"Good morning, aloha, how are you?" That's how Uilani Souza, 76, has been greeting all her riders for the last 40 years. She began driving a city bus in April 1985.
Now in 2025, she's still at it and doesn't have plans to stop anytime soon.
Throughout that time, she's watched decades of change across O’ahu, driving one route after another. These days her shift starts every morning at 3:30 and takes her through the streets of ʻAiea.
Souza was born on Oʻahu and grew up in Kailua. She also raised four children as a single mother.
HPR went along for a ride with Souza, where she shared that she never would've believed that she'd become a bus operator.
"I thought about applying for the bus company, because they was hiring females, and I did. I went down and I applied. I had an interview. I got hired. I went to do my physical, and I started the class the same day," she said.
"Being a bus operator was something new for me to do, because I'm ready to challenge anything, to learn anything."
Out of all the routes she has driven, she said that her current route, 545 and 541 in Pearl City, is her favorite.
"I'm just so spoiled on this route. Lot of regulars. They're so amazing and so wonderful," she said.
"We became close. Families on this line. I have so many kupunas. They touch my heart in so many ways. I have young children, and even if I'm going on vacation, they tell me, 'No, auntie, we don't want you to go on vacation.'"
Sometimes people come on the bus in a bad mood, but Souza tends to change their mood by the end of the ride.
"If they have an issue, I'm going to listen, and hopefully I can help them. You'd be surprised, I guess they needed somebody to talk to, and I want to listen," she told HPR.
She shared that there weren't too many buses back when she first started driving. And they weren't as high-tech as they are today. Instead, they had double-clutch buses.
However, even though the buses were harder to drive, the people were kinder.
"It's like you driving one rig, yeah, and if you don't get 'em to the right RPM, you have to slow down and you gotta crank 'em to first to start all over again. But back then was wonderful people, loving, aloha on the road," she said.
Souza emphasized that nowadays, many drivers cut off the bus. She said she drives defensively as much as possible.
"My people is more important than anything else, for their safety, and I want them to be happy when they get off, instead of being frightened. So I won't stoop to anybody's level. There's so much cars now out there on the road compared to when I first came in, it wasn't that much cars," she said.
She said that there have been lots of fights and stabbings, and even bus drivers being assaulted.
"We don't come to work to get assaulted. We come to work to make a living. But as for me, I can handle anything out there with kindness, with a smile," she said.
When Souza finishes her shift for the day and drives home, she said that sometimes she forgets that she's going home.
"When I see people at the bus stop, I'm pulling in to the bus stop thinking 'Oh, excuse me, I'm going home. I'm not working,'" she said.
This story aired on The Conversation on Aug. 18, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Tori DeJournett adapted this interview for the web.
