How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

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How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

August 26, 2009, 10:55:12 am

Hello! How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

I'm running a small, simple savegame with small towns and few bus routes. I usually add one or two buses to a route when it is over 90% loaded. Yet I don't know if it is a good method. Some of my buses even suffer a loss.

Re: How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

Reply #1 – August 26, 2009, 11:46:46 am

If your 'busses are suffering a loss, then you probably have too many.

Re: How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

Reply #2 – August 26, 2009, 09:47:47 pm

I usually wait until I get a crowded message before I add extra buses. When I get crowded messages I look at travelled and free capacity, and if free capacity is close to travelled or higher I add buss stop capacity. If free capacity is lower or I've already tried adding bus stop capacity I add extra busses. I don't worry too much if individual busses on a busy route suffer losses as they can cluster up and the last one in the cluster gets very few p****engers. I run bus routes from one train station per city, with each bus route having roughly 4 or 5 stops.

If you are running bus routes with only two stations, its probably good to add buses when the route is over 90% loaded, however watch for uneven loading in bigger networks. For instance if you are linked to train stations where a couple trains from longer distance might add a couple thousand p****engers to keep your bus routes busy for a while before there is a gap with no p****engers until the next train or three arrives.

Re: How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

Reply #3 – August 27, 2009, 06:35:04 pm

It seems majority of my Simutrans hours are spent fiddling local bus routes

Here is my standard strategy (Pak128):

For my Intra-city bus lines, Main p****enger rail station serves as bus terminal.

Type 1 route: T (terminal) - stops A - B - C - D - E - D - C - B - A - T.
Start with smaller bus, replace with larger capacity bus then either
(a) get 2nd bus, time it so one is around E when the other enters T. (But traffic will usually disrupt precise coordination.)
(b) divide into 2 or more routes: T - A - B - C return and T - D - E return.
(c) if still crowded add 2nd or 3rd buses to (b). (Depending on overcrowding, usually due to ignoring the situation while working on other locations)

Type 2 route: LOOP line: T - A - B - C - D - E - T - E - D - C - B - A - T.
This type of route is often very effective, picking up Terminal bound p****engers from the first stop if there is room.
When the first bus becomes crowded regularly, the 2nd is added to coordinate with the 1st but in reverse - 1st bus at 1st T, 2nd bus at 2nd (middle) T.
Depending on overcrowding, sometimes 3rd or more buses or dividing the line is necessary (eg T-A-B-C-T-C-B-A-T and T-D-E-T-E-D-T).

As the city grows, there are other options:
TRAM - they are unaffected by road traffic so can be much faster to destinations and back. Another bonus: Trams can share bus stops, so they can
be set to wait for whatever percentage loading, while buses can keep on entering/leaving the same stop.

BRANCH RAIL LINE - as the city grows larger, build local branch lines from the main intercity rail station to the farther parts of the city and running buses
from those stations as above.
I guess now we can start considering underground metros too. (I don't know if I will start going underground yet).

Hope some of this helps.

Re: How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

Reply #4 – August 27, 2009, 09:50:05 pm

I usually add the number of p****engers waiting at the stops (and travelling by that line of course). If it's more than twice the capacity, I double the number of busses on the line (or alternatively upgrade to busses with higher speed or capacity). Once I have 4 busses on a line in city traffic, I split it in four seperate lines. Once I have 8 busses on a line connecting two cities I replace them by trains.

Re: How do you decide when to add more buses to a bus route?

Reply #5 – August 31, 2009, 11:21:47 pm

I check the graph at stations along the route. If there are more UNHAPPY in the graph, then there are capacity or other issues with the route.

I also tend to look at the Lines window, with:
- traveled
- free capacity
- profit

If it looks like this:
Free Capacity
Traveled
Profit

Then I'm not keen to add vehicles.

If it looks like:
Profit
Traveled
Free Capacity

Then there's a case for adding vehicles.

-d