In 1973, Bob Patkoff began his career in the bus industry as a baggage handler for an interstate bus company out of Dallas, Texas.

“Working in the bus business, you get to meet a lot of people,” Patkoff said. “I’ve driven the New York Yankees and met lots of folks, like the Zelles and Jesse Jackson.” He fondly remembers receiving a signed baseball from Reggie Jackson, a player with a reputation for not signing autographs.

After a brief break to study in college and serve in the Army, he returned to interstate busing. However, he was spending an average of 285 days away from home and his family. “It was too much time away,” he said. “So, I started to look for other jobs in other places, like Kansas City, Chicago, or Minneapolis-St. Paul.”

In 1987, he arrived in Minnesota, his birth state. Three years later, he began as a part-time operator for what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. Three years later, he became a relief dispatcher. In 2002, he earned a job as a full-time bus dispatcher, where he spent the bulk of his career. From 2016 to 2021, he worked in rail as a dispatcher.

For the last year of his career, he returned where he began: bus operations. “It’s my first and last job,” Patkoff said. “It’s been good to me.”

Patkoff retired in early 2022, after 32 years of service. In retirement, he and his wife plan to be “snowbirds,” splitting their time between Minnesota and Oklahoma, the state he was raised and has family and friends.

Ever since he got his license, Harry Mandik liked driving. So, when a friend suggested becoming a bus operator, he set aside his aspirations of becoming a machinist and applied. Mandik retired nearly 36 years later as a decorated and well-respected operator with experience in both bus and rail.

Mandik’s career began at the old Snelling Garage, and he later worked at the South and East Metro garages. After 17 years as a bus operator and relief instructor, he was encouraged to join the first group of operators to move to light rail. Though he wasn’t sure at first, Mandik quickly came to love railroading and never looked back. “Driving a different type of vehicle and being able to do it well was rewarding,” Mandik said. “Plus, it was a smoother, quieter ride. And getting to learn all the different rules and about the equipment – it was all pretty interesting.”

When the METRO Green Line opened in 2014, Harry joined those carrying customers between Minneapolis and St. Paul, where he grew up. Being a part of the Green Line’s opening, he said, was yet another thrilling chapter in his career. “It was exciting in the sense that we were starting to build a system,” he said. “It felt good to see that we were growing and expanding.”

As both a bus operator and a train operator, Mandik exceled. He went his entire career without a responsible collision, won two Rail Rodeos and placed second in three consecutive Bus Roadeos. In 2021, he was named the Minnesota Public Transit Association’s Operator of the Year, a reward reflected both his skills and his role as a leader among his peers. 

Besides the enjoyment he got from driving, Mandik said he was grateful to have made so many friends over the years and to have had a job that provided good benefits and steady employment. When he retired in early 2022, Mandik was the last remaining train operator from the first group that came to light rail.

In retirement, he planned to spend more time volunteering and pursuing other interests like personal finance, home architecture and bicycling. “This job has provided a good wage and steady employment for 35 years,” he said. “I’ve done pretty well so now it’s time to give back.”

Growing up in St. Paul, Art Shelton learned a lesson from his father that he carried throughout his life: Be the best you can be at whatever you’re doing. For 42 years, that meant striving to be the best Metro Transit bus operator he could be. “I enjoyed every day of work at Metro Transit,” Shelton said.

Before he became a bus operator, Shelton served as a police officer. When looking for his next career move, a former operator and friend pointed him to Metro Transit. “I took a test, passed, and the rest is history,” he said. After a few years at the Old Snelling and Nicollet garages, Shelton transferred to South, where he spent the rest of his career.

Over the years, Shelton only worked the extraboard, taking on new routes each day. “It made the job different every day,” Shelton said. “If I had a bad day, I knew the next one could be a good one. And, the vast majority were good.”

He credits his longevity on to the job to finding a career that fit his outgoing personality. Interacting with others and treating people with respect, he said, made the job fulfilling and fun.

In retirement, Shelton hopes to be the best volunteer he can be, stocking homeless shelters with winter clothing and walking shelter dogs. 

In 1980, Kelly Mckee was a 23-year-old Iowan who moved to Minnesota seeking opportunity. “I didn’t know anyone up here but knew there’d be more work here than a small farm town,” Mckee said.

For a few years, he worked at a big box store and picked up part-time work as a school bus driver to earn more money. It wasn’t long after that he discovered Metro Transit. “They offered better pay and benefits, so I applied,” he said. In 1988, Mckee made two big life decisions: he accepted a job at Metro Transit and got married. “With the pay and benefits, I felt more financially secure to get married and start a family,” Mckee said.  

He began his career as a part-time operator at Shingle Creek. When he was eligible, he went full-time.Through the decades, he’s worked at every garage, except South. In January 2022, he finished his career at East Metro with one last ride on Route 61. After retirement, he planned to take a road trip across the United States with his wife.

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.

After serving in the Army, Jack Shaw came home, worked in a foundry, then found himself at the unemployment office scanning the help wanted section on a microfiche machine. It was there that he saw an ad for what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. He applied and soon began working as a vault puller, the first of several jobs he’d hold during a 36-year career in bus and rail maintenance. Shaw retired in late 2021.

Shaw was an experienced Army mechanic who’d worked in garages during high school. The skills served him well in bus maintenance and he bid into a technician role as soon as he had enough seniority to do so. Later, he was part of the first group of technicians to transfer to light rail and spent months in classes at Dunwoody College preparing to work on the new fleet of light rail vehicles. “I’d gotten a little tired of doing the same thing on the buses,” Shaw remembered. “There were so few of us at rail that we were doing it all – changing tires on the trucks, electrical, hydraulics. The variety was really nice.”

After gaining experience, Shaw became a foreman and supervisor. As body shop supervisor, he said one of his proudest accomplishments was reducing the time it took to restore heavily rusted light rail vehicles from more than 2,000 hours down to about 800 hours. During his tenure, body shop technicians also installed plastic seats across the fleet and replaced dozens of broken windows. Shaw was quick to share credit for that and other work. “I told the team, ‘I’m a tool. What do you need me to do to get your job done?’” he said.

During his time at Metro Transit, Shaw was deployed several times as a member of the National Guard, including to Iraq after 9/11. In retirement, Shaw planned to buy a motorhome and travel, staying at military bases down south.

Before starting his career at Metro Transit, Paul Poppie had repaired tanks, trucks, and other equipment for the U.S. Army and earned a degree in diesel mechanics. So, when he landed his first job fueling buses at South Garage, he almost didn’t make it past the first year. “I had a new, fully stocked toolbox and was thinking, ‘I didn’t go to school for this,’” Poppie said. It didn’t take long to move up, though, and Poppie ended up with a 37-year career in transit. He retired in November 2021.

During his time in Bus Maintenance, Poppie worked at nearly every garage but spent most of his time at Nicollet, where he worked for more than 20 years. In addition to working at several locations, he also had a variety of different roles over the years, performing engine tune-ups, inspecting new buses and repairing wheelchair lifts, powertrains, injectors and transmissions.

Poppie found even more variety when he moved to Facilities Maintenance, where he spent the last five years of his career as a facilities technician. “We do everything in this job – fixing toilets or sinks, changing out glass, cutting grass to who knows what,” he said. “Every day is different….This has probably been my favorite job because you do so many things.”

In retirement, Poppie planned to sell his home in White Bear Lake and move with his wife to northern Minnesota, where he could spend more time hunting, fishing and boating.