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I used to tell my friends to stop thanking the bus driver.

“What’s the point,” I’d say. “It’s all performative. They don’t care.”

Lately, however, I found myself slipping into the habit. Disembarking from an AC Transit bus, I exit the doors near the back of the bus. I call out a loud “Thank you!” Sometimes, the driver will nod. Most of the time, they’re stoic, silent.

It’s difficult to find hard data on this phenomenon, but I can say, anecdotally, I hear at least a few “thank you’s” per bus ride. Russell Crowe once wrote that one should "always thank the bus driver." On the Facebook page New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens, a group dedicated to all matters public transit, there are hundreds of memes about thanking the bus driver. For instance:

What’s always been unclear to me, however, is how the bus drivers themselves feel about it. Is it obnoxious? Do they not care? Or are they offended when people don’t thank them? What is the standard procedure here? To thank… or not to thank?

Naturally, I contacted AC Transit, who praised my “really unique story angle,” but declined to make any bus drivers available for interviews. My choice was made for me: I had to go rogue.

One week in November, I spoke with five drivers on the condition of anonymity due to their employers’ media policies. In the course of these conversations, I learned the truth of the thank you phenomenon, and the answers surprised me.

“I appreciate it,” said one AC Transit bus driver, who I’ll call Arthur. “I really do. It's the best form of common courtesy, and it's very kind to me, because it means they appreciated what I did. I can't make them say it, but it's just the sweetest thing.”

Arthur’s feelings were echoed by the other drivers. Some indicated it didn’t matter to them whether or not a rider said thank you or not, but all five agreed that a “thank you” was appreciated.

“It makes me feel good,” said a bus driver I’ll call Bruce. “I know that, when somebody says thank you for your service, I like that.”

“I think it's a pretty good thing to hear,” a bus driver I’ll call Sadie told me. “That you're appreciated by passengers.”

Perhaps I encountered a particularly genial collection of drivers. Bruce told me that not every driver appreciates the verbal thanks. Some drivers, Bruce says, couldn’t care one way or another.

But Bruce was quick to point out that he believes the majority of drivers don’t feel this way.

“We all want to feel appreciated,” Bruce says.

AC Transit, for their part, generally endorsed the practice in a long statement issued to SFGATE.

“AC Transit overwhelming supports acts of gratitude to and from our Bus Operators,” the transit agency wrote in a statement. “The building blocks of our 9-week Bus Operator training is the concept that offering a smile and thank you build relationships with our riders. Alternatively, please consider that AC Transit Bus Operators have a challenging career. They navigate a 40 or 60-foot bus along narrow roads, several bridges, and an untold number of congested freeway miles. Our operators work every day of the calendar year and almost every hour of the day. Additionally, our Bus Operators are maintaining schedules, providing directions, assisting disabled riders, elderly riders, and roughly 30,000 students during an average weekday. Without question, that form of commitment to safe operations deserves a thank you!”

Personally, the thought of driving a bus is terrifying. I'm scared of driving a car, so the thought of navigating an enormous bus through traffic and never making a mistake is unfathomable. I started saying "thank you" because I really meant it — the bus drivers, to me, are no less than heroes, navigating difficult scenarios to facilitate a safer and greener future. That sure sounds like a person worth thanking, and it turns out they appreciate it when you do.