“I have a tendency to stop and pick students up,” Armstrong explains as he slows down in front of the Sheraton Commander Hotel on Garden Street to let a passenger board. “They tell us, if you can stop safely, and you see a student, then you can stop and pick them up. It doesn’t take anything from me. I won’t lose a thing.”

“That’s what makes a good bus driver,” he adds. “You’re here to help people.”

As 1 p.m. rolls around on Monday, Armstrong stops to take his lunch break, which he says gives him the energy to continue the day. He seems to be at his happiest when he is interacting with students, asking about their days and their workloads for the afternoon and evening.

“When the kids left for vacation, I was lonely,” Armstrong says. “When they came back, I was glad to see them.”

THE KING OF THE HARVARD SHUTTLE

Armstrong’s enthusiastic voice rings out at each stop along his route.

“I always call stops out,” he says.

Armstrong’s efforts do not go unnoticed. A group on thefacebook.com, “Friends of Jesse, King of Harvard’s Shuttle,” boasts more than 100 members—which Armstrong calls a “wonderful token of appreciation.”

“Jesse is the best,” says Currier resident Andrea E. Flores ’05. “He always has an encouraging word and a happy smile. Harvard is not always a friendly place, but you can count on Jesse to have a smile.”

Armstrong also enjoys having fun with his passengers. Proud of his good memory, he will often surprise riders by calling out their names, and he is quick to offer a word of encouragement.

“I say all kinds of things, tell them to have fun, make them feel better,” he says.

“Jesse and I are buds,” says Cabot resident Jennifer H. Rugani ’07. “I love Jesse. He makes living in the Quad better.”

“I didn’t pay her to say that,” jokes Armstrong, overhearing Rugani’s comment. “When my mother told me that kindness gets you further than money, I didn’t get it, but I get it now.”

“You deserve it,” Rugani replies.

Armstrong, who grew up in rural Virginia, came to Boston with relatives in 1961. After serving as a medic in the Army and later as an Emergency Medical Services paramedic, he got a job driving the M2 shuttle, ferrying students from Harvard Yard to the Longwood Medical Campus.