Supervisor Spotlight: Highlighting those behind the scenes who keep us moving

It takes a lot of people to keep a transit system running smoothly across 150 routes and over 300,000 boardings a day.

Bus drivers are the most visible part of any transit system, and there are people behind the scenes who are just as vital in the day-to-day operation of King County Metro.

Their responsibilities include training operators, planning the routes that run throughout the region, and literally being the “traffic controllers” who keep track of the buses on their daily runs.

They’re also the former bus drivers who use their knowledge to guide current drivers. Some were interested in transit from a young age and who put their backgrounds from other fields into good use.

And sometimes, they’re invisible co-pilots that help you get where you need to go when you ride with Metro.

We’d like to introduce you to the staff that help keep the wheels on the bus going “round and round” every day.

Kathy Grainger, Instructor  

Kathy first moved to Seattle with her ex-husband, who served in the military. After spending time in San Diego, Kathy moved back to Seattle in 1994 and became a school bus driver for Issaquah School District.

While driving for the school district, she learned about driving opportunities at Metro through another colleague.

Kathy joined Metro in 1999. She drove two years as a part-time operator and eight and a half years as full-time operator. While she spent time at Bellevue and East Base, Atlantic base would be her “home,” because she loved trolleys. She was referred to as the “Trolley Queen.” Her favorite routes to drive were Route 2—there were a pair of bald eagles at the Madrona end of the route—and Route 1 because she loved the neighborhood in Lower Queen Anne. Kathy also loved the Route 7. Challenging as it was, she says it was one of the routes she was proud of driving because it taught her to be more empathetic.

Kathy became a First-line Supervisor in February 2009. She worked in Service Quality and Base Operations and then moved to Training where she has spent most of her time. This year, she moved to classroom training where she has been teaching operator classes. She enjoys seeing that “light bulb moment” when students “get it.” She also enjoys interacting with her students who all have diverse backgrounds. She makes it a point to create a welcoming environment for all so her students can “thrive in the job to take care of their families.”

Since being at Metro, Kathy has served on the Safety Committee, helped out at holiday parties, participated in meetings for reroutes related to big events, snow routes, and most recently the RapidRide G Line.

Some of her favorite memories at Metro were from the time she was an operator. She enjoyed taking a quiet walk at the end of her route or talking with passengers before they boarded. She also recalls an incident where she had to shelter kids on the bus to keep them safe.

A single parent of her 39-year old son on the autism spectrum, Kathy says her son keeps her motivated. Seeing him succeed makes her happy and she is able to pass that joy to others.

She enjoys hiking with her son. When she cannot go hiking, she can be found working in her yard. Kathy is also a published author. Her work has been published in The Santa Fe Literary Review (an in-print literary journal, which features work by local, national, and international writers and artists). Kathy is currently working on two new books. She used to race Whaleboats where she was the captain, steering the boat with a 75 pound rudder while calling out commands.

Advice Kathy often gives to trainees is:  “Don’t make fare an issue, it is not worth $2.75.”

 

 Job Thykkuttathil, Communications Coordinator

Job is the oldest (and only boy) of four siblings. He and his sisters were born and raised in Seattle’s Wedgewood neighborhood, and still live in the area. He attended Garfield High School and went on to the University of Washington, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

Job started as a part-time operator at Metro in 1991 while pursuing a master’s degree in School Counseling. His plan was to drive part-time and then pursue a career in school counseling. The year he graduated from the UW, Seattle Public Schools laid off all their school counselors due to a budget shortfall. It was difficult to get interviews since he was competing for a job with people that had more experience. He ended up getting a few interviews, however, what they offered was half of what he made driving and the benefits were not great so he “just kept driving the bus.”

Job drove part-time for two years and full-time for 18  years. As an operator, he drove the trolley. He enjoyed driving Route 7 because of the high frequency of buses on the route. He loved working with his fellow operators on the route to ensure it stayed on schedule.

Job has been a First-Line Supervisor since 2016. After completing the Supervisor-In-Training (SIT) program, he worked in Base Operations. He worked at Atlantic Base and loved it because the trolleys operated out of that base. Since he had prior experience driving the trolley, he knew the operators and had great rapport with them. This made it easier for him when filling work or helping operators figure out their schedules.

Job is currently a Communications Coordinator in the Transit Control Center (TCC), where he is responsible for Group 1 (providing support to trolley operators). He also provides support to the RapidRide G Line.

Job shares that one of the challenges on the job is figuring out if an issue is due to operator error, equipment failure, or some other issue. When handling emerging situations on the road, Job’s mindset is to always do it in such a way that the rider does not know there was ever an issue. In the moment, he always works hard to narrow down the problem and troubleshoot the best he can.

One of the most gratifying aspects of the job is hearing an operator say “Thanks, Job” at the end of a call. It lets him know that operators understand that he and other coordinators always try their best to support them.

Outside of work, Job plays soccer with a few other supervisors from Metro every other Saturday. Job also loves chess and used to compete in tournaments. The game and rules have changed over the years, so he no longer competes in tournaments, but he still enjoys the game. He also used to teach chess to kids in middle and high school.

Interested in becoming a part of Metro? Visit “Start your Metro career” to explore well-paying positions with full benefits and a pension in transit operations, trades, rail operations, customer information and countless other fields.