DeJohn Williams is 55, and he’s been driving a bus in San Francisco for more than a fifth of his life.
He’s seen a lot in the dozen or so years he’s been behind the wheel: He gave former Mayor Willie Brown a ride once. About eight years ago, a gang member took pop shots at his bus while driving the 19-Polk past City Hall.
All the passengers rushed toward the front of the bus, and he kept driving, running through a couple of red lights, he said. Nobody was injured.
Although he felt a little uneasy, he said, overall, “it was just another day at the office.”
The “Comeback Kid,” longtime 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, and his wife boarded the 2-Sutter around seven years ago, getting on, and then getting off just two stops later. So did Lars Ulrich, the Metallica drummer. Williams is not the starstruck type, so he merely took note of them and kept chugging along.
Williams grew up in the city, in Diamond Heights and Glen Park. He attended Catholic school and worked as a paperboy, riding a bicycle and tossing the San Francisco Chronicle onto subscribers’ doorsteps.
Now, he rides around town in a “million-dollar car,” as he likes to call his bus, sporting thick-framed blue glasses and a newsboy cap, perhaps an ode to his days as a paperboy. “I get the view of the city every day,” he said on a recent Thursday afternoon, looking content.
“Come on, princess,” he said to an elderly woman struggling to board the 22-Fillmore with a metal cart of groceries. “For you, come on,” he said after stopping the bus in the middle of the block to lower the ramp and let her on.
Williams is what is known as a “floater” within the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, meaning he drives a variety of routes, depending on where there is need. “It helps me not be complacent, it helps me not get that comfortable.”
He acknowledged that the city has changed drastically since he started in 2014. He believes it’s for the worse, with more visible homelessness and crime. But he’s not too worried about his own safety.
“I know how to defuse a situation,” he explained.
Just in case, he keeps the plastic barrier up between him and his passengers.
“I enjoy my job. I enjoy servicing the city,” he said.
His favorite route is the 7-Haight/Noriega. It takes him out to the beach, where he gets 20 minutes to stop and walk out to the ocean. Even if he ends up at the Great Highway in the wee hours of the morning, he gets out to watch the moon and chat up the surfers.
On a recent day, he asked one surfer, “How is the water?” and the surfer said, “It’s just like a bathtub,” Williams recalled, and they both had a laugh.
But on his days off, he escapes the city. Williams enjoys the tranquility of his home in Sunnyvale. Sometimes he goes to the movies with his wife, and when the weather is nice, they drive out to Santa Cruz for a hike.
“You feel like a bird, ya know?” he said. “You don’t hear no car, you hear nothing.”
One of the many unsung heroes who move our parents, our children, tourists, workers to where they are going. Don’t forget all the people who support DeJohn to let him do his job, a job never appreciated except for this moment. If you are boarding a bus, thank the operator when you board and exit. They appreciate your patronage too.