Bus spotting

Bus spotting is the interest and activity of watching, photographing and tracking buses 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.^[1]

Bus spotters in Poland on a trip celebrating the 25th anniversary of Ikarus-Zemun buses in Cieszyn

There are many enthusiasts of the bus and coach industry across the globe. Like train and aircraft spotters, bus spotters activities include monitoring bus route allocations, sharing knowledge about buses and taking pictures of buses.^[2][3] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Since bus spotting involves urban mass transit, 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.

Preservation of buses

See also: Bus preservation in the United Kingdom

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.^[4]

Gallery

• 
  Bus spotters photographing a bus in Southampton, UK
• 
  Bus fans in Hong Kong
• 
  Teenage and adult bus spotters in Indonesia

See also

• Buses portal

• Roadgeek
• Railfan
• Bus preservation in the United Kingdom