As a factory worker, Donald Hills didn’t often get to see the sun. “I’d start before the sun rose and end after it had set, especially during winter,” Hills said. “And, I had to work a lot of overtime just to make ends meet.”  

So in his 30s, Hills applied for a job that came with a window to the world. His 30-year career as a bus operator began at Ruter Garage, then known as Shingle Creek. There, he met Martin J. Ruter. “I remember being surprised when I met him. He asked me to help him figure out how to use the parking brake on a new type of bus,” Hills said. “That showed me early on that no matter how long you’ve been on the job there's always something new to learn and a new bus to master.”  

At the start of his career, Hills faced some difficulties. He credits Sam Jacobs, then a manager at Shingle Creek, for keeping him on track with a simple question – “What’s wrong?” “I wouldn’t be here all these years later if he hadn’t asked me that question,” he said. Hills also recalls how nervous he was about working nights. He relaxed, but not before earning the nickname “rookie” from regular customers. “Looking back, I shouldn’t have been so sacred,” he said. “You just need to talk to people onboard and you’ll be alright.”

Hills’ 30-year career was preceded by a childhood in Minneapolis, where he grew up riding the old Route 26 with his mother to downtown. Today, the driveway to one of his old houses is a bus stop along Highway 252.

Hills retired in early 2021. In retirement, he and his wife planned to travel the country with a camper in tow. As a history buff, Hills was especially excited to visit Civil War sites along the east coast and other historical landmarks.

When the company Wm Henry was working for was bought out, he had to decide whether to move or find a new line of work. Encouraged by his wife, a faithful bus rider, he applied for a job as a bus operator at what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. He was hired in 1989, starting as a part-time operator at the Shingle Creek Garage, and retired nearly 32 years later with perfect attendance and safety records.

Growing up in Liberia, and later working for a mining company there, Henry had his sights set on a career in maintenance. He came to Minnesota in 1984 for school and started to pursue a similar path here, working as a mechanic at Sears and then at a production company maintaining lift equipment. Becoming a bus operator, he thought, would be a way into bus maintenance. “But when my fingernails finally got clean, I realized I could wear a necktie, and I saw that I could get out and get some fresh air I stopped pursuing that path,” Henry said.

After a few years as a part-time operator, Henry went full-time and moved to the Heywood Garage, where he spent the remainder of his career and largely worked the extraboard. Asked why he stayed, he said: “I got to know the people, and the people got to know me. There was a real camaraderie there.” He attributed his success as an operator to his faith and his wife, who supported him at every step along the way. “People always asked me why I was so happy and the answer was, ‘The Lord first, and my wife second,’” he said. One of Henry’s more memorable moments as an operator came in 2016, when he helped welcome then-Vice President Joe Biden onboard a bus during a stop at St. Paul’s Union Depot. 

Henry retired in March 2021 as an "Elite Superior Master Driver." In retirement, Henry planned to spend more time with his family, including four children, and to travel.

Jody Theisen was looking for work when a job service suggested applying at what was then know as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. He applied, was hired as a vault puller at the old Northside Garage and went on to build a 40-year career in transit, retiring in early 2021.

After three years as a vault puller, Theisen saw an opportunity to make a higher wage as a janitor and put his name in. During the interview, he impressed the hiring manager by pointing to his perfect attendance. As a janitor, he worked at every garage except for East Metro, but spent more than 30 years at the Shingle Creek/Ruter Garage, which was close to his home.

Throughout his career, Theisen took pride in his work and enjoyed the company of those he met along the way. His attention to detail was seen early on, when he carefully swept up fare card punches left on the garage floor, and later when he spent a week using a power drill to restore a grime-covered bathroom sink.

In addition to his strong work ethic, Theisen was a welcoming presence at the garage. While working nights, he would often serve as a sounding board for operators as they pulled in. “I’d be the first one they’d see and they’d tell me everything that was going on,” Theisen said. “I know I helped a lot of people out that way.”

Theisen also enjoyed mentoring new hires and spent two terms as a union steward.

In retirement, Theisen plans to spend more time with his family, including four grandchildren and outstate relatives, and to bring his fishing pole with him wherever he goes.

Heywood Operator Richard Bledsoe retired in January 2020 with 30 years of service: Bledsoe spent his entire career at Heywood Garage, where managers described him as quiet and hardworking. Customers regularly complimented him for his calm, quiet and consistent demeanor onboard no matter what was going on. 

Topee Jackson immigrated from Liberia to the U.S. in 1981 seeking a better future. Nearly a decade later, as his home country was entering a civil war, he found his calling as a Metro Transit bus operator. In early 2021, Jackson retired after 31 years of service. 

