Ceres: What brought you to this job?
Andrea: I didn’t want to drive a bus anymore, and I love trains. I love the whole system itself, and I prefer the solitude of operating the train in a secluded cab. I loved driving a bus, but the close interaction with people is hard sometimes. It really is. It's hard dealing with the public, men and women. You get called every name in the book usually for little to no reason at all. The bus operators have a very hard time, and it’s oftentimes a very dangerous and thankless job. With the train, I think it's fabulous and empowe-ring to be able to move a thousand people at a time and safely operate such heavy equipment. When I first started with the company, I was excited about driving buses, and then I saw that there was a rail department, and I thought: “Ooh, I would love to get there someday.” But, of course,
you have to have the time, and you have to put in an application. There is a whole process, classes that you have to go through for two months, physical agility tests, etc…
Ceres: What’s your take on women working in public transportation?
Andrea: It's definitely grown over the years. It's not such the male dominated job that it used to be. It’s about half-and-half because we do have of a lot of females that work for the company over all, and even more who drive buses. But I think, because the rail department is just smaller than the bus department, there are not as many women on the rail side, but it’s growing, as we are getting more women, here too.
Ceres: What's your relationship with male coworkers?
Andrea: Oh, great! I get along with all of them. They’re easy to deal with and communicate with. Most of the time, the men are more relaxed then the women; although some of them can be quite dramatic. [laughter]
Ceres: Any discrimination because you are a woman?
Andrea: None of the men I currently work with make me feel that way, perhaps it’s because I make it a point to get along with a lot of different people. It’s what works for me.
Ceres: What’s the most difficult thing about your job?
Andrea: It’s dealing with the passengers. Even as a rail operator, you still deal with them on the platform. You do still have interactions with
"With the train, I think it's fabulous and empowering to be able to move a thousand people at a time..."
Photos by Lands of Void
Andrea Watkins
was born in Los Angeles. She has been working for MTA for 15 years, first as a bus driver, then as a Metro Rail operator for the last 9 years. She usually operates the Red Line, but has worked on the Blue Line, too.
32 - Ceres Magazine - Winter 2016