There are some 450 buses in Canberra and Kyle is familiar with most of them

Posted on 21 August, 2020

There are some people who wait at bus stops to catch a bus and there are others who wait at bus stops to just bear witness.

Local bus-spotter Kyle Hanley is the latter. There are some 450 buses in Canberra and Kyle is familiar with most of them.

What really grabs his attention are the historic, orange, 1990s ACTION buses or the one-and-only electric bus doing the rounds. There’s the added attraction of different number plates or specific fleet numbers. It’s a whole other world.

“I started in 2001 when I was 13, we were living in Newcastle and we had a bus stop right out the front,” Kyle recalls.

“I just suddenly started noticing all the buses pulling in and out and people getting on and off. I don’t know why, it just captured my attention. I started sketching them because I’ve always had an interest in art and it progressed from there.”

Kyle then purchased a disposable camera and started photographing buses for his album. The real obsession, however, began in 2003 when he discovered a Newcastle bus driver who decorated her bus for Christmas each year—decked out in tinsel with Christmas carols playing on speakers installed throughout the bus.

“I sought her out and ended up going along for a few rides,” Kyle says. “We’re still really good friends to this day. Through her, I got to meet other bus drivers and she took me into the bus depot and I got to see how everything worked. It all cascaded from there.”

For the past 10 years, Kyle has bus-spotted in Canberra keeping a keen eye out for Transport Canberra’s different models.

There are about 20 bus-spotters in Canberra but Kyle tends to work solo. His preferred method of sharing bus-spotting highlights is on Facebook or Twitter.

“I’ve got a few friends who share the hobby down here and we usually share a Facebook message for example if I saw a bus that’s got a new ad on the outside,” Kyle explains.

“A lot of my interest is not in the vehicle itself but in the infrastructure that goes along with it. This’ll probably sound a bit odd but I actually look out for when they install new bus stops and shelters and signage. That’s what really captures my attention. So I’ve got a big collection in the garage of probably around 2000 pieces or more or old bus stop signage and the old timber bus stop pegs that we used to have here in Canberra.”

Just some of Kyle’s 2,000 old bus signs in his private collection.

Kyle says he tries to keep his bus-spotting “contained”, however, he has a very understanding husband who supports his hobby. Often when they’re driving to the shops he has to take a detour to photograph a bus, before continuing on with their shopping. He’s been known to abandon friends if a historic bus goes by, in order to chase it to the other side of town.

His enthusiasm for buses is so great that he has even splurged on a Mercedes bus (fleet number 2619 for those bus-spotting at home), going halves with a friend.

“Owning a bus and driving it around on weekends—on my own and just for fun—might not be a mainstream hobby but gosh I enjoy it,” Kyle says. “It’s always a boost when the world doesn’t seem that great. I take it out once or twice a month and just around Canberra. I can’t take it too far, only 40 kilometres outside of the ACT on its restricted registration. I just take it for an urban drive every now and then.”

Last year Kyle ran a successful Christmas lights tour through the streets of Canberra and he hopes to do it again this year if restrictions ease up.

If you think Kyle lives and breathes buses you would be right. He is also a graphic designer who works for a company designing bus timetables and maps. He is even the proud owner of a custom-made dooner cover sporting Canberra’s bus routes.

It’s surprising that Kyle never chose bus-driving for a job.

“I have a lot of respect for bus drivers,” he says. “It’s all well and good for me to take mine out for a spin but these people are collecting fares, pulling in and out of bus stops constantly, dealing with public, keeping to timetables, remembering their route. Bus drivers know who I am and they think it’s great that someone has this interest, I always get a lot of waves from the Transport Canberra drivers, and they’ll flash their headlights at me. They see this old bus coming along and wave and I get a real thrill out of that.”

Kyle is also a keen user of public transport, living on the rapid service and taking the R10. On weekends you might spot him cruising in his own bus, which sports a different (Newcastle run) number every time he takes it out.

“Taking the bus out really does give me a lot of joy,” he says. “I had a sound system installed in it, I just cruise along and I’ve got my music playing (a fave – Hyperion by St Lucia). I get waves from kids and other bus drivers, I find it quite calming. It’s an automatic so it drives itself, steering really easy – it’s just hard to park. If I want to stop for a coffee somewhere I can’t just go to any café I’ve got to think ahead and know I safely park it legally.”

Kyle is looking forward to a future of bus preservation in the ACT as more vehicles are saved for future generations to enjoy.

Photo credits: Kyle Hanley. Feature image: Bus-spotter Kyle Hanley and his very own Mercedes bus.