One Sunday morning in early December, Rian Fatemi got up early to make the trip from his North Vancouver home to 91原创 with some friends鈥� to line up outside the yard sale at its warehouse in the 20300-block of 62nd Avenue before opening.

Memorabilia on sale at the fundraiser included genuine bus roll-up side destination signs, route maps, antique signal lights, ticket dispensers (with paper tickets), rear number boxes, and artwork.

Fatemi, 17, explained that he is a collector of 鈥渢hings to do with transit鈥� and an occasional volunteer at the non-profit museum.

鈥淎bout two years ago, I was turned on to it by a friend who takes pictures of the buses and posts them on his social media and stuff like that and I thought it was very interesting,鈥� Fatemi told the 91原创 Advance Times.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an interesting hobby.鈥�

Society president Bryan Larrabee said he is seeing more people of Fatemi鈥檚 vintage developing an interest in old buses and transit history.

鈥淭he trend, I think, for us is towards a lot of younger bus enthusiasts,鈥� Larrabee remarked.

鈥淚t used to be just a small group of retirees, but we鈥檙e much more than that now.鈥�

Larrabee explained the society, a registered charity, is an all-volunteer organization.

鈥淣obody gets paid,鈥� he said.

鈥淭he volunteers who you see here at our yard sale are all here on their own dime. Most of them take transit to get here.鈥�

Lawrence Walker, a society director and events coordinator, said they relocated from Burnaby to 91原创 just over a year ago when the Burnaby building they were using was due to be demolished.

There is no sign outside the Willowbrook building that serves as a warehouse, garage, and maintenance site for buses in the society collection. It is rarely open to the public.

Usually, the carefully restored and lovingly-maintained buses get driven to be displayed at public events like parades and the PNE.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got some pretty old buses around here,鈥漌alker explained.

鈥淭hings that everybody remembers riding.鈥�

He was standing near a Vancouver-manufactured that used to be operated by Pacific Stage Lines, and is considered the oldest operational and road-legal motor bus in B.C 鈥� as well as the only known operational Hayes bus in the world.

Some buses in the collection were used for this past season. Some of the society鈥檚 buses are rented out for passenger charters and to movies and films.

A centrepiece of the society collection is their mobile museum, a restored 1957 General Motors 鈥淥ld Look鈥� bus, with display cases, exhibits, and an audio-visual presentation showcasing the history of transit.

It goes out to between 20 and 30 community events a year, including all 15 days of the PNE, and attracts as many as 2,000 to 5,000 people a day, the society estimates.

December鈥檚 event raised $3,200 for the society, which wants to build a second museum bus, and has also set up a GoFundMe campaign,

Established in 1986, the Transit Museum Society has, as its stated goal, to 鈥渞estore, preserve and operate historical vehicles significant to the history of public transit in the province, to collect artifacts and memorabilia relating to their history; and share knowledge and awarenes.鈥�

It is not part of TransLink, BC Transit, or BC Hydro (which used to run transit buses).

For more information, to volunteer or donate,visit

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