Transportation

A harbor and cruise ship, one example of transportation in Cities: Skylines.

Transportation is one of the services in Cities: Skylines. There are many modes of transportation which are unlocked through milestones; you can set up a bus network, dig metro tunnels, lay down tracks for passenger and cargo trains, build both passenger and cargo terminals for ships and build an airport. Bus and metro networks are for inner city transport while train network can service both inner-city and intercity needs (both passenger and cargo trains). The harbors and the airport service intercity connections.

The different modes of transportation are suitable for different purposes, and together make it possible to build a dense network of public transportation across your city. The budget of each mode of transportation can be adjusted separately in the Economy menu. Public transport increases land value and, if built correctly, reduces traffic congestion. To make the education efficient, you need to provide public transportation to education buildings. Offices and universities are the most demanding buildings for public transport, industry the least demanding (supposing all workers are using their cars).

The Traffic Manager mod in its latest version shows the efficiency of the public transportation.

If traffic congestion is too severe, the unmodded game will unspawn vehicles to reduce the congestion. This will also unspawn your goods from the city, causing problems for your commercial and industrial zones, and in the worst case denying fuel to your power plants and unspawning service vehicles.

Airports

There are several types of airports. The first type is the airport that comes with the base game. It becomes available at the "Metropolis" milestone. It has 3 gates (4 jetways) and a single runway. Its terminal is blue and has a curved shape roof-line on a simple rectangular building, seemingly based around Washington DC's international airport, Dulles or Helsinki Airport's terminal 2. The second type is the "International Airport", which is included with the After Dark DLC and the third type is the "Cargo Airport", which comes with the Industries DLC, all of which are discussed below. There is also a Metropolitan Airport included in the Sunset Harbor DLC.

When you create an airport, airplanes will automatically path to it; the player does not need to create any routes. However, the map needs to have some pre-existing airplane paths that the airport will connect to. Airports can be difficult to place, because they need very flat land to be placed. Even slight slopes prevent placement, or can cause it to look quite bad. The international airport is even larger, increasing the difficulty of placement.

Each plane has a capacity of 200 passengers. Airports will bring tourists and business people to your city. Construction requires the metropolis milestone. Place public transportation lines, such as buses, metro stations, train stations, tram stops, and monorail stations, near your airport to help prevent tourists from using cars. The planes landing and taking off from the airport appear to be modeled on the real-life Airbus A380, although the A380 has over twice the seating capacity as displayed in the game.

International Airport

The second type of passenger airport is only available in the After Dark expansion, and is the "International Airport". It becomes available at the "Megalopolis" milestone. It is a big right-angle shaped terminal with 8 gates, 2 perpendicular runways and it has a metro station inside of it. The International Airport increases greatly the number of tourists which travel to the city by increasing the number of planes. The built-in metro station will increase greatly the use of public transportation compared to the classic airport.

Metropolitan Airport

Metropolitan Airport is the third type of passenger airport, which was added in the Sunset Harbor expansion. It becomes available at the "Megalopolis" milestone. Metropolitan Airport is the largest building in Cities: Skylines so far. It contains 2 runway and 8 gates as well. This hub wraps together an international airport, two underground metro stations and two landing pads for the passenger helicopters.

Cargo Airports

The "Industries" expansion DLC added two cargo airports to allow for air transport of cargo.

The Cargo Airport allows for cargo to be transferred between trucks and cargo planes.

The Cargo Airport Hub functions like the Cargo Airport, but consumes more water and electricity, and has a greater cost and upkeep. In addition to cargo planes and truck access, the hub also includes a cargo train terminal within the airport.

Airport Areas

Main article: Airport Areas

Airport areas allow the building of large passenger and cargo airports using runways, taxiways, and player built terminals.

Blimp

Each blimp has a capacity of 35 passengers. You need to mark Pathways for the blimps to travel. Blimps fly from stop to stop and need a route to the Depot. Pathways are two-way, and act like virtual roads in the air for Blimps. Stops need a road connection, but other than that, can freely be placed anywhere on the map. Depots need to be connected to roads as well, but can send vehicles to any line they have a Pathway connection with.

