After finishing school, John Howley thought he’d make a career as a probation officer. But after getting some experience in juvenile detention, he decided to take a different path and started in the call center at the Dayton-Hudson Corp. where he helped fulfill catalog orders. After four years at Dayton’s, Howley was drawn back into public service and took a supervisor job in the Transit Information Center, where representatives spent their days helping customers plan trips over the phone. “I always had interest in helping people,” Howleysaid. “That’s what attracted me to corrections, and this was another opportunity to do that. It was more than the salary and the benefits – it was meaningful work for an organization that provides an essential service.”

While the idea of serving the public was appealing, Howley wasn’t particularly familiar with transit before he joined what was then known as the Metropolitan Transit Commission. “I grew up in Minneapolis, and I knew my route, but unlike a lot of my co-workers I didn’t have a lot of knowledge and had a lot of catching up to do,” he said. During his 32-year tenure, though, Howley developed a keen sense for transit information and helped the department evolve well beyond its initial focus on phone-based trip planning.

When Howley began, customers had few places to turn other than the TIC. Representatives relied on paper maps and schedules, a time-consuming process that led to lengthy calls and long hold times. Automated information became available by phone in 1990 and online trip planning tools arrived a decade later. These new tools revolutionized the way representatives and customers planned their trips, but the transition wasn’t easy. “It was a big undertaking,” Howley recalled of the addition of online trip planning. “We had to get all the reps comfortable doing their job. At the same time, the building was being remodeled and we were moving the entire department. It was one of the most challenging times we had.”

During Howley’s tenure, Transit Information staff also took on responsibility for schedule displays and distribution, bus stop signs and the distribution of transit data to third-party developers. Toward the end of Howley’s career, more attention was being put toward improving real-time transit information. “The whole face of the department is really changing,” Howley said shortly before retiring in May 2020. “It’s expanding, it’s growing and it’s all very exciting. There’s a part of me that wishes I was starting now because there’s a lot of interesting work being done.”

Amid all the changes, Howley’s job satisfaction remained rooted in the thing that drew him to the job in the first place – human connections. In his 20 years as a supervisor and 12 years as a manager, Howley worked with hundreds of TIC representatives and supervisors, nearly all of whom started as representatives. While he was in management, Howley, the son of a lifelong union worker, said he also appreciated the role the ATU had in supporting members in the TIC. While he sacrificed many nights, weekends and holidays to be with the team, it was the camaraderie that came from that time together, he said, that he’d miss the most in retirement. “It’s been very satisfying to be a part of the team, and it’s really been a team effort all the way,” he said.

In retirement, Howley hoped to spend more time traveling, fishing and biking.