When he arrived in the U.S., Jackson went back school to become an electrical systems draftsman (his credentials from Liberia didn't transfer). While working, he heard a radio commercial saying transit needed part-time, weekend operators. Jackson was looking for extra income to send back to his parents in Liberia, so he applied. After a month on the job, he decided to go full-time. "I found out I love driving a bus!" he said. "It's cool to be able to meet and talk with customers."

In retirement, Jackson planned to spend time with his children and grandchildren, who followed him to Minnesota. He also looked forward to returning to Liberia to fix up his childhood home, wrecked by the civil war, and to spend time with family there. 

After working several retail jobs and as an overnight security guard in north Minneapolis, Mark Johnson finally decided to apply to Metro Transit. "My then brother-in-law was an operator and kept telling me that I should become a bus operator," Johnson said. "33 years later, I'm glad I did. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to work for the company."

A 21-year-old Johnson began at the old Snelling Garage on Sept. 17, 1987. As a born-and-bred St. Paulite who grew up in the Dale-University neighborhood, Snelling was a great location. But soon after he was reassigned to Nicollet and Heywood. Johnson eventually made it back to old Snelling  Garage and stayed there until it closed. He spent the rest of his career at East Metro.

Driving Route 65, he made plenty of friends with customers who sat nearby in the "peanut seat" and opened up to him. He relished the chance to listen, smile and offer encouragement. "I wouldn't say much -- they would do most of the talking," he said.

Being a bus operator also allowed Johnson to build a life of his own. With good pay and benefits, he was able to buy a house and raise five children. In retirement, he now plans to spend more time with those children and grandchildren, and to practice ministry full-time. "I plan to keep in touch with all the friends I've made onboard during my time at Metro Transit," he said. "It's helped show me my purpose in life to be able to help others."

After finishing school, David Hopwood spent time in the Marine Corps, worked as an over the road trucker, made and sold ice cream and had several other odd jobs. Throughout, his uncle, a longtime bus operator, encouraged him to apply at what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. At 25 years old, he got his chance, making $3.35 an hour as an operator out of the old Snelling Garage. It was the start of what would ultimately become a 32-year career in transit.

Hopwood’s time as an operator was relatively brief but formative. While driving, he met the woman who would become his wife and the mother to the couple’s four daughters. “The first thing I said to her was, ‘What’s your problem? You’re the only woman on this bus who hasn’t asked me out,” Hopwood recalled.

In 1996, a bad back left Hopwood unable to continue as a bus operator. While temporarily reassigned, a stockkeeper job opened and he applied. The job required computer skills he didn’t have – a co-worker helped type and submit his application – but he convinced the manager to hire him by saying he wouldn’t have to break any bad habits while learning on the job. “I still can’t type worth a darn,” he said shortly before retiring. “I got very fortunate.”

Hopwood enjoyed his new job’s schedule, the comfort of working indoors and the chance to work at Ruter Garage, just a few miles from his home. But he was equally fond of the people he worked with, who he came to see as extended family. “I’m closer to these mechanics than I am to my own brothers,” he said. One the friends Hopwood made through work led him to another life-changing moment, convincing him to travel together to Arizona where Hopwood met a 2-year-old girl he would later adopt. “This place just changed my life,” Hopwood said. “It brought me my family, my friends…all because I was here. It’s been my purpose to be here.”

During his career, Hopwood, known to most as Woody, spent several years as a union steward for the ATU Local 1005. He planned to remain active with the union in retirement. Approaching his retirement in early-2021, Hopwood said he also planned to spend his more time with family and friends, working on his house, watching westerns and assuming the role of Santa Claus over the holidays. 

Thomas Myers was working in security and taking odd jobs when his mother suggested, strongly and more than once, that he try becoming a bus operator. Reluctantly, he submitted an application. A year later, he received an offer and began working out of the Heywood Garage. At first, he thought being a bus operator would be just another job. After a few years, though, he realized it could be much more than that. Ultimately, Myers would build a 30-year career in transit that included time as a bus operator, train operator, rail dispatcher and rail supervisor.

While Myers didn’t have any experience driving large vehicles, he was no stranger to transit. Growing up in Minneapolis, he rode buses as early as he could remember and even had a driver who allowed him to crank the rear destination sign when they reached the end of the line. While he had his doubts, Myers soon found he liked the independence and the chance to spend his days on the move. “It got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get up and go to work I was so eager,” he said.

