Empathy on the M14 Bus
When Quinton Miller’s M14 bus pulled up to a bus shelter in downtown Manhattan one recent morning, he said “Good morning!” to each passenger with a smile. As they exited, he told them to have a wonderful day.
Half the people didn’t respond, but that never bothers Mr. Miller, a bus operator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for five years. “They might have had a bad day at work or school,” he told me. “They might be worried about someone.”
Mr. Miller manages the complex, nerve-jangling choreography of driving a city bus — which I saw as I joined him on his morning route — yet he still makes the extra effort to connect with his riders. Out of over 12,000 M.T.A. bus operators, the authority said he received the most appreciative comments from riders in 2024 and was in the top three last year.
How does he do it? He makes a “series of choices” to stay positive, he said, even when situations try him. If he’s on his break and it’s cold out, he lets riders wait inside the “nice warm bus” instead of at the bus stop. If he sees his usual airport workers running for the bus, he waits, because it will be 30 minutes until the next one.
His kindness works in both directions: Riders get to work on time, and Mr. Miller feels satisfaction for helping them. This squares with what studies have found. Empathy humanizes others — and it’s associated with higher levels of well-being.
“My philosophy is, you don’t want the job to change you,” Mr. Miller said. “You want to be able to change others on the job — by what you say and what you do.”
New York Times, Well email, "Well: Meet the human mood-lifters," March 5, 2026 (bold emphasis added by blogger)
