My Pet Peeves when Filming Bus Hyperlapses
Tags: My Pet Peeve, Public Transport, Singapore, Public Transit, Hobby

My Pet Peeves when Filming Bus Hyperlapses

Hi guys, Howard here. If you didn’t know, I have a YouTube channel called 3449 Hyperlapses, which specialises in fast forward views of the bus routes known to bus fans as hyperlapses (some would like to call it route visuals).

What you see in those videos may not be all rosy; the process behind filming such videos can be easily disrupted with unexpected encounters. Of course, I’m not the only one that does all these hyperlapse videos; there are even more bus fans that film bus routes having their own pet peeves too. So I’ve compiled all my pet peeves (and some from the community) when filming bus hyperlapses into one list. But of course, the list can be non-exhaustive.

Psst… don’t leave halfway though, stay till the end to read my ideal suggestion when recording bus hyperlapses. Or if you really have no time to read everything, just see the numbered points is enough.

These are some pet peeves I’ve personally faced when I’m filming bus hyperlapses:

1. People blocking your shot (Single Decker)

Hello! Can don’t so impatient or not???

Ah yes, this has to be the greatest pet peeve I’ve faced when recording hyperlapses on single decker buses. Yes, you read this right. This only happens on single decker buses because the front door, which is literally in front of the seat you record your hyperlapse at, has the highest passenger movement.

Don’t you get pissed off when someone is in your camera’s view when recording a hyperlapse? Geez, I thought many people in Singapore are very self-conscious when being captured by a camera? Or can’t they see someone pointing their camera towards you at the front door? That’s why people should fuck off from the shot as soon as possible, in case they try to pull the PDPA card on you. If they get angry for being captured inside your video, then it’s right of you to be angry at these people for blocking your shot. But when the bus is at the bus stop, then it’s acceptable for people to appear in your camera’s view because you’re going to cut off the stationary parts anyway.

You also another one! Cannot see got people recording hyperlapse is it?

Something more irritating would be when alighting passengers stand in front of the front door when the bus hasn’t reached the bus stop yet. COME ON! CAN YOU NOT BE SO DESPERATE TO GET OUT OF THE BUS? IT DOESN’T KILL YOU WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR SEAT ONLY WHEN THE BUS OPEN ITS DOORS! THERE’S ALSO A REAR DOOR FOR A REASON… Not only young or middle-aged people will be that impatient to come in front of the front door before the stop. Some OLD PEOPLE will also stand in front of the front door before the stop hor! Something I’ll do to try not to let them stand in front of the front door before their stops is to stretch my right leg so that they can’t go any further, haha! If they didn’t budge, I’ll have to tell them not to block my shot so that they can be more understandable. Sometimes you need to have that courage to give a little confront.

Walao, your thing so big until can block my shot leh!

But if you’re on a bus route that has a high demand, good luck when the bus is going to be full because people have nowhere but the space near the front door to stand at. You have no choice but to have these people be in your shot. Good luck to them when they see themselves in the video published online, haha! But if the bus still has enough space at the back, you still need that courage to tell them to move behind so that your shot will be void of such unnecessary obstacles.

Double decker buses are immune to this problem because you’re going to film the bus route from the upper deck anyway. Whether passengers stand in front of the front door or the lower deck is crowded, you won’t get your view blocked when you’re filming on a double decker bus. That’s also why when a bus route has both single decker and double decker buses in its fleet, many (including myself) will prefer to record on a double decker so that we won’t encounter such a problem.

2. Buses driving slowly

What else can irritate me when I’m recording hyperlapses? It doesn’t matter whether I’m on a single decker or a double decker bus. When my bus drives slowly on the road! When the bus is slow, the video will become longer, then viewers won’t be as interested to watch the whole video as a result. There are a few factors that causes your bus to drive slowly. For one, it’s on your bus driver; they are the ones that control the wheel so they can drive at whatever speeds possible. For two, it can be the front vehicles that drives slowly! Even if your driver wants to drive at whatever speed possible, they’re being bottlenecked by the front vehicles (I’m looking at you too, road cyclists…). But of course, some nasty drivers can use that chance to loosen up their speed behind the slower front vehicle such that the bus you’re on can crawl like a turtle… Otherwise, the driver could just simply change lanes.