As an extra benefit, there is space on the sides of Blimps for advertisements. By default they show ads from various in-game companies, but if the player wants to use these spaces to benefit their city, the “Educational Blimps” policy can be enabled to change the advertisements to educational posters, boosting the city’s education slightly.

Bus

See also: Sightseeing Bus

Buses are the first mode of public transportation available to the player in Cities: Skylines, and the cheapest. Similarly to trains, buses can be used for both local and intercity connections. Before one can set up local bus routes, a bus depot needs to be constructed.

Blocking and Bus Lanes

Buses can form cheap and effective transportation links, however care must be taken. Stopped buses may block traffic, including other buses. This is especially a problem on two-lane two-way roads, which have only one lane each way. While there are exceptions, bus lines should always return along the same path as lines that do not may force people to drive in one direction (as they cannot take a convenient bus route back). Bus stops should not be too close to an intersection — even a roundabout — because they can block the lane, or even block the intersection while passengers board the bus. Also, if bus spawns are too close, the buses will not be efficient. To help with this problem, there are roads with bus lanes. There are two classes of bus lanes that are used on certain road types:

• Bus-priority lanes (simply called bus lanes in-game) allow buses, taxis, emergency vehicles, and vehicles that need to turn right at an intersection.

• Bus-only lanes are stricter, only allowing buses and responding emergency vehicles to use them. Pedestrian streets with bus-only lanes also allow hearses.

Bus Lengths

In Vehicles of the World, the Minibus and Double Decker Bus are shorter, and thus a few of them can fit in a single bus stop without blocking traffic. Contrary to this, the Bendy Bus and Super Bendy Bus are too long for a bus stop, and may block traffic if the player isn’t careful.

Bus Costs

Each bus costs ₡12 to run, regardless of the distance or number of stops it uses. Certain bus types (such as airport buses from the Airports expansion) carry more people but the cost still remains the same.

Bus Depots

See also: Sightseeing Bus Depot

This is quite expensive (₡30,000 standard, ₡40,000 for biofuel); however, a single bus depot can spawn 125,000 buses, so a single depot is sufficient for smaller cities. Larger cities may require more depots to avoid temporary localized congestion of empty buses en route to their first stops.

Also, an in-game day is not long enough to let buses reach their destination from only one bus depot. This can be remedied by building additional bus depots or using Steam Workshop modifications.

Biofuel Bus Depots are more expensive to build, cannot spawn most bus models, and have a higher upkeep cost than a standard Bus Depot. Benefits of the Biofuel Bus Depot are less space required, lower noise pollution, and less water and electricity consumption. They spawn Biofuel buses, which have the same capacity as a regular bus, but are quieter.

Bus Lines and Stops

To create bus lines, place bus stops along roads anywhere in the city. Continue to place bus stops for the desired route and then end the line at the first bus stop built. The line will then automatically start once closed. Loop lines and bi-directional lines can be built in this manner. At the ends of bi-directional lines, buses will need to find a loop, roundabout or dead-end road to allow them to reverse their direction. Bus stops cannot be placed on most elevated roads, but this can be done on select road types.

Bus stops are free to place; however, the maintenance cost of the bus system will be related to the number of buses in operation. The number of buses per line is primarily based on the line's length and can be modified to a limited extent by increasing or decreasing the bus system's budget. You can also change the count for an individual line through the “Vehicle Count Modifier” slider in the line details. In the unmodded game, each default bus has a capacity of 30 citizens.

Additionally, while you have the Bus Stop tool selected, you may:

• Remove a bus stop: right click.
• Relocate a bus stop: left click, drag, and drop.

To remove an entire bus line, find a bus from the line you want to delete, left click the bus, then click Modify Line, and in the next window click Delete Line. This can be done from either the normal city view, or whilst viewing the Transportation Info View. Citizens can be seen waiting at bus stops. Both unused and overcrowded bus stops are indications of a failure in the public transport system.

