Transit Car Cleaner – Meet Trina Dixon

Trina Dixon cleans the colorful map on one of our Muni Metro trains.

Transit Car Cleaner -- Meet Trina Dixon 

Trina Dixon is a transit car cleaner who makes sure our trains are clean and safe for riders. Learn how Trina pivoted from customer service roles to a 23-year career in our transit division. Find out the key skills she applies in her role and what she likes most about the job. 

Jobs before current role:  

Trina’s story:  

Before starting at the SFMTA, Dixon held a range of customer service roles. 

“For a few years during high school, I had a job hosting birthday parties for kids,” she said. She worked at The Jungle, a popular children’s play center in SoMa.  

After graduating high school, Dixon attended Skyline College. While a student there, she worked at a tow truck company called CITY TOW. Dixon helped car owners retrieve their vehicles after they had been towed. Two years later, she applied to the SFMTA, noting her attention to detail and previous cleaning experience.  

In October 2024, she celebrates 23 years with our agency!  

Previous jobs: 

• Host at The Jungle. Hosted children’s birthday parties at the popular indoor play facility. 

• Customer service rep at tow truck company. Helped people retrieve their vehicles after towing. 

Key skills required for current role: 

At the SFMTA, Dixon cleans our Muni Metro trains. Here are the key skills she says are important for the job: 

• Be a team player  

“In this role, you really need to be a team player. That means getting the job done even if you’re short-staffed. Trains need to go out, so you still have to do your best to make sure everything is ready. Being a team player can also mean that certain people should step up for the more strenuous tasks. Other people might be better able to do the light, more detailed work. It’s okay to split that way.” 

• Pay attention to the details 

“I am very detail-oriented when it comes to the trains. Being able to do a thorough job is so important. We can say something is clean, but we want the public to be happy. So, it’s about not just meeting high standards in-house, but also living up to the public’s expectations. That’s hard!”  

• Find the right tools for you 

“We’re always chatting about the chemicals and tools we like most. We’ll say ‘oh, this chemical works better on this.’ Or, ‘I love Green Devil – it really works for me!’ So, it’s important to figure out what works for you and gets the job done once it’s on our approved list of chemicals.” 

Dixon says working with a ”quality crew” makes her feel good coming in every day.

What a typical workday looks like: 

• Review tasks for the day 

“My team starts at 5 a.m., after the graveyard shift is done. When we come in, we check what they finished and what’s still needed. That might be 10 or 15 trains to check. Then, we can also have emergency pull-ins. That’s when maybe a fire extinguisher has gone off and we need to take care of things right away.” 

• Clean high-touch areas 

“We focus on the walls, seats, poles and other high-traffic areas where people are touching. We wipe those down and then the floor is typically our last stop before we clean out the operator’s booth.” 

• Log completed tasks 

"After we’re done cleaning, we report what we’ve done. We also note what still needs to be cleaned. We have a color-coded system so that it’s easy for each shift team to keep making progress and getting trains back in service.”  

What she likes most about the job: 

• Works with a quality crew 

“I work with a quality crew, which is very important! That helps boost morale and it makes me feel good when I come in to work.”  

• Provides stability  

“One of my favorite parts of the job is also the stability it provides.”