York state will get onto or down from a school bus, 1,656,000,000 a school year,” Peter Mannella, NYAPT”™s executive director, said.
“Mechanics/technicians are crucial to our safety record,” Mannella said. “They are often challenged by school budgets that require creative approaches to parts inventories and serving of school buses.”
New technology requires mechanics to be updated, especially right now in the area of making vehicles “emission friendly,” Cristiano says.
The Brewster mechanic/technician is self-effacing about his award.
“I”™m flattered that I was recognized, but it”™s a team effort,” he says, praising his fellow mechanics, drivers, monitors and supervisors.
One of that team, Richard Cariello, knew Cristiano well before he arrived in Brewster. He praises his fellow mechanic”™s ingenuity in converting an old school bus into a snowplow by using a discarded plow from a town vehicle.
Cariello also recalls his teammate”™s heroism in jumping into a bus where the motor sped up and closing its fuel supply. “It”™s good it happened in the shop. It”™s really uncommon, but sometimes the diesel fuel will cause the motor to run away to full throttle,” he said.
Cristiano”™s supervisor, Dennis Castellana, said the award winner is particularly good at dealing with the Department of Transportation that oversees the safety of school buses.
Cristiano”™s wife, Diane, is a nurse who went to school with him in Yorktown. They have four children, the youngest, Maggie, 15, plays basketball with her older brothers, Justin, 27, Joseph III, 25, and Joshua, 23. The family circle is rounded out by Cleo, a 4-year-old bull mastiff whom Cristiano gave to his wife as an anniversary present. Family activities include barbecues, swimming in the outdoor pool, and badminton in the back yard.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