Okay, to be fair, the traffic also plays a part in causing a bus journey to be a longer one. If you’re on a road with many traffic lights within a short interval, your bus may have to stop at every traffic light in the worst-case scenario! The time to wait for the light to turn green can add up to your journey, and it’ll snowball into an even longer journey time! If you’re on a road with a high volume of traffic, good luck trying to get through the traffic smoothly; it’s on your bus driver and the surrounding drivers.

3. People taking front seats away from you

Don’t you feel like lashing out at people who occupy the front seats when you want to record hyperlapses? It doesn’t matter if it’s a single decker or a double decker bus, there is bound to have some people in front of your queue to sit at the hyperlapse-suitable seats. It’ll piss you off more when you tapped your card and the person directly in front of you took that front seat. Even more if you have to pay express fares for that bus route. For single deckers, it’s the front seat directly behind the front door. For double deckers, you have two pairs of front seats on the upper deck to choose from; either pair is fine. To avoid that problem, you have to be the first in the queue when you’re at the first stop, then tap your card on the right card reader to get to the front seat the quickest way.

But if you’re intending to start your recording from an intermediate stop, chances of getting an unoccupied front seat is much slimmer. I mean… you can’t chase people out from their seats, right? It’ll only make both parties look bad. You have no choice but to wait until a bus arrives with an empty front seat.

4. Buses without a front seat (Single Decker)

I’m looking at you, SBS Transit and SMRT Buses… Certain single decker bus models in their fleet do not have a front seat on the left, such as the Euro 4 Scania K230UB, Mercedes-Benz OC500LE and sadly the new BYD K9. If the route you’re intending to record has a mixture of bus models, then you can wait until a bus model suitable for recording hyperlapses arrives. If it has a full fleet of these single decker buses mentioned, then you’re basically out of luck. You either have to wait for a bus model suitable for recording hyperlapses to make a cameo appearance on that bus route or use extra props such as a tripod so that you can record a hyperlapse on that bus route. Go-Ahead and Tower Transit are spared from this problem because all their single decker bus models are mostly suitable for recording hyperlapses. Heck, even the BYD C6 minibus also has front seats so that any bus fan can record a hyperlapse of route 825.

Although all double decker buses have front seats on the upper deck, it doesn’t entirely solve the problem of having nowhere to record hyperlapses. More on that in the later parts.

The list of pet peeves when filming bus hyperlapses doesn’t end here. There are also contributions from the community too. Here are more pet peeves from them:

5. Preparing to record but the bus driver denies you from recording (Single Decker)

You waited in the queue for your bus to come, you tapped your card upon entry, you sat at the front seat with your camera ready to film the hyperlapse, only to have the bus driver telling you that you cannot record on the bus. Why? We’re just documenting the bus route only, not compromising on your safety or security…

I’ve had such an encounter before and was slammed by other bus fans online until my pants dropped (ahem). But my friend, Bob, had it worse. On one occasion, Bob intended to record a feeder route that has a full single decker fleet. When he politely told an off-duty bus driver to move aside as he was blocking Bob’s shot, the on-duty bus driver told him not to record in the bus and even threatened him to the police. As Bob was in his school outfit, he had to comply as he didn’t want to bring down the image of his school. On another occasion, Bob intended to record an amended route that has a full OC500LE fleet. The moment he put his tripod beside the right card reader, it’s déjà vu but that bus driver threatened him to the interchange office instead. Bob was so traumatised to the point that he vowed not to record on that bus route and bus models that do not have a front seat.

You won’t get such nonsense when recording on a double decker bus, the bus driver probably won’t go to the upper deck just to stop you from recording as your camera is not capturing any element of the bus…

6. Dodge the raindrops! (Double Decker)

Doesn’t mean single decker buses have a lot of problems when recording hyperlapses then double decker buses do not have any problems. Truth is, recording hyperlapses on a double decker bus has its own set of problems. The most that can piss you off when recording on a double decker bus is its biggest enemy, the rain.

See the blurry parts? Those are the raindrops that blur my shot.

