Coy Dumas Jr. waves, smiles and toots his horn as he steers his MARTA bus through a residential area west of Atlanta. Six men and women wait for him at a bus stop. Even if they can't see him through the windshield, his passengers know it's Dumas behind the wheel.
The neighborhood just north of I-20 has some well-tended historic homes, but also several boarded up cottages and brick houses with overgrown yards. Sporting a captain’s hat, Dumas says hello as each individual steps on the bus, taps a Breeze card, and takes a seat. In that brief moment, the 66-year-old driver manages to make a connection.
You doing OK?
How’s the job going?
Glad to see you.
Have a wonderful day.
“He is a very positive person,” says Chiquita Johnson, 33, who was still smiling as she takes a seat. Johnson works as a janitor, and was on her way to work the evening shift in Atlanta. “I’ve been riding his route for six years, and he’s more like family to me.”
Dumas, who first started driving a MARTA bus in 1972, wears a perfectly pressed white shirt, black shiny shoes and the black captain’s hat every day on the job. Pins and MARTA patches dot his shirt – a patch for being a safe operator for 44 years, a pin from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a MARTA instructor pin. And now, there is a new pin, one marking a remarkable achievement, a patch woven in shimmering gold thread – “1,000,000 Miles.” He was awarded it for driving 1 million miles without an avoidable accident. That’s the equivalent of driving the Earth’s circumference 40 times. (His singular accident behind the wheel was back in the late 1970s when a truck driver hit the side of his MARTA bus; Dumas was not faulted for the crash, and no passengers were injured).
As Dumas' seniority has risen in the ranks for MARTA bus drivers, he could have switched to other routes — a leafy, upscale Buckhead neighborhood or bustling areas around Emory University. Instead, he's driven almost all of his 45 years on the job in the West Lake and Grove Park areas. While other areas west of Atlanta are experiencing a surge in redevelopment, Route 53 travels through stretches that remain pockmarked by vacant, decaying homes.
These are neighborhoods where residents rely heavily on public transportation, a place where passengers have formed a strong bond with their MARTA bus driver. Even residents who don’t ride the bus look forward to Dumas weaving his way through the community. An elderly man, wheelchair bound, heads outside his house every morning on Allegro Drive to wave to Dumas as he rumbles by.
Passengers call Dumas, “captain,” or “No. 1,” a nod to Dumas being the longest-serving MARTA bus driver. He’s also a counselor, a friend or confidant.
“I have done everything except deliver a child, and I came close to doing that twice,” said Dumas.
He’s encouraged men frustrated with their jobs to hang in there until they can secure another, better job. He has urged a young mom to nourish her toddler with more fruits and vegetables and less sugary sweets. He’s handed out flyers advertising community programming, free breakfasts and open pantries at area churches.
“We never know how we are going to affect people,” he said. “I think it’s important to let people know you care about them. Everybody needs to know that.”
Over the years, Dumas has witnessed romances blossom, friendships form. Children who rode his bus as youngsters are now well into adulthood. One of those children is Larry Dorsey Jr., who rode on Dumas’ bus from the age of 3 until 10. Dorsey is now 36.
“He was always friendly and he looks the same,” said Dorsey. “He would talk to us and encourage us to stay out of trouble. He would let us know he cared about us.”
Years later, Dorsey decided he wanted to follow Dumas’ footsteps and be a MARTA bus driver. He now drives the same route as Dumas, working a later shift.
“It ain’t easy here,” said Dorsey. “There are good people on this route, but it isn’t the easiest route.”
Dumas lives in Austell, in west Cobb County, with his wife of 39 years, Teresa "Terri." She wakes him every morning at 2:30 a.m. and they have breakfast together before he leaves for work. His route departs from the West Lake MARTA Station at 5:16 a.m. and from there, he travels along Skipper Drive, Baker Road, Waterford Road. His route includes Atlanta Jobs Corps Center. He repeats the route stretching about 32 miles round trip, and lasting about 53 minutes. He completes it eight times before finishing up just before 3 p.m.
“I like what I do,” said Dumas. He has no plans of retiring any time soon. “I am not arrogant, but I am very good at it, and I take pride in it.”
Outside of work, Dumas enjoys coaching middle school football and baseball teams for Cobb County public schools, and he is actively involved in his church, Covenant Christian Ministries in Marietta. Dumas and his wife raised six children. Sadly, two of his children died. His oldest son, Coy Dumas III, was killed in a car accident 16 years ago at the age of 24. Son Coy “Metri” Demetrius died four years ago from a liver illness at the age of 29.
“My wife and I talk about this: We could let bitterness control our lives and our family’s lives, but I tell you what — I carry my sons with me. They are in my heart, and in my mind … And every day when I go to work, they are with me.”
Every day Dumas goes to work, he helps countless passengers get where they need to be – a job, a grocery store, the movies.
And sometimes, where the passenger needs to be, is right there on the bus with Dumas.
More than 40 years ago, James Maddox started riding Dumas' bus to get to work at an Atlanta area restaurant. Years later, Dumas' route changed slightly, and then Maddox moved. But Maddox, now 74 and retired, still rides Dumas' bus — as often as three times a week, even though he lives in the Avondale Estates area and has to take a bus and train to reach Dumas' route. They talk about sports, family, their favorite western movies.
“He is kind and loving and will help you anyway he can,” said Maddox. “I feel like I can really talk to him. He’s more like a brother to me.”
Editor’s Note: Dumas’ route recently changed to Route 153 which overlaps with route 53, but operates out of H. E. Holmes Station and travels along M L King Jr. Drive and James Jackson Pkwy., and includes the Lincoln Homes neighborhood. He hopes to return to Route 53 in August.
Related: Go to www.myajc.com to see a video about Dumas and Arluther Deadwyler, both long-time MARTA bus drivers who were recently honored for traveling more than 1 million miles without a preventable accident (or an accident when they were at fault).
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