Can you please please please at minimum if you can't do BRT can you do a rapid bus. It is BRT with no lanes just fast boarding times traffic signal prioritization and well rounded buses. An example is the futura is a good example. It is based off a real BRT bus and the features in the game are like a rapid bus the instant card reader ok capacity and good speed and fuel economy. This could be a start. High level BRT is hard to create in to the current game which I understand but this could get you a good start. A huge problem with all of the CIMS is the lack of unique transportation methods. You always get this 2D generic simple boring modes of transport no unique ones nothing interesting. It is a one sided view and what a non transport person would define each mode as. A transport enthusiast would give a better definition of it. The modes seem clinical, boring, straight forward limited, not well thought very brief. If there is one tip I can give for CIM 3 (if you are doing one) it is to make real transit system not just the 2D bare minimum basics. BRT, O-bahn, s-bahn, translohr, rapid bus, light rail, PRT, etc those are the types of transport methods you need. You claimed before CIM 2 was released that it was going to be modern day and futuristic era of moving people around with complex modes of transport with many features to enhance the each simple mode. Sadly instead the future and a good bit of modern public transport systems in the modern world and the way they should of been in the game make unique complex methods of transportation they forget about the budget and the basics. For CIM 3 there should be a transit editor that lets you modify each type of transport to your needs. Speed limits where the lanes should be if cars are aloud in it which times of the day to which buses do what anything to edit each mode of transport for each line.
Back to CIM2. Can you try to still make that metro patch if I want trains to share stations for easy transfers you have to make them stop at the same station and on one of my maps I have 3 lines serving one 2 track station!! If you did the 4 track island platforms or the CIM 1 dlc with the stations that connected but had separate tracks that would ease the squeeze for station and train overcrowding and train tailbacks.
The next thing that the game needs is an HUGE HUGE HUGE improvement to the bus lanes. To start a fo brt network can you make the option of 2 way roads and avenues to have two way bus lanes running in the center of the road and on the left of right side of the road. Ex Las Vegas and Cleveland. And if you do this which you should you need to make those roads with to bus lanes in the middle restricted to cars. Can you have the option for default bus lane roads to have to option for a no turn zone because you spend the time and the money on making bus lanes for congested areas and cars start to uses it as a turning lane which makes sense sometimes but the bus lane therefore has a tail back with cars in it that's just madness. The bus lane just is a colorful normal car lane. When you pay the money to convert to a bus lane you are just paying to paint the inside lane red that is all it is not for buses rather just to make your city cute.
Can you make separate 2 lane bus roads which you already have in avenue and standard form have a 3 bus long pull of area when you place a stop. This would prevent "local" buses interfering with "express" buses. If you do this can the front of the pull of be longer almost like a second lane so the when the bus leaves the stop it has time to gain speed and merge instead of directly cutting of the fast moving express buses who were trying to overtake the bus that just cut the express off. That would be great if you could do that.
I and many others are a big fan of BRT and it makes sense why because many countries are turning to it because of all its great features cheap, eco friendly, fast, flexible, comfortable, and much more. Transit agencies are turning away from LRT because of its expenses and lack of flexibility. Most of the Workshop and default cities are perfectly suited for BRT and if you can do some MINOR updates and SMALL dlcs you will be fine. Make another bus dlcs which has remakes of many current BRT buses around new flyer, NABI, Nova, gillig, etc. Make it well rounded like the futura which is a BRT spec bus. Make only those buses have the ability for boarding at ALL doors and do the bus lane update and that is a really good start.
These ideas are really simple but make a huge impact for all the customers and how they play your game. Bus lanes center of road or on side. Arrows painted on road only point straight and all the lanes on each side of it point straight or right turn. The citizens path finding for five buses and only five tell them to go in any of the 3 doors. That is pretty simple and necessary for the game. The tools we get in the game to make mass transit systems are VERY VERY limited and get become very flawed after you start using them more and more. After you have trouble getting Paradox to publish bigger dlcs like new transit types the only time we can get them are when a new game comes out which means you cant use them when you needed them. In other words wait every year or other year for the new transit methods which you will not be able to apply because the whole game concept of the sequel is drastically different than the previous one.
I think my idea is needed and idle because of the fact it is a small update for the roads and a common 5 vehicle dlc which has people boarding at different doors not a huge problem there. Right. Worst case you can make the lane update come with the vehicle dlcs. The vehicles are there waiting to be used. New Flyer restyled BRT artic, NOVA LFS artic, Wright Streetcar, and a gillig BRT spec for a smaller bus. All the buses would be well rounded like the futura and you are done. No need for the other BRT features in my first post but at the same time you have all the essentials for a high quality BRT system that makes the service faster and BRT like but doesn't include crazy complex to program minor features of a BRT like mentioned in my first post. This is the key to start improving on modes of transport in CIM 2 you need to do it.