Unlike single decker buses which can wipe away the raindrops periodically, the upper deck windscreen does not have any wipers at all. It’s not like you can also wipe the raindrops away on the other side either. So when it rains on the windscreen, you have no choice but to… dodge the raindrops! The weather forecast has to be your best friend to tell you which part of the day is the best to record hyperlapses.

UPDATE: The weather forecast may not be completely reliable as the outcome may turn out to be different from what is shown.

7. Disruptive passengers

This one doesn’t only apply to only filming hyperlapses on buses. Any forms of disruptive activities can piss you off if you simply want to have a peaceful ride or film a bus ride.

The most common type of disruptive passenger has to be the noise pollutant. You can have people talking like a loudspeaker, blasting music loudly, or even singing in an unlikely scenario, that can disrupt the atmosphere of your ride. Okay, the noise pollution applies more to filming normal bus rides as any unnecessary noise source other than the bus’ motor will not be tolerated.

I’ve encountered another form of a disruptive passenger though; a little boy was standing too close to my camera when I was recording a hyperlapse and he almost touched my camera! Luckily, I nudged him away so that he doesn’t accidentally stop the recording, kinda. How about passengers who simply just chose to stand near the front door or the bus driver which blocks the shot when there’s so much space on the rest of the bus? So much space can stand at, only know how to stand near the front door, stupid one this one! Go back to point 1 to read my frustrations about people blocking my shot. Also, you’re disturbing the bus driver if you keep bombarding them questions when the bus is in motion. Cut them off some slack!

8. The upper deck windscreen (Double Decker)

The windscreen on the upper deck is either flat or curved, and it’s where you put your camera against to film hyperlapses on a double decker bus. Only certain double decker bus models are suitable for recording hyperlapses. A flat windscreen would be the best to prop your camera against though (MAN A95). Curved windscreens can be a mixed bag; I’m personally fine with recording hyperlapses on a Volvo B9TL with Wrightbus’ bodywork and an Alexander Dennis Enviro500 as their windscreens’ curvature isn’t too severe until I can’t prop my camera at all. In fact, most of my hyperlapses recorded on a double decker bus are on the Volvo B9TL, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Others may not share the same opinion as they can record hyperlapses differently; it’s a purely subjective matter. But we all can agree that Volvo B9TL with ComfortDelGro’s bodywork and the new Yutong E12DD are the worst double decker bus models to record a hyperlapse on; their windscreens are simply too curved!

The Yutong E12DD’s upper deck windscreen is so curved that recording a hyperlapse is almost impossible.

The problem doesn’t only end with the types of upper deck windscreens. In some cases, you’ll find that some parts of the upper deck windscreen are dirty. So that limits you on where to place your camera at, otherwise your camera’s vision will be unclear. Also, you can’t just wipe that dirt away easily as there’s no wipers for the upper deck. On buses with curved upper deck windscreens, you might also have ghosting formed from the reflection from the windscreen to the camera, regardless of any external light source. You may not notice such ghosting when you’re recording, but you will after you finished recording. That’s something single decker buses don’t need to worry about, haha.

9. Buses that vibrate vigorously

Doesn’t matter if you record on a single decker or a double decker bus; if you get one that vibrates like crazy, then it’s really unfortunate. It’s also not going to help if your camera has image stabilisation or not as the video will still turn out fuzzy. I personally feel that single decker buses have it worse as their shock impact will spread easily to my camera’s level which results in mostly shaky videos.

The Mercedes-Benz OC500LE not only has no front seats on the left, it also trembles like crazy even when I propped my camera onto a tripod.

This brought me back to the time when I recorded 860 when it was just extended to serve Yio Chu Kang Interchange (under SMRT Buses back then); a certain Mercedes-Benz Citaro I recorded on trembled worse than an average MAN A22 until I had to record on another Citaro so that the whole video won’t be ruined. Another instance would be on 700A; the Mercedes-Benz OC500LE trembled like crazy that even my camera setup also trembled along with the bus that I had to grip the setup in place to reduce the shock. I hardly get the same shakiness when I’m recording on double decker buses as the shock impact won’t reach the upper deck easily. But still, other bus fans may not think so, so it’s still subjective.

