The Buzzer has come a long way since June 2, 1916!

In fact, the first official publication didn’t even have a name! It was the riders of the trams and streetcars that named our dear Buzzer.

In the beginning, the Buzzer was on area jitneys – competition for public transit ran by private individuals. It wasn’t until the GM of B.C. Electric who ran the transit thought that the Buzzer could keep people informed about service and entice riders to stick with the streetcar that the Buzzer became what we know it to be today.

The Buzzer is a mix of everything – an events pamphlet, a transit newsletter, a service bulletin, fun stories, interesting factoids, and more!

Over the years, the Buzzer has changed companies, themes, mastheads, editors and content but the focus is always the same: to deliver informative, fun and interesting transit and community related tidbits to the riders of the transit system.

We had so much material to work with for our special collectors edition, not everything could make it in the print Buzzer but lucky you! We’ve included some here:

1937 – street puzzle

1959 – Bob Banks

1959 – Bob Banks

1959 – Happy New Year

1964 – New bus colours

1978 – Mr Buzzer

1979 – transit rescue

1981 – bus drawing

Expo ’86

1992 – Scott Road bike lockers

1992 – new bus radios

1994 – illustration

Be sure to pick up the double-length special collectors edition of the print Buzzer on the system now or you can download it here.!

Author: Adrienne Coling