Buses never makes money why.

[BaoBaB]

I tried but i can't seem to make money with buses. I do the clock counter clock scenario . I have a hunch i put too many stops, need some help in figuring this out. How many bus per town do you put, do you go by the number of stops or the frequency, thanks for your time.

[Autocoach]

Well you are trying to do a least three things with buses.
1. Bring people onto your trains and take people to their final destination from the station
2. Enable town growth by having coverage of all buildings .
3. Make money .

For me #3 is much less important than the first two which aid the town to town train routes as I am rolling in money from trains .

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2104016524


Also the fastest bus around town may not be the best as it will slow to stop and for traffic.





A guide from TpF1 which holds fairly true here .

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1084787993&searchtext=buses

[BaoBaB]

This is one of my city a typical set for my towns. 8 stations for a 642 people and 20 buses CW and 20 CCW so 40 buses for the 8 station one for the train and one for the airport.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2104021716

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2104021672

[fux_oki]

Originally posted by BaoBaB:

I do the clock counter clock scenario.

One of the worst "tactics" youtubers introduce to beginners. Also the opinion buses shouldn't/can't make profit.

Back to topic:
There is no "too many stops". I made the best experience with on every street* one station on the left and on the right lane, but the key is how you set up your lines.
*There a short and long street. Long streets are separated by a thin white lane in the middle or somewhere else -> so they are two streets.

How many buses per line? Depends on the demand. Watch and react.

What I am doing:

1) I put on every junction stations** -> so there will be 3 or 4 stations on a (T-)junction.
2) Then I set up the lines like this: At 1850 max. 4 bus/tram stops are used by a line for residential area (there and back in total 8). Only straight lines, when possible. Then the commercial and the industry line grab from the last residential bus stop the passenger (Like: Collector and Taker). So they have to overlap, otherwise they walk to the buildings.
3) Watch and react -> buy additional buses. Lines make loses? Improve or delete.
** Why not on every street as written above? With stops at just every junction you will have places for cargo stops and waypoints (very important!). With stops on every street, you will have no place for anything. -> Then you have to build a cargo station for big money.

With this tactic I get ~65-70 % line usage in a town; in very small towns ~50-55%; no priavte cars/carriages; every single line profitable; 0 to -10% emission.

You can also look at the guides in steam.

Post a screenshot of one town, with a activated layer where you see the 3 types of areas and I will draw some lines.

One example: https://ibb.co/sbQ2j1W (repainted the lines with MS paint so they are more recognizable)

[BaoBaB]

Originally posted by fux_oki:

Originally posted by BaoBaB:

I do the clock counter clock scenario.

One of the worst "tactics" youtubers introduce to beginners. Also the opinion buses shouldn't/can't make profit.

Back to topic:
There is no "too many stops". I made the best experience with on every street* one station on the left and on the right lane, but the key is how you set up your lines.
*There a short and long street. Long streets are separated by a thin white lane in the middle or somewhere else -> so they are two streets.

How many buses per line? Depends on the demand. Watch and react.

What I am doing:

1) I put on every junction stations** -> so there will be 3 or 4 stations on a (T-)junction.
2) Then I set up the lines like this: At 1850 max. 4 bus/tram stops are used by a line for residential area (there and back in total 8). Only straight lines, when possible. Then the commercial and the industry line grab from the last residential bus stop the passenger (Like: Collector and Taker). So they have to overlap, otherwise they walk to the buildings.
3) Watch and react -> buy additional buses. Lines make loses? Improve or delete.
** Why not on every street as written above? With stops at just every junction you will have places for cargo stops and waypoints (very important!). With stops on every street, you will have no place for anything. -> Then you have to build a cargo station for big money.

With this tactic I get ~65-70 % line usage in a town; in very small towns ~50-55%; no priavte cars/carriages; every single line profitable; 0 to -10% emission.

You can also look at the guides in steam.

Post a screenshot of one town, with a activated layer where you see the 3 types of areas and I will draw some lines.

One example: https://ibb.co/sbQ2j1W (repainted the lines with MS paint so they are more recognizable)

Will do ; you must have lots of bus lines for every city i would imagine.

[larry_roberts]

'Buses never make money', not true all my bus lines make money (I'am not saying every individual bus makes money all the time) , but the bus routes make money!. I used (in Transport Fever) to make bus routes from (and around) one town then run it to a neighbouring town and do the same there (that was the only way to make money out of them)!. With Transport Fever 2 I make local bus routes just around one town, and they still make money!. Bus services need to compliment and connect to rail stations, and people will use them!. If a bus route is losing money think about reducing the number of buses or changing the bus type to one that's cheaper to run. If there is a lot of traffic in town bus lanes might be the answer!. I don't make a fortune from buses, but if they make a small profit (medium game level I play) then I'am quite happy, I'm even making a profit from passenger aircraft (something I found very difficult in Transport Fever)!. I'm even making money from a Hovercraft route!.

[Romulus]

When you place a bus stop it shows you the catchment area highlighted. There isn't much need to overlap catchment areas very much.

Probably your passenger usage is too small and there are enough stops that the maintenance drain outruns the ticket income. You could try spacing out stops more. Probably your people don't want to use the buses either because they are too slow and they'd rather drive :)

Honestly bus lines are my more profitable lines especially early to mid game.