On 11th of April 1980, the first gathering of the fans of public transport took place. At the beginning it was very unshowy, there were no plans for the future. If they were told what would the club achieve during next 40 years, they probably would not believe. However, a few generations of the Club Members accomplished so much, that their Club became the biggest association of its kind in Poland!
Today, with the prospect of the 40th anniversary of establishing the association, we represent resilient and still-developing organisation. We can proudly present our collection of historic buses and trams. It is well-worth mentioning, that we are in possession of the trolleybus as well. For us, the bus or tram is not only an ordinary vehicle – it is a machine with a soul. Thanks to our effort, we managed to rescue our rolling stock from oblivion. The success is even greater – most people cannot imagine the night of museums without buses such as Jelcz “Ogórek” or Ikarus. What would the holidays be like, if there was no special line T for tourists? We are very proud, hearing that our passengers are satisfied with the rides organised by us. This is the best way to make sure, that the laborious renovation and long hours of work pay out.
Our Club Members are actively engaged in actions undertaken by the Association of Public Transport Fans in Warsaw. They help in renovations, organising the events, lots of them serve as conductors on occasional lines. There is also a group of Club Members who belong to the photography section – they capture the most beautiful moments of our vehicles. Long story short, in our Club everybody can find something suitable and exciting for them. It can be for instance learning how to switch the junction with a traditional stick or developing interpersonal skills by helping our passengers.
We are registered in the register of associations (since 1997), therefore all of the actions undertaken by the Association of Public Transport Fans in Warsaw are regulated by the statue. Our main goal is to promote the public transport. We want people to realise, that – as a matter of fact – efficient public transport is capable of substituting travelling by car. We support every single action aiming to privilege the public transport including the idea of bus lanes, construction of the new tram lines or popularising the regional rails.
We are fully aware, that it is our responsibility, to talk about history and tradition of public transport in Warsaw as well as to promote it, therefore we undertake those actions. There are numerous occasions to present our collection: we are the co-organisers of the Days of Public Transport or aforementioned Night of Museums combined with the Rally of Historical Buses. If one visits Warsaw during the Children’s Day, St. Nicholas’ Day, Easter Monday or the Second Day of Christmas – they will surely encounter our historical trams running around the city. Also the T-line cannot be forgotten – it has become the integral part of the capital of Poland during the holidays. The Club is involved in Great Orchestra of the Christmas Charity and every year our volunteers break new records – just like the foundation of Jurek Owsiak. We also collect mementos primally related to public transport in Warsaw. Those collections are truly exceptional and are appreciated by our fans. They can see a real conductor’s hat or whole albums of photographs showing the revolutionary and unknown moments from history of our public transport.
We co-operate with numerous companies, institutions, foundations and associations. Since 1996 we have been under patronage of the Public Transport Authority of the capital city of Warsaw (ZTM – Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego). We own a collection of trams together with Warsaw Trams (TW – Tramwaje Warszawskie) and Urban Bus Company (MZA – Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe) has helped us several times in renovations and kindly gives us a place to store our buses. A major example of our cooperation are the Days of Public Transport when, in addition to aforementioned entities, we work with Suburban Trains of Warsaw and Underground of Warsaw and organise together the biggest rally about the matter of transport.
Our far-reaching plan includes building a proper museum of public transport (just like in Prague, Budapest or Zurich) and displaying the Club’s collections and all vehicles there. The information gathered during the Days of Public Transport shows, that this would be warmly welcomed by lots of people of all ages.
We do not lack motivation for further acting: we want to be better every day, renovate next historical treasures. The capstone of our efforts is the pleasant memory of our older passengers and the admiration of the younger ones. We kindly invite everybody to join our meetings. Come, see and find out, why is it worth it to join the Association of Public Transport Fans in Warsaw. We would also appreciate every kind of financial support which is necessary for proper renovations to be possible. Every donation will contribute to saving from oblivion lots of well-worth remembering vehicles.
