James Underwood’s 37-year career began with a one-day hiring event.

After completing seminary school, his wife, transit planner Karen Underwood, suggested he apply. He planned to work part-time as an operator and be a part-time pastor. Once behind the wheel, however, he found a wealth of opportunity to help others beyond a church setting.

“I feel like a rich man – one in experience, teachers, and friends,” Underwood said. “It’s the real life onboard a bus, and it’s a place I’ve been a positive influence in the world.”

Underwood began at the Old Snelling Garage, then went to East Metro for the rest of his career operating local routes. Throughout his career, he always sought local routes due to the variety of passengers onboard and the chance to build relationships with regular customers. “People need to be seen and feel loved – there’s not a lot out there,” he said. “Just saying a few kind words or a small gesture for a customer goes a long way, and it helps build community onboard.”

That sense of community helped him many times deal with unruly passengers and de-escalate people having a bad day. When someone decided to sit on the bike rack and not move – two customers stood with Underwood to persuade the person to leave. When a young customer was cursing loudly, a customer from that youth’s community spoke to him after Underwood kindly asked him to stop. And when a regular customer was having an extremely bad day, a small gesture of kindness is still remembered decades later.

On Jan. 4, 2022, he’ll make his last trip operating Route 74. While he says goodbye to the transit community, he hopes to continue building community in retirement. He plans to do more ministry, music, and looks forward to the day when his wife joins him in retirement.

Tom Sabourin thought he’d be a mechanic. But when he went to apply at what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission, he found out he’d have to start as a cleaner before he could start working on buses. “So, I decided I was sick of getting dirty and decides I’d try driving instead,” Sabourin said. His decision to take a new path led to a 43-year career in transit that concluded in early 2022.

Sabourin began at the old Northside Garage and, expect for a short stint at Ruter, spent his entire career there and at Heywood, near the home where he grew up. About 14 years into his career, he thought he’d expand his skills and started working as a relief dispatcher. In 1996, he moved into a full-time dispatching role. He enjoyed the work, he said, because it was intuitive to him and he got to interact with fellow drivers. “The first person the driver sees is you, and the first person the customer sees is the driver, so I always tried to stay positive,” he said. While dispatching was his main role, Sabourin never lost his love for driving and continued to pick up extra trips through the end of his career. 

In retirement, Sabourin planned to move to Texas to be closer to family.

After several years driving a school bus and carrying people across country as a motorcoach operator, Ken Benzel moved to the Twin Cities and started a new chapter in his career in transportation. “I’d seen all kinds of bus companies, but this one (Metro Transit) was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the one,’” Benzel said. “When you think of transit, you think of Metro Transit.” Benzel started as a part-time operator out of South Garage and retired from the same garage, as an assistant transportation manager, 30 years later.

Benzel enjoyed driving, of course, but he also appreciated the chance to leave work behind at the end of each day. “That was the best part – no matter what happened that day, when you pulled into the garage, let out the air and closed the door that was it,” he said. “The job never followed you home.” Still, Benzel aspired to do more, and after 12 years as an operator he became a full-time garage instructor. Later, excited to be a part of bringing light rail to the Twin Cities, Benzel became a rail supervisor, working in the control center and in the field and training the first group of train operators. Benzel said that period of his career was especially rewarding because it brought a motivated group of people together toward a common cause. Like others, Benzel worked nights and weekends when trains were allowed to operate on the railroad before opening. And then: “Opening day was huge, but the next day was absolutely thrilling,” Benzel remembered. “To see platforms filled with people going to work, going to school, was very, very satisfying.”

Benzel finished his career as an assistant transportation manager, supporting operators at the Heywood, Nicollet, East Metro and South garages. Coming back to bus, he said, was a fitting final chapter because it allowed him to spend time with many of the people he’d started with and who had become close friends.

In retirement, Benzel planned to spend more time hunting, fishing, traveling and flying.

Just out of school and looking for full-time work, Keith Stein went through three jobs in three days. His fourth job, as a cleaner at the old Nicollet Garage, suited him well enough that he came back for a second day, then another, and ultimately led to a 41-year career in transit. “I was looking for a job with stability and good benefits, and that’s what this offered,” Stein said. “And, after a while, the place starts to grow on you.”

Stein, who’d gone to school for welding, had some experience from working at a gas station. But most of what he learned, he learned on the job. After working as a helper and fueler, he worked his way up into a senior mechanic role. At the same time, Stein was taking management classes offered through the fire department he volunteered for. And when a supervisor position opened at South Garage, he went for it. “I got the offer and started on the same shift just a few days later,” Stein remembered. “I said, ‘I used to be your buddy, but now I’m your boss. Things aren’t going to change a lot, but you have to understand you’ve got a job to do and so do I.’”

Later, Stein temporarily served as a maintenance manager through what would become known as the Leadership Academy. After applying a few times, he was offered a full-time manager position at South. He later held manager roles at Heywood and South, where he retired from in early 2022.

In retirement, Stein planned to spend time traveling, golfing, fishing, hunting and shooting trap.