Bus system overhaul

[Voeille]

I like using busses. The stops don’t create constant noise pollution unlike other transport options so I can have them in residential areas, and it’s convenient to just create lines without the need to build tracks. However, I would like to be able to control them more. One thing I would like is two additional types of bus depots – for double decker busses that would fit 60 people, and for articulated busses (the long ones that bend) that would fit 90 of them. They would be more expensive than small busses, and the budget of a line that uses them would need to be bigger too. You would be able to set the amount of busses with a slider – for example, if a line has 16 busses, you could set 8 as double decker ones, 5 articulated, and 3 normal ones, which would help with busier lines.

Another thing that would be useful is setting the stop as “by request”. Some stops in my country (and all stops in the UK for all I know) require you to press a button inside the bus if you want to get off at the next stop, or give a signal with your hand if you’re at that stop and want to get on. If you don’t do that, the bus would just ignore the stop. In the game it would be great for less busy lines, because I have noticed that sometimes there isn’t anyone waiting or wanting to get off and the bus is just wasting time (and might slow down other busses if the stop is shared). With that option, you could mark certain stops (or all of them if you wanted), so busses would just ignore them if there isn’t anyone using them when they pass by.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

I've been meaning to post about this for awhile now.

I have used bigger buses in the past, and really liked them.
These ones I think:
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/...edfileid=0&browsesort=textsearch&section=home

I would see regular buses and these buses, mixed at random I'd guess. Really liked it, but would prefer to have some control.

If we could have buses like these as vanilla, and have a control mechanism so bigger buses could be directed to busier routes, that would be great.

My first thought was this:

It would give you the option of selecting which size buses would appear on any route. Small (current CS bus), Medium, and Large (the articulated bus). Here you could select any combination.

-

The next idea (which I like better) was this:

Using a slider. Fully to the left would be only small buses, the middle would result in only medium sized buses, and fully to the right would be only large buses.
The slider is shown about midway between small and medium, and would result in about a 50-50 mix of small and medium buses.

(This would change the 30/30 indicators at right to include the other bus sizes, but I didn't edit that. Just wanted to show possible controls for the different size buses.)

 

[Voeille]

That’s a definitely busy line, bigger busses would definitely need to be used there

As for sliders, I would prefer more precise control though – 3 additional sliders that would let you set a number of busses of each type for a line.

 

[Steve B.]

There is the Improved Public Transport mod that allows you to select the bus type and the amount of them on each line. I have always used it, but I turned it off recently to try the MT improvements to bus line control. But I much prefer the options the mod gives me.

 

[28rommel]

Another thing that would be useful is setting the stop as “by request”. Some stops in my country (and all stops in the UK for all I know) require you to press a button inside the bus if you want to get off at the next stop, or give a signal with your hand if you’re at that stop and want to get on. If you don’t do that, the bus would just ignore the stop. In the game it would be great for less busy lines, because I have noticed that sometimes there isn’t anyone waiting or wanting to get off and the bus is just wasting time (and might slow down other busses if the stop is shared). With that option, you could mark certain stops (or all of them if you wanted), so busses would just ignore them if there isn’t anyone using them when they pass by.

Wow.
I have never seen a bus stop with absolutely no need to stop, for drop-off or pick-up of passengers, in my game.
It would be amazing to see that. The only thing I can think of why this is happening to you, is that you are placing your bus stops to close to one another, so that is why some bus stops have "no purpose." If this is the case in your in-game city, you may want to delete every other bus stop along your routes.

Edit to add: I just thought of something else. The problem may not be that your bus stops are too close to one another (too many of them), but that you may have too many buses on this route. If that makes more sense for your situation, then you may want to decrease the amount of buses on that specific bus route only.

 

[28rommel]

I've been meaning to post about this for awhile now.

I have used bigger buses in the past, and really liked them.
These ones I think:
http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/...edfileid=0&browsesort=textsearch&section=home

I would see regular buses and these buses, mixed at random I'd guess. Really liked it, but would prefer to have some control.

