Bus spotting is the interest and activity of watching, photographing and tracking

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es throughout their working service lives within bus companies. A person who engages in these activities is known as a bus spotter, bus fan, bus nut ( colloquial British English) or bus enthusiast. There are many enthusiasts of the bus and coach industry across the globe. Like

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

and aircraft spotters, bus spotters activities include monitoring bus route allocations, sharing knowledge about buses and taking pictures of buses. Some may be so keen that they might track a vehicle through its life, knowing for example which fleet numbers it has carried with different owners and when mechanical parts or interior fittings were renewed. Since bus spotting involves urban

mass transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

, it often goes hand in hand with metrophily. Such enthusiasts can be known as "transit fans". There are a number of magazines aimed at bus enthusiasts and spotters, e.g. ''

Buses Magazine ''Buses'' is a monthly magazine published in the United Kingdom that primarily focuses on the British bus and coach industry. Founded in 1949, the magazine was originally published by Ian Allan Publishing, however from March 2012 onwards, it h ...

''.

Preservation of buses

Some bus spotters may list or trace the whereabouts of surviving retired vehicles from a particular operator to purchase them for preservation purposes. The preserved buses can then be taken out to be driven either on discontinued services or through a set route for an event.

Gallery

File:Bluestar 1035 YN55 NFP rear.JPG, Bus spotters photographing a

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, UK File:HKBusFans 200709.jpg, Bus fans in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

File:Bus enthusiast at Indonesia.jpg, Teenage and adult bus spotters in Indonesia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bus Spotting Bus terminology Observation hobbies

Preservation of buses

Gallery

See also

References