What got you into buses?

[BrooklynBus]

I was interested in maps from the age of three. We never had a car when I was growing up so I came to depend on trains and buses. Always liked the trains especially the Lo Vs and D type triplexes. I remember when the IRT was exclusively Lo V. (Boy am I old.) Never was really interested in buses until I was around 15. I just couldn't understand why we would have to walk a half mile to the B35 and couldn't just take the B46 and transfer. We couldn't because there was none. It was an extra fare which my father refused to pay. So didn't it cost extra to go from the B46 to the B12? It took me years until I found out why and it just made me angry. Then I started to question why the routes went where they did when I wanted to go somewhere else. Often the only way to get there was to make an inconvenient circuitous trip like from my house in East Flatbush to the carousel in Prospect Park. We would just walk the three miles each way instead.

 

It wasn't until 1972 when I needed a topic for my masters thesis that I really became interested in buses and bus routes, mostly just the routes. Never cared much about the actual buses themselves. Doing research was not easy, since there were no books written about what I was interested in, Brooklyn bus routes. I had to rely mainly on old news articles and interviews.

 

Little did I know that one of the people I interviewed at the TA would be reporting to me seven years later when I got a job there as Director of Surface Planning, my dream job that I held for only six months. I made Brooklyn bus routes my career for seven years at the Department of City Planning after graduating from Columbia, then for another two years at the TA. Been interested in buses ever since and that was almost 30 years ago.

[Jdog14]

Ever since I was little I was interested in buses. I always loved hearing the RTS's when they were really moving. I remember back then when they had RTS's on the JG Routes. I also remember when Flatbush still had GMC RTS's. I always had the mentality that the GMC's were the "guys" and the Nova's were the "girls". Man the stuff I came up when I was little, good times.

[Santa Fe via Willow]

I'd say sometime in 1998.

[DanTheTransitMan]

I got into buses because my mother took me to the transit museums and took me on various trips around the city via mass transportation. I still have fond memories of the RTS's that were on the M15. I also remember riding NYC's first articulated buses on the M15. Ah the good old days. . When I was younger(about 5 years old) I remember I had the manhattan and brooklyn bus maps memorized. I just loved looking at those maps and learning new routes for some odd reason. At the ripe age of 16 I wanted to solidify my interests. I loved watching Cait Sith's and bebo2good1's videos. Their videos inspired me to make a youtube channel of my own. Ever since I opened up my youtube channel I feel as though a new chapter in the book of my life has opened. I love the positive feed-back I've been getting and I love making videos. My youtube channel has also helped me cope with my ADD. This whole world of buses and trains has been great for me and I will not give it up.

[Staten Island]

Was never into Bus's at all.... Always had a car bought my first car at 15 Before that had a Dirt bike which got me to my destination...Took this job because Police, Fire have no OT....It's all about the money and this job has Ridiculous over time

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

My mom gave an old Q19A bus timetable from when it was owned by triboro coach which dates back to 1988. Afterwards I got for the Q18, and for the Q44/Q20