It has been claimed that the term originated in America as 'omnibus boy', a boy employed to do everything ('omni') in a restaurant including setting and clearing tables, filling glasses, taking used dishes to the kitchen, etc.

What does bussing mean?

The definition of bussing, commonly spelled as busing, is transporting a group of people in a communal vehicle. An example of bussing is when school children are loaded into a vehicle and taken on a school trip.

Is it bussing or busing tables?

Busses was the preferred form in Merriam-Webster dictionaries until 1961. As for the verb bus—which may mean either "to transport someone in a bus" or "to remove dirty dishes from [as from a table]"—we do recognize bussed and bussing as variants. But the decision to buss a customer's table could cost you your job.