EP033: Magic Bus
How to listen on my device? Episode transcript is available here
Nathan Vass is a recognized Seattle-based author, filmmaker, photographer, artist, and….wait for it, a King County Metro bus driver. He is known widely for the connections he creates with riders when driving, he transforms commuting into community-building experiences. It’s a beautiful thing! He is also the author of two wonderful books, The Lines That Make Us and Deciding to See. In 2018 he was recognized as a top influencer in Seattle. I couldn’t be more excited to welcome my friend Nathan into this conversation!
Excerpt from Episode
I was driving the number seven. It's 1130 at night. It's my last trip of the evening. Uh, exciting things always happen on your last trip. Somehow the world knows that you're about to get off work and doesn't wanna let you go yet. And this, uh, kid gets on, young guy gets on underneath I 90 at Rainier Avenue and uh, I say hi, like I do to all the passengers, and he says hi back to me.
He makes direct eye contact and says hello. A little bit surprising 'cause um, young people don't always do that. He is wearing. Nondescript gray sweatpants and a long sleeve sort of generic blue sweatshirt. I think he had a basketball with him and he went and sat in the back and we continue our way through town.
Eventually, he's the only person left on the bus and he comes up to the front, which again, I'm not expecting 'cause because we're at the last stop or something. I have both doors open and kids always get off the back door, you know? Uh, but he doesn't, he comes to the front and he says, um. I'm sorry to be a bother.
I hate to be an inconvenience. I don't wanna be an imposition. He says a few different versions of that, and then he says, um, I really am what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a place to sleep. I need somewhere to lie down. And I could sense that this person has probably never had to say that before.
There's a certain intersection of shame and vulnerability and need that you have to be in in order to say that. And he was there. Yeah, not the easiest place to be. And so we started talking. He was, I think he was 18, he was slightly too old for like, some of the youth services, like the uh, the Orion. I, um, I named a couple of other things talking about night watch, the men's shelter, bread of life, uh, the mission.
Um, all of this was useless information 'cause it was 12:21 AM all this is closed and. He started explaining a little bit of his story. He just landed here this night from a long train ride from Philadelphia. He is running away from home from an abusive family situation, and he wanted to start life over in a new city.
He'd always thought of Seattle, didn't know anyone here. Uh, I don't usually carry money when I'm driving buses, uh, especially not at night, especially not on the seven. Not a great idea, but I had $20 with me and I said. Here, uh, uh, Laroi, his name's Laroi. You should have, you should have these $20. Don't pay me back.
And he's like, no, no, no. I can't accept that. I can't accept that. I can't. And I was like, no, look at your situation. You need to here have $20. I'm giving this to you. This is worth,
this is worth more to you than it is
to me. Yeah. This is gonna help you. And, and he was, he was nervous. He was, he was dispirited.
He was in a new city. New cities always appear much larger. Than they actually are when you're, when you're fresh into them. And that's where he was. And I said, don't worry, you're, you're, you're gonna make it. And he was saying, but I have no other plan. And I was saying it's the people who have no plan B who do follow through on their plan A 'cause they have no other choice.
It's gonna be fine. And, uh, I, he left the bus and I didn't see 'em again. And I wondered what would, what's gonna happen? You wonder about these faces, you know, and you go home in the middle of the night and you're, you're, you're lying there looking at the ceiling. And these are the things I think about. I think about those faces.
What's gonna happen to that young guy and. Four days later, I'm at the Real Change Annual Breakfast. Mm-hmm. Uh, it's a, it's a fundraiser. It's a big to-do that they do every year at, uh, the convention center, uh, for the Street newspaper. Real Change a after the event, I'm walking down one of those long exit hallways inside the convention center, and I see a figure walking away from me.
It's wearing. Uh, nondescript gray sweatpants in a generic long sleeve blue sweatshirt. And I call out Leroy and he turns around, it's him, and he runs towards me. He says, Nathan, he runs towards me. He gives me the biggest, greatest hug I've ever gotten, says, Nathan, you saved my life. And he explains what, uh, happened the rest of the night.
He found, uh, uh, actually a nice, uh, Seattle police officer, um, uh, who helped him, uh, this, this, this white Seattle police officer helping this young black kid find, uh, a shelter for the night and, uh, directing him on what to do next. And Leroy, as you and I both know, very resourceful, very motivated, go-getter type of person.
He. And, uh, he was telling me this is only four days after he's gotten Philadelphia. He's lined up four interviews. For jobs. Three of them, he would make it to, two of them would hire him. One of them would turn into a full-time job. This was in October of that year. He had a goal to have an apartment by Thanksgiving.
Nathan Vass, January 2026
Nathan and Rex’s Mother chatting on the bus, January 2026
Nathans magic bus!