After studying studio arts, Denny Johnson started his career at a paint and wall-covering store where he had a knack for matching paint colors. But when he found himself out of work and needing to support his young family, he followed the lead of a neighbor, a bus operator, and applied for a job at the Metropolitan Transit Commission. In July 1979, at the height of the U.S. Oil Crisis, he started as a bus operator at the old Snelling Garage. It was the beginning of what would become nearly 41-year career in transit. “I didn’t really see myself as a bus driver but one thing led to another and here I am,” Johnson said shortly before his June 2020 retirement.

Born and raised on St. Paul’s East Side, Johnson had some experience riding the bus growing up. And while the buses he started out driving were prone to break down, had no air conditioning and lacked power steering, he enjoyed his turn at the wheel. After 12 years on the road, he joined the agency’s first group of instructors. Despite being a self-described introvert, Johnson said his experience leading his daughters’ Girl Scouts troop led to an interest in teaching that he thought could be fulfilled in his professional life. “That was almost like an instructor job, and I wanted to use that experience,” he said.

One of the best parts of the work, he said, was meeting people from all over the world who came to Metro Transit with a desire to work hard. As his career progressed, many of his former students would see him and remark about the impact his patient, early guidance had on their lives. “You realize you really do make a difference,” he said.

Approaching his retirement, Johnson said he would miss the banter between colleagues, and seeing people he’d befriended while commuting on the bus. In retirement, he planned to devote more time to several interests, including technology, cooking and the outdoors, and to enjoy living at a more relaxed pace. “I’m going to take each day and enjoy it, whatever it brings,” he said. 

As a single mother, Mona Shafer needed a job with good pay and benefits. With a background in bookkeeping, she applied for a job with the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s Revenue Department tallying passenger counts turned in by bus operators. That job led to a 40-year career that also included time as a revenue balancer and janitor.

After starting in the Revenue Department, Mona moved to Payroll where she calculated drivers’ payroll records. During her 12 years in Finance, she continued to hold a part-time job as a janitor with another company. When an opportunity to become a janitor arose at MTC, she stopped working her other job. (“That would have been too much cleaning,” she said.) As a janitor, Shafer began as a floater, filling in for co-workers at nearly every support facility. The last five years of her career were spent at the Green Line’s Operations & Maintenance Facility in St. Paul.

Reflecting shortly before her retirement, Shafer said she took pride in her work and would miss some of the people she’d gotten to know through work. While four decades seems like a long time, she also said that the years went by quickly. “I remember watching other people retire, and in my mind thinking, ‘I have so much time to go,’” Shafer said. “But the 40 years flew by, it really did.”

At the time of her retirement, Shafer was the third-highest seniority janitor at Metro Transit. In retirement, Shafer planned to spend time traveling, gardening and enjoying the last chapter of life.

Gloria Hunt was running her own cleaning business when her mother-in-law suggested applying for a job as a bus operator. Growing up in Fridley, her only experience with transit was the occasional bus trip to downtown Minneapolis to visit her grandmother. But with kids at home, the benefits were appealing. Hunt also came from a family of motorheads, and had some experience driving large campers and motorhomes. So she applied, and was soon offered a job as a part-time operator out of the Ruter Garage. “She (my mother-in-law) thought it’d be a good fit and turned out she was right,” Hunt said. “I liked it from the very beginning.” Hunt enjoyed the work so much, in fact, that she made a 30-year career at Metro Transit.

In the beginning, Hunt maintained her cleaning business while working part-time as a bus operator. Eventually, she traded those long days for a full-time role at Nicollet Garage. But her schedule now challenged her in other ways – as a newer operator, Hunt worked many nights and weekends. Often, she was the last bus to pull in each night – ending her shift just before 3 a.m. Although the late nights could, at times, be tense, Hunt said regular customers would come to her defense. “I had a funny sort of relationship with them,” she said. “If anybody on the bus gave me a hard time, they were there to protect me. They’d say, ‘Leave her alone. She’s one of the good ones.’” That support, along with friendships at the garage, helped Hunt picture herself building a career in transit. “I had times where I thought, ‘How am I going to do this for the rest of my life?’” she said. “But the good days always made me feel better about the job, and I didn’t hang onto the bad stuff long. You just had to shrug it off.”

In 1997, Hunt took the next step in her career and became a part-time instructor – something she’d thought about when she’d gone through her own training seven years earlier. While she liked the idea of helping people, Hunt said she quickly realized that “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you can teach it.” “When I look back at when I first started teaching to now I wonder how anyone passed,” she said. “But it got better with time.” Hunt used what she was learning to help craft the department’s training manual – a guidebook that put lessons in an order that seemed to make the most sense for both teachers and students. In addition to teaching hundreds of new bus operators, Hunt spent many years conducting CDL tests for the state of Minnesota. “I think I’ve done that longer than anyone else in the state,” she said. “If I didn’t teach someone how to drive, there’s a good chance I may have tested them.”

Hunt retired in April 2020. In retirement, she planned to spend more time gardening, traveling and camping, and spending time with her children and grandchildren.