Drivers of JSC Vitebskavtotrans will transport guests and participants of the 2019 European Games in Minsk
The driver contingent will be headed by the head of the transport department, Alexander Bukatnyov. He already has experience in similar expeditions. At the Sochi Olympics-2014, about 350 Belarusian drivers worked at the invitation of the Russian government. This detachment included 41 representatives from the Vitebsk region. Alexander Nikolaevich, who was then the head of the passenger service at Novopolotsk ATP-6, led the group. Along with him, 9 other drivers from Novopolotsk proved themselves excellently at the Olympics.
This time, Novopolotsk is preparing to send 17 drivers. All of them are masters of their craft, tested more than once by both roads and demanding passengers.
Pyotr Bartosh is the holder of the "Honorary Transport Worker" badge and the title "Person of the Year of Novopolotsk – 2013". Oleg Khodikov is a multiple winner and prize-winner of professional skills competitions at the regional, republican, and international levels, a laureate of the city labor prize "Golden Hands – 2012", and "Person of the Year of Novopolotsk – 2015". Alexander Pechyonkin and Oleg Shalay are activists of the BRSM, athletes, and regular participants in workplace spartakiads.
On the day of our visit to bus depot No. 6, we also met some other participants of the upcoming contingent to the capital of the II European Games. Evgeny Puchkovsky is a hereditary driver. He followed in his father's footsteps to the bus depot. In the army, he joined the engineering troops. He drove sappers on training crossings and demining of ammunition from the Great Patriotic War. It was in the cabin of a heavy "Ural" truck that the final decision to tie his fate to the profession of a driver was made. The demobilized soldier was welcomed at the bus depot and assigned to the passenger service.
The hardworking, responsible, and competent employee proved to be a valuable asset. He has 10 years of impeccable service. Inclusion in the team that will go to Minsk is a sign of unconditional trust from the administration of ATP-6.
For almost 20 years, Anatoly Maslyukov has been driving residents of Novopolotsk along Molodezhnaya, the main street of the oil city. He is part of the elite of passenger transport. He is raising a 4-year-old son. Valera, the boy, is already being introduced to his father's work ethic. Once, noticing how bus drivers, warming up on the busy road, wave to each other wishing a safe journey, he immediately mastered this gesture. And now, when father and son walk around the city, they greet the drivers of ATP-6 with both hands.
These are the aces who will assist the transport workers of the Belarusian capital during the II European Games. A good half of them went through the baptism of the Sochi Olympics. They brought back letters of gratitude to their homeland. These guys won't return from Minsk empty-handed either. Ivan Rashchinsky, director of ATP-6 Novopolotsk, has no doubt about this.