Bus Enthusiast Etiquette.

[route101]

Reminds me of a joke from about 20 years ago:

Person A: Did you see Big Brother last night?
Person B: No, I go out every night and never see TV.
Person A: Get a life!

Im not good at remembering things from filmd or tv series, always gets me people can quote lines off films . Sometimes struggle with peoples references.

 

[LowLevel]

I'm the person who has nicknames for every bus and tram in the Lothian fleet (hi), although I have no interest for vans/employee cars, maybe someone else does, I won't judge them.

I'm extremely obsessed with Lothian (the fleet and the network) to the point where I've travelled on the full length of most Lothian services at some point, have multiple photos of every bus in the fleet and am quite attached to a certain B7RLE.

I also have an obsession with naming everything (partly because I enjoy thinking up names a lot, and partly because I find names a LOT easier to remember than numbers), and hence I made a fleetlist and attached a name to each bus and tram, often with some resemblance to the registration plate or/and where it usually operates. The names have largely stuck and when I got flickr I decided to add in the name of the bus in the photo to the description as it, to me, is part of the vehicle and hey it's something unique to me which I kinda like. I'm sorry if it causes confusion, it shouldn't but say if it does.

To probably no-one's surprise I am autistic, and that probably somewhat explains my level of obsession with Lothian. Most people find it sad, and I understand - it's pretty weird, especially to an allistic person.


This always makes me feel really bad, I already often feel rude when taking photos (if I've recently had a driver get annoyed I will take it personally for a while afterwards) and realising that I didn't acknowledge a friendly driver makes me feel bad

Ultimately you must please yourself in life and if this is what makes you tick then carry enjoying it. It would be boring if we all felt the same.

I know a bus and railway enthusiast who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the capacity of bus and train stabling points and depots. Despite being in his 50s I seem to recall his mental age is approximately that of a 10 year old (he lives in sheltered accommodation and certainly used to send a postcard to the staff at his local station when he visited a respite holiday camp in North Wales each year). I find him fascinating to talk to - he is apparently pretty much "in his shell" most of the time but if engaged in the right lines of conversation you see him light up like a Christmas tree.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

To be fair, what people find weird or not about bus enthusiasm isn't the same as etiquette. As long as people aren't inconveniencing or offending others, putting themselves or others in danger or breaking the law, then who gives a monkeys? If someone wants to fixate on the B7RLEs of Lothian....well, it's not my preference but so be it.

Where this thread came from is about etiquette.

It's those people who do inconvenience or offend others, put themselves or others in danger, or who break the law.

It's those enthusiasts who offend owners of preserved buses by inviting themselves onto a bus (when doors are closed or signage says otherwise) and drop litter or clamber in a cab. It's those who offend owners by advising them that despite the many thousands they've spent, they've got it wrong (and yes, I appreciate some people don't get social cues and don't realise their well meaning advice is rather insulting). Or simply offending others by not using cleaning products on themselves or their clothes! (One personal one are those people who post BS - either because they maliciously post rubbish, can't distinguish reality from imagination, or simply guess - if 1035 and 1039 are moving firms, then 1036 to 1038 simply MUST be moving too?).

It's those enthusiasts who have to get THAT photo. That means berating others at rallies because they've spoilt the shot. It's running across busy streets or bus stations and putting themselves in danger and distracting the driver; the latter point also covered by using the flash.

It's those enthusiasts who enter bus depots and wander round putting themselves in danger, wandering into pits etc. Worse still, thieving mementos of their visit.

If you don't do those things and want to spend your time cataloguing your 1980s Ribble Almex tickets or getting a sexual frisson from a 1967 Chester Guy Arab (or even an Arab Guy called Chester), then so be it. It's not for me but it's a big world with many worse things in it.

 

[traction22]

To be fair, what people find weird or not about bus enthusiasm isn't the same as etiquette. As long as people aren't inconveniencing or offending others, putting themselves or others in danger or breaking the law, then who gives a monkeys? If someone wants to fixate on the B7RLEs of Lothian....well, it's not my preference but so be it.

Where this thread came from is about etiquette.

It's those people who do inconvenience or offend others, put themselves or others in danger, or who break the law.

It's those enthusiasts who offend owners of preserved buses by inviting themselves onto a bus (when doors are closed or signage says otherwise) and drop litter or clamber in a cab. It's those who offend owners by advising them that despite the many thousands they've spent, they've got it wrong (and yes, I appreciate some people don't get social cues and don't realise their well meaning advice is rather insulting). Or simply offending others by not using cleaning products on themselves or their clothes! (One personal one are those people who post BS - either because they maliciously post rubbish, can't distinguish reality from imagination, or simply guess - if 1035 and 1039 are moving firms, then 1036 to 1038 simply MUST be moving too?).

It's those enthusiasts who have to get THAT photo. That means berating others at rallies because they've spoilt the shot. It's running across busy streets or bus stations and putting themselves in danger and distracting the driver; the latter point also covered by using the flash.

It's those enthusiasts who enter bus depots and wander round putting themselves in danger, wandering into pits etc. Worse still, thieving mementos of their visit.

If you don't do those things and want to spend your time cataloguing your 1980s Ribble Almex tickets or getting a sexual frisson from a 1967 Chester Guy Arab (or even an Arab Guy called Chester), then so be it. It's not for me but it's a big world with many worse things in it.

I'd like to think we all agree on that.