10. Judgy passengers

Whether you record hyperlapses on a single decker or a double decker bus, you’ll be judged by other passengers. More so on the former actually, you’re like pointing the camera towards them entering the bus when you’re actually trying to record the bus route! They are going to look at you as if you’re doing weird stuffs on the bus. In some cases, you’ll also have people bombarding you all sorts of questions, but mostly why are you recording on the bus.

11. Slow passenger movement

Why should I wait for so long? To some passengers, please don’t take your own sweet time to board and alight from the bus, okay? You think time can wait for you, but time doesn’t wait for us who record bus hyperlapses! We all also want to finish recording the video faster mah…

12. Can get tired from holding your camera for too long

Most bus fans would record hyperlapses on single decker buses like this. Your hands can feel tired one, you know.

If you’re only using your hands to grip your camera firmly while recording, you’re definitely going to feel tired after some time. The longer the bus route, the more tired your hands will feel. Surely you won’t want your hands to collapse on you halfway right? Good luck recording on 858. Some may use suction cups to hold their cameras in place if it’s on a single decker bus, but the suction may wobble the camera if there’s no hands to support it. Most bus fans would rather support their rubber cased phones against the windowed segment with their hands to record which in one way is easy to control the amount of impact.

Double decker buses mostly allow you to prop your camera easily so that your hands don’t get tired.

Double decker buses have it much easier; in most cases, you can easily prop your camera against the upper deck windscreen supported by your own box (not so big can already) so that your hands will only need to record the video.

13. When you accidentally reposition your camera

Don’t you feel the struggle when one minor move can cause a few frames of the route to be affected? Well, hopefully the accidental change of camera position will only be there for a few seconds of the route and won’t be too detrimental to the whole video then.

14. When your camera battery is running flat

Real struggle!!! Better video quality or longer battery endurance; you can only choose one. I mostly use my DSLR as my main camera to record on double decker buses for its better video quality, but it has a terrible battery endurance to the point that I always have to bring along a spare battery to swap midway of the route. If the bus route is extremely long, even 2 fully charged batteries aren’t enough to last the whole journey! When both batteries become flat, I have to use my phone as a backup camera to record the remaining portions, just that I have to support my phone with my hands to prevent it from falling. Actually, for single decker buses, I always use my phone to record so battery endurance is not an issue as my phone has a much better endurance than that of 2 camera batteries combined.

In the worst-case scenario, if all your recording devices died halfway, you can’t record the rest of the route and your trip becomes wasted. Then you’ll have to come on another day.

So then, what are the ideal factors and bus models when filming bus hyperlapses?



Firstly, if the bus route you intend to record has a mixed fleet of bus models, choose a double decker. Here are the current bus models suitable for filming hyperlapses in no particular order (sorry if I missed out on some models):

Ideal

MAN A95

Volvo B9TL (Wrightbus)

BYD C6 (exclusive to 825)

Decent

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (Batch 1)

Mercedes-Benz Citaro

MAN A22

MAN A24

Scania K230UB (Euro 5)

Yutong E12

Volvo B5LH

Avoid

Volvo B9TL (CDGE)

BYD K9

Scania K230UB (Euro 4)

Mercedes-Benz OC500LE

Yutong E12DD

Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (Batch 2)

Secondly, timing is your best friend. You’ll want to film a hyperlapse when there’s not too many people onboard the bus and not too much traffic, so weekday off peak hours should be the most suitable timing to record a hyperlapse. For certain routes operating only in peak hours, you have no choice but to film them during their operating period.

Thirdly, the weather forecast is also your best friend if you’re intending to film from the upper deck so that you don’t need to dodge the raindrops! Also, queue early and be observant so that you can ensure yourself a front seat to record a hyperlapse. Last but not least, remember to fully charge your batteries ah!

Of course, another ideal factor would be that no one absolutely blocks your shot at all! But that’s something you may or not be able to control since the onus is on those passengers.

I can’t help if you think I sound selfish while writing this story, but this is just a perspective from a bus fan who films bus hyperlapses. I’m sure many bus fans who film their bus hyperlapses will also share the same or similar sentiments when filming hyperlapses, but I can’t force anyone else to share the same sentiments as us. We just want to produce our own content for our viewers, you know. But at least now you know all the frustrations we’ve had from filming bus hyperlapses. Howard out!