After 50 years as a bus operator, the road still beckons: Meet Joe Barbosa 

To most people, Joe Barbosa is a congenial family man, but anyone who works with him knows that he’s also a fierce competitor. He has driven in Metro’s annual Bus Roadeo since the 1970s. He’s memorized the playbook of the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you don’t like losing, you certainly don’t want to face him in ping pong.  

A couple operators watch while Joe sizes up his opponent. “He’s a leftie,” Joe whispers to me. “I have to make him run.” Then they begin to rally back and forth, steadily picking up the pace before Joe whips a forehand across the table, sending the ball skidding onto the floor.  

“What happened? Couldn’t reach it?” Joe taunts playfully. His opponent rolls his eyes in mock offense. The onlookers laugh jovially. The battle continues.  

I’m visiting Metro Bus Division 9 in El Monte to celebrate Barbosa’s whopping career milestone: 50 years of service (!!) as a bus operator. He started driving before Metro even existed, back when transit here was run by Metro’s predecessor, the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD). Over the past 50 years, he’s done it all –– the downtown L.A. routes, the overnight OWL service, and even Line 460, which services Disneyland. Since 2002, he’s driven out of Division 9, a large, sunny facility in El Monte with modern facilities and stunning views of the San Gabriel Mountains. Some employees call it “Divine 9.” Joe calls it “Club Med.”  

As division managers distribute slices of cake and praise Barbosa’s sense of humor and unruffled pride in a job always well done, it becomes apparent to me that Barbosa is much more than a mentor to the division’s younger operators. He’s more like a living institution: someone who understands the division’s history and values better than anyone. And lest anyone get any ideas about his future, Barbosa is quick to remind everyone that this wasn’t a retirement celebration.  

“I just renewed my driver’s license at the DMV,” he announces. “I’m good to go until 2029!”  

These days, it’s rare to witness this kind of steadfast dedication to a single career, but it’s not uncommon at Metro. Last year, the agency celebrated a handful of 50-year celebrations (including this story published on The Source), and there are several more on the horizon (we’ll highlight them next year). I wanted to know what keeps these employees going after so many years, so I sat down with Barbosa and asked him his secrets to success.  

Joe Barbosa didn’t set out to work in transit. His parents had left Mexico for California during the 1950s to work as migrant farmers. It was hard work, but it was a path toward a better future, Barbosa explained: “In California, they’d sweep money off the streets.”  

As a teenager growing up in Lincoln Heights, he relied on RTD buses to get around, but his “aha” moment didn’t happen until 1974, a few years after high school graduation, when he and a friend attended a Dodgers game. His friend had been working for RTD as a bus operator. The job came with free training, great benefits, a pension plan, and a recent strike had furnished operators with higher wages. Given the nationwide oil crisis and gas rationing in full force, operators were in demand. Why not apply?  

When Barbosa showed up at headquarters on Monday morning to complete his application, there was already a line winding around the entire block. On Tuesday, he arrived even earlier, at 6 a.m. That still wasn’t early enough. On Friday, he arrived at 2 a.m. and made it to the front door eight hours later. He was told to report to an agency doctor for a physical next week.  

Barbosa’s first day at the RTD was November 4, 1974. As a rookie bus operator, the starting pay was $5.55 an hour: good money at the time.  

I asked Barbosa about the most meaningful changes to his job over the last 50 years, and he’s quick to explain the improvements made to the 183 buses in the division’s fleet. The RTD buses from the 1970s and 1980s used to run on diesel. “When they left a stop,” he told me, “you’d get a blast of smoke exhaust in your face.”  

Since the 1990s, Metro buses have run on compressed natural gas (CNG), which is much better for the environment – and some are now electric buses. When Barbosa started driving, the buses didn’t have wheelchair lifts or automatic transmission. Today’s buses are easier to maneuver, have superior heating and cooling, and they provide a much smoother ride for passengers.  

Today, if you ride Line 179, which travels from Arcadia Station on the A Line to El Sereno and back to Arcadia, there’s a good chance that Barbosa will be your driver. The route, which travels down Huntington Drive, past the Santa Anita Racetrack and the mall at Santa Anita, and through San Marino, Alhambra, and Montecito Heights, attracts many regular riders, and getting to know them this way is one of Barbosa’s favorite things about the job. Kids he’s watched grow up and graduate from school. Regulars coming and going to jobs and home, picking up their kids, buying groceries, shopping for holiday gifts, or simply catching a movie.   

Those daily interactions keep the work interesting day after day. “I like being out there on the road,” Barbosa tells me. “I like clocking out after having accomplished a good day’s work.” I asked him his secret to a long career and he smiles impishly. “Watch your speed,” he says. “If you go slow and steady, you can perform any maneuver.”