Vancouver British Columbia - It's called The Buzzer and TransLink's on-board transit newsletter turns 90 this month with an anniversary issue contrasting then-and-now highlights since it first appeared on 2 Jun 1916.
 
Back then, private jitneys roamed Vancouver streets offering rides for five or 10 cents. Electric streetcars run by the B.C. Electric Railway were relatively new and general manager George Kidd cooked up the newsletter as another way to spice up the service and pull passengers to the tram lines.
 
By 1918, the jitneys were abolished but the Buzzer prevailed as a way of providing routes, schedules and other information to transit riders.
 
The newsletter is still published every two weeks but is also available on line at www.translink.bc.ca.
 
Author unknown.