"Every morning in fifth grade, Sam Mencimer climbed onto the 54 Metrobus from Takoma to L'Enfant Plaza on his way to school. By the time he got on, it was packed - standing room only - so he stood behind the yellow line, leaning forward to watch Joy Kenley drive. One day, his curiosity got the best of him. "What's this button?" "Where do the buses come from?" "Which bus comes out of which garage?" he asked."
"He jumped at the chance. Inside, he climbed into the driver's seat, pushed some buttons, and got a firsthand look at the buses up close. Kenley showed him how to change the block destination signs and explained that the way to identify a bus wasn't by its bus number, but by its block number in the lower window-that's how Mencimer could always spot her bus: N503."
""I was having the time of my life," Mencimer says. "It was one of the coolest things I had ever done, and still probably is one of the coolest things. If I could go back and do the same tour again right now, I would." That tour stayed with him. Eleven years later, Mencimer is now a full-time Metro employee in the signal engineering department, still driven by the same curiosity about operations that started on those fifth-grade bus rides."
Every morning in fifth grade, Sam Mencimer rode the 54 Metrobus from Takoma to L'Enfant Plaza and stood to watch driver Joy Kenley. He asked questions about buttons, routes, and garages. Kenley answered and offered a tour of the Northern Bus Garage. He climbed into the driver's seat, pushed buttons, learned to change block destination signs, and learned to identify buses by block numbers like N503. Kenley let him change the block ID to read "SAM." Eleven years later he works full time in Metro signal engineering, driven by the same curiosity and tinkering. For years he sought Kenley’s bus by its block ID.
Read at Washingtonian - The website that Washington lives by.
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