Boston Globe | By Adam Vaccaro | Sept. 17, 2015

It’s going to be a big weekend for MBTA bus driver Tyrell Sullivan.

Sullivan, a Roslindale resident who drives the Route 73 bus between Harvard Square and Waverly Square in Belmont, is the reigning champion of the T’s annual bus roadeo. The 39th edition will be held Sunday, at the MBTA’s Charlestown bus yard.

“I’ve got to defend my title,” said Sullivan, a two-time champion who also won in 2010.

The competition challenges bus drivers to navigate an obstacle course without hitting the plastic cones, tennis balls, and other fixtures that comprise it. Participants are also docked points for operational miscues like forgetting to put on a turn signal, Sullivan said.

Lorraine Landsburg, an MBTA instructor who won the roadeo in 2001, said the course requires tighter turns than driving on the street. Other challenges involve driving in reverse, something drivers rarely have to do on their routes. Drivers also face a time challenge: If they don’t beat the clock—seven minutes, Landsburg said—they are docked further points.

Most years, roughly 40 to 50 MBTA drivers participate, Sullivan said. Drivers who have faced recent disciplinary issues or been in an accident are barred from competing. The winner of the competition gets a trip to the American Public Transportation Association’s International Bus Roadeo, which moves from city to city each year and lasts for several days. The top 11 runners-up win cash prizes, with the second-place finisher netting $500.

The International Bus Roadeo provides its own challenges for the MBTA’s representative. Landsburg said that when she went, she finished 33rd out of 72 competitors, which she partially attributes to using a different kind of bus than the T model she was familiar with. Sullivan finished 25th last year.

MBTA interim General Manager Frank DePaola described the competition as an opportunity to boost employee morale at a meeting of the T’s Fiscal and Management Control Board earlier this week.

Sullivan, a 10-year veteran of the T, and Landsburg, who has been with the T for more than 20 years, agreed.

“[You get] bragging rights,” said Landsburg. “For me personally, it’s like, ‘Hey, I beat a bunch of guys. Women are better drivers.’”

As an instructor, Landsburg can no longer compete in the roadeo, but is a veteran of six. She is the only woman driver to have won, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

Sullivan’s title defense will mark his sixth roadeo. After winning a couple of competitions, he’s become fond of the basking opportunities that come with victory.

“Everyone knows who you are,” Sullivan said.