Buses and blogging

You can find technology all over the average modern bus. There'll be an electronic ticket machine, possibly a destination indicator that uses the latest in LED technology. Inside there may be a digital CCTV system in order to capture naughty behaviour, and you may even be lucky enough to have Real Time Information screens at the bus stop that attempt to tell you how far away the next bus will be, tied into a complex system of timetables, driver rotas and GPS. So how apt it is that people with an interest in the public transport system can read all about it on the internet.

It's fair to say that Omnibuses blog is the leading UK blog devoted to all things buses, with regular postings for the past four and a half years. Written by a mystery editor based somewhere near Bournemouth, it takes a look at the whole spectrum of topics – from industry news and thoughts on marketing to more specialised topics such as bus photography and south coast goings-on.

There are some good regional based bus blogs as well. Manchester Buses is aimed at a broad audience, with news items, features and funnies making up the majority of its content. Plymothian Transit keeps an eye on the south west region, albeit with more of an enthusiast angle, again with news items but also featuring a lot of photographic content. London Reconnections is a generalist transport blog which reports on major changes to bus services in the capital, but tends to find more news related to rail-based schemes – those with a political slant may find Boris Watch's watching brief on bendy bus replacement to be of interest!

The bus companies themselves have perhaps not woken up fully to the potentials of blogging, but there are a few exceptions – ironically both based on the south coast and so close enough for Omnibuses Blog to have picked up on! Velvet Bus and Southern Vectis both have their own blog, offering rare glimpses behind the scenes of the local bus garage, and how bus services are planned in the background. There's also representation from the front lines – blogs by bus drivers. Fair play to them as it must be a difficult path to follow if management ever disapproved of a personal opinion. One of my favourites is Bus Driver Jimmy - perhaps I may even bump into him on my last day of travels, when I catch the Coastliner service (link to PDF map) between Havant and Brighton.

Do you know of a good blog related to buses? Drop us a tweet or leave a comment.

Image credit: Pensiero on Flickr