It’s not common for bus drivers in Denver to put in nearly 40 years of work, as both men have (Rick expects to break 40). The two men see themselves as part of an increasingly rare group of RTD employees. Leroy Rick (left) and Jerome Hall (right) stand outside of a bus at RTD’s Platte Division, which houses all of the buses in the RTD system. Rick and Hall have grown close over the years, and their friendship is something Hall expects to last long after his time with RTD is finished. Hall cracks, and soon both he and Rick are laughing as they saunter toward their respective buses. “What am I paying you that hush money for?” “I told you to shut up,” Hall says, holding back laughter. “He never should’ve been hired,” jokes Leroy Rick, one of only three bus drivers in the RTD system who has driven buses for longer than Hall. “Oh, it ain’t easy being a star, eh?” In the month leading up to his last day on the job, this Friday, he’s attracted a fair amount of media attention. “Whoa, Jerome, you’ve got the paparazzi with you this morning,” says one coworker. Today, for example, he’s got a reporter tailing him, asking questions, taking notes, and stopping him for impromptu photo-ops. The 67-year-old driver has done this-picking up Denverites and greeting them with a nod and a salutation-for 38 years.īut lately, a few things have been different. He pulls out of Platte by 5:31 a.m., and sets off for the day’s work, maneuvering the 30L bus, a limited line that begins in southwest Denver, up Federal Boulevard and into the city.

and makes the drive down to RTD’s Platte Division, which houses all of the buses used in Denver’s public transportation system. Jerome Hall’s final shifts as an RTD bus driver have been, for the most part, more of the same. The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado.

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