How do I use buses?

[anti678]

Am I supposed to use a bus line to take people from point a to point b and then bring the bus back to the terminal or am i supposed to pick people up, bring them back to the terminal and then have them hop on another bus to get to their destination?

[MaxFX]

- First you build a bus depot. This gives you access to the bus-line tool.
- Then you create a line using the bus-line tool. This line must always be closed (i.e. the last stop must be connected to the first stop)
- The bus depot is not part of any busline, it simply holds the buses for all your lines.
- After the line is completed, buses will be assigned and follow the route automatically. They will leave the bus depot.
- Whenever you choose to use less buses for a line, or when you delete a line, the buses will go back to the depot.

[_KC76_]

To add to this, there are 2 kinds of Buses: Route based buses that you assign a route with stops, and Intercity Buses .. The Intercity Bus Terminal is a place for the intercity bus to come to from other cities (off-map) .. You can make Route buses stop here, but you do not NEED to.

Edit: You can use the Intercity Bus Terminal as a Transport Hub, having it kinda Central, and then making your Assigned Route buses use this as a transfer/hub .. then you can make those Assigned routes go to different sections of your city and complete their "local routes". For the Assigned Route buses, I try to make my bus stops about 2 blocks apart, when using 12-15 tile blocks, or one stop per block if using 20 tile blocks, and then I try to run the buses up every-other street, off-setting the stops on the second street by one block (attempt to visualize a 10x10 block city, starting at bottom, going from left to right, bus stops at blocks 1, 3, 5 .. bus turns left, then left on the third street, and stops on blocks 4 and 2, then bus turn right, then right on to 5th street, and again, stops on blocks 1, 3, and 5 ..and so on).

[_KC76_]

Another tip: always make your Bus Route in "pairs" .. same Route, same stop locations, opposite sides of street, one clock-wise, one counter-clock-wise .. cims always take shortest Path, if long bus ride around 5 blocks is longer than walking.driving , they will not ride bus.

[Tsubame ⭐]

There are many ways to build transit lines and whichever is best is up to you.

Usually something along the lines of A > B > C > D and then do the reverse order, with stops in the opposite side of the street, is quite easy to implement, and ensures people can go back and forth.

People will switch to other lines along the way, so no need to provide multiple lines from a specific neighborhood. Again, this is quite flexible, and connectivity can be done through a grid, with lines crisscrossing each other, and/or with lines converging to a bus at a central transit hub. You can also provide multiple lines covering a certain zone - i.e. local/express service, lines that serve the same street for part of the way and then go separate ways, and so on.