After 20 years as a bus operator, though, Myers decided to go in a new direction and became a train operator. Immediately, he was impressed by the chance to operate Blue Line trains in heavy snow, to go through tunnels and to avoid traffic. Being in the operator’s cab, he said, was “just heaven.” Later, Myers became a rail dispatcher and used that experience to apply for a rail supervisor job. As a supervisor, Myers helped keep trains on schedule in the field and in the Rail Control Center, where train movements are monitored and controlled. Being in the RCC, with a wall of oversized monitors and other equipment, he felt “like a kid in a candy store.” Myers was also proud to be the first supervisor to use a new SCADA system.

Reflecting on his career shortly after his 2020 retirement, Myers said he was glad his mother had encouraged him to apply all those years ago, even if he didn’t necessarily want to admit that she was right. “I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction, but she knew I appreciated it,” he said. In retirement, Myers hoped to find a new line of part-time work and to relocate to warmer weather.

While Gwendolyn Wright was raising a family and working a temp job, her sister Patricia Wright, a bus operator, encouraged her to apply at what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. She was skeptical, but applied, got the job and ultimately built a 40-year career as a bus operator. "I remained focused and achieved my goals," Wright said shortly before retiring in September 2020. "When I applied, I didn't think they were going to hire me. Over forty years later, here I am." 

Wright began her career at the Old Snelling Garage but soon moved to the garage she called home -- Nicollet. For 30 years, she served as a part-time operator, which gave her time to raise eight children and earn a bachelors degree. In the final 10 years of her career, she served in a full-time role. 

While she stayed at Nicollet for most of her career, Wright found variety by choosing different routes and learning how to greet customers in different languages. "My customers helped me learn how to say hello and goodbye in Spanish, American Sign Language, and Somali," Wright said. "It was great to be able to greet all my customers as they boarded my bus no matter what language they spoke. And when we couldn't communicate, a smile was a universal language."

At work, Wright also tried to make her co-workers feel welcome. She spent 14 years on the Peer Support team, offering a listening ear to co-workers in need. "It's important for operators to know they're not alone and that someone else has gone through something similar and come out OK," she said.  

Wright retired in September 2020 with plans to travel and spend time with her eight children and 27 grandchildren (with more on the way). "I gave my heart to Metro Transit," she said. "But now it's time to give more of mine to my family." 

Mark Kitzerow grew up in the shadow of the Nicollet Garage, riding his bike through the bays and taking the bus nearly everywhere. Often, he’d accompany his mom on the bus while she commuted to and from her job at Northwestern Bell downtown. “The bus was always second nature,” he said. “I’ve been riding them all my life.”

It’s not surprising, then, that when it came time to start a career that Kitzerow found himself working in that familiar environment. After working for a paratransit company, he applied at the Metropolitan Transit Commission and was hired as an operator out of the old Nicollet Garage. He later worked at the old Snelling Garage and at the Heywood Garage, where he spent most of his years as an operator.

In 1989, a manager took note of his perfect driving record and encouraged him to become a route instructor. He became a full-time instructor in 1992. Those roles, he said, provided a welcome opportunity to teach people in the same way he’d been coached while going to the Minneapolis Boys Club growing up. “Every day that I instructed I had a gift to give to somebody,” he said. “It was a great chance to be creative, to find out how people learn and to let them know they could really build a career here.”

Kitzerow took on a new role as a Safety Specialist in 2008, and in 2016 became the manager of Bus System Safety. Those jobs brought the added challenge of working with operators who’d been involved in collisions, and the need to sometimes deliver bad news. But they also offered chances to make a larger impact. During his time in the Safety Department, Kitzerow helped develop a new training program that utilized video of real-life scenarios to make an impression early in an operator’s career. He was also heavily involved in annual Bus Roadeo competitions, which expanded to more than 100 competitors by the time Kitzerow retired.

While things were always changing, Kitzerow’s advice to operators remained consistent throughout his career. “You need to know when to pull back,” he said. “It’s a tough discipline to master, but you have to learn to not let the schedule or a difficult scene get the best of you.”

Reflecting shortly before retirement, Kitzerow said he was grateful for all the mentors who helped him along the way and described himself as a proud product of what he called “Metro Transit University.” He also said he appreciated the exposure to different cultures and the stability of the work, which allowed him to save for retirement and put a son through college at the University of Minnesota. “I’m ending my career in the very office I was interviewed in so that tells you the kind of evolution you can have if you take advantage of the opportunities,” he said. “If you treat workers with respect and don’t bang up the bus magic happens.”

In retirement, Kitzerow said he plans to spend more time traveling, playing the guitar, working on his home and catching up with old friends.