If we could have buses like these as vanilla, and have a control mechanism so bigger buses could be directed to busier routes, that would be great.

My first thought was this:

View attachment 309653

It would give you the option of selecting which size buses would appear on any route. Small (current CS bus), Medium, and Large (the articulated bus). Here you could select any combination.

-

The next idea (which I like better) was this:

View attachment 309654

Using a slider. Fully to the left would be only small buses, the middle would result in only medium sized buses, and fully to the right would be only large buses.
The slider is shown about midway between small and medium, and would result in about a 50-50 mix of small and medium buses.

(This would change the 30/30 indicators at right to include the other bus sizes, but I didn't edit that. Just wanted to show possible controls for the different size buses.)

I like your ideas here, Fox.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

The only time I have really had no reason for the bus to stop is when I made a route out around an area that I built roads for but had not zoned yet.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

So here is another option for selecting how many of each bus size would be running on any given route.

Again, I didn't change the 30/30 (I would expect at least 90 for the large bus, they could be 30, 60, 90. Or some other value. The ones I used were higher.). I just wanted to show a UI idea for selecting the number of buses of each size, in this case no small or medium, and 30 large.

 

[Voeille]

Yes, that’s how I’d imagine the settings too.

I think some of my lines do have stops relatively close, I’ll probably have to look at it and remove some if there really isn’t anyone using them.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

Another possibility, giving control over sizes day and night. You can make them the same or different.

In this case, the same number of buses around the clock, but switching from large buses in the day time to small buses at night.

 

[Steve B.]

Have you found any benefit to different day and night schedules? I've never used them because the nighttime also includes the evening when I need good bus coverage. If nighttime were say between 11PM and 6AM, I could probably use it.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

Have you found any benefit to different day and night schedules? I've never used them because the nighttime also includes the evening when I need good bus coverage. If nighttime were say between 11PM and 6AM, I could probably use it.

Not really. I just knew it was there.

I have been running 24 hour daylight, because although night looks cool, I find it harder to build. So I just leave the sun up all day.

 

[Voeille]

I don’t really use the day/night budget differences or schedules. For all I’ve noticed, busses do seem less busy at night, but I’ve never tried to do anything about it.

I also find hard to build at night, however I still want the night to be present. The best solution I’ve found so far is the Ultimate Eyecandy mod, which lets you set the speed of the day/night cycle. During the day I set it to 1/4 (I would go with 1/8 but then it gets buggy and the cycle goes backwards), and at night to 2x so it’s not as long as vanilla. It’s a bit annoying because I need to do it every time manually, but better than the vanilla long nights. It’d be best if the devs included the slider to set the length of the day and night, not just the whole cycle. I think I’ll post a separate thread about it.

 

[feinetwo]

Speaking of buses, and an overhaul, could school buses be added. I don't necessarily want them to work like SimCity buses where you have to draw out the route. I would think the game could somehow generate routes within a school's zone. The residents outside of the zone would have to find alternative methods of getting to school. In addition, it would be nice to include a student info view so we can identify the most densely populated areas with students.

I am not completely opposed to drawing routes for the buses, but would at least like for the school to operate with or without in that case. I remember in SimCity release the school wouldn't operate without you drawing routes for the buses to pick up students.

 

[Fox_NS_CAN]

I wouldn't be opposed to having school buses, but I would not want to have to draw the routes.

 

[feinetwo]

Wow.
I have never seen a bus stop with absolutely no need to stop, for drop-off or pick-up of passengers, in my game.
It would be amazing to see that. The only thing I can think of why this is happening to you, is that you are placing your bus stops to close to one another, so that is why some bus stops have "no purpose." If this is the case in your in-game city, you may want to delete every other bus stop along your routes.

Edit to add: I just thought of something else. The problem may not be that your bus stops are too close to one another (too many of them), but that you may have too many buses on this route. If that makes more sense for your situation, then you may want to decrease the amount of buses on that specific bus route only.

You can always delete bus stops on the route or adjust the distance apart by dragging them up or down the block.