What does bussing mean?
Bussing is the practice of transporting people by bus, and it occupies a distinctive place in modern English chiefly because of its role in American history. In its most prominent sense, it refers to the conveyance of schoolchildren to schools outside their own neighbourhoods, a policy adopted widely in the United States during the late 1960s and 1970s as a means of achieving racial integration in public education. Court-ordered bussing provoked intense political debate and remains a loaded term in discussions of civil rights and education policy. Beyond that historical weight, the word has ordinary everyday uses: it can describe any bus-based transportation scheme, and as the present participle of the verb 'bus' it appears in the common phrase 'bussing tables', meaning clearing dishes in a restaurant. Spelling varies between 'bussing' and 'busing'; American style guides typically prefer the single-s form, partly to avoid confusion with the archaic verb 'buss', meaning to kiss. Whether read in a history book or on a café shift schedule, bussing is a small word that carries considerable cultural freight.
The action or practice of transporting people by bus, especially the transportation of schoolchildren to achieve racial balance in schools.
"The city's bussing programme began after the federal courts intervened."
In American usage strongly associated with school desegregation efforts of the 1960s–70s; spelled 'busing' in many US style guides.
Present participle of 'bus': conveying passengers by bus, or clearing and wiping down tables in a restaurant.
"The children were bussing across town to a newly integrated school."
The double-s spelling once caused real confusion: some 1970s American newspapers printed 'bussing', accidentally suggesting students were being kissed rather than transported.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bussing
The word derives from 'bus', itself a clipped form of 'omnibus', a Latin dative plural meaning 'for all', which named the horse-drawn passenger vehicles introduced in early nineteenth-century France before the term transferred to motor buses. As a gerund and present participle, bussing formed naturally within English. A separate, unrelated word 'buss', meaning a kiss, existed in English from roughly the sixteenth century, giving rise to an obsolete sense of 'bussing' as kissing; the shared spelling is coincidental rather than etymological.
Related word forms
How bussing is actually used
Spelling varies: American sources often prefer 'busing' with a single s, partly to avoid confusion with 'bussing' as an obsolete term for kissing, while British usage favours the doubled consonant. The word carries strong historical connotations in the US, where it is inseparable from debates over school desegregation following court orders in the 1960s and 1970s. In restaurant contexts, 'bussing' is informal register.
Easily confused with bussing
'Bussing' and 'busing' are variant spellings of the same word — 'bussing' is more common in British English while 'busing' is preferred in American style guides such as Merriam-Webster.
From the archaic verb 'buss' meaning to kiss, a separate word entirely; this older sense of 'bussing' is now rare and largely obsolete.