Bus lines, like any type of transport line, can be set to run only during the day or night, but run 24/7 by default.

Bus Models

To change the bus model, go to any line’s details interface and a button will be available to change the model. You can also do this from the line overview interface.

The base game released with a single bus model with a capacity of 30 passengers. A school bus model was later added, but is only different in appearance.

The Green Cities expansion added a Biofuel Bus, along with a Biofuel Bus Depot that is required to use it. Capacity is 30 passengers, and it creates slightly less noise pollution than the default bus.

The Airports expansion added two bus models:

• Airport Articulated Bus (has a capacity of 50 passengers)
• Airport Double Decker Bus (has a capacity of 60 passengers)

Four additional buses are available for use in the Vehicles of the World content creator pack:

• Minibus (has a capacity of 20 passengers and is smaller)
• Double Decker Bus (has a capacity of 60 passengers and is shorter, but cannot reach highway speeds)
• Bendy Bus (has a capacity of 70 passengers, but is larger)
• Super Bendy Bus (has a capacity of 100 passengers, but is larger)

All of these buses except the Minibus are useful for increasing the efficiency of your public transport without increasing the number of vehicles, due to their increased capacity. This can help with the problem of crowded bus stops.

Patch 1.15.1 added an additional 8 new bus models in the free Roads & Vehicles update on 2022-11-15.

• Bus (bus01) - Capacity 22
• Bus (bus02) - Capacity 30
• Bus (bus03) - Capacity 25
• Double Decker Bus - Capacity 60
• Double Decker Bus - Capacity 65
• Articulated Bus - Capacity 50
• Articulated Bus - Capacity 70
• Articulated Bus - Capacity 80

Bus Station

To reduce road and bus stop blockage when there are multiple bus lines stopping in one location, the player can build a terminal using roads and pedestrian paths. The After Dark expansion added the Bus Station, which can do the same thing in less space. It allows citizens to change from one bus route to another easily, or to change to a different mode of transport (metro, train, tram, etc.) if placed nearby. The Plazas and Promenades expansion added the Compact Bus Station, which has less capacity but is even more compact, making it good for smaller transfer points. The Mass Transit and Sunset Harbor expansions also added transport hubs that have built-in bus stations.

Bus Pattern

• Buses start their journey at their depot, and will head to their assigned route.
• Buses will spawn at the depot that is the closest to the first stop on their route.
• A number of buses will spawn in relation to the number of stops on the route and the Budget set in the budget panel.
• When day and night budgets are set equally, e.g. 100% Day, 100% Night, all buses will remain on their route at all times.
• If the budget is set differently for day and night, e.g. 150% Day, 100% Night, some of the buses on the route will physically return to their depot at nightfall; in the morning, all buses will return to their route. If a bus line only operates at day or night, all of that line’s buses will return to their depot when their period of operation is over.
• If only one bus depot is used, buses returning to shift can get stuck in traffic on the way to their assigned route, should the depot be on the other side of a large city. This may cause long delays and queues at bus stops for passengers. This can be rectified by building multiple depots.

Intercity Bus Service

Intercity buses/coaches are available in the Sunset Harbor DLC. The capacity is 60. These buses spawn from the highway and bring passengers to bus stops or stations. They're unlocked at the Big Town milestone, being the second-earliest form of intercity transit unlocked in the game after Airport Areas.

Intercity Bus Station,Intercity Bus Terminal,Bus-Intercity Bus Hub

Intercity bus stations can also have regular bus routes placed on them. The Tourist Travel Card policy increases the use of intercity buses over other means of transit, but makes the upkeep cost for your bus network higher.

Cable Cars

The Cable Cars are very useful on slopes, but can also be placed on level ground. They can be used to cross rivers or other bodies of water.

Stop

There are two types of stops:

• End-of-line stops can be used where a cable car line ends.

• 
  Pass-through stops are used to allow for cable cars to stop and continue straight on. They can also be used at the end of a line.

Cable cars will turn around at the end of a line.

Line

Cable Car lines are easier to set up than other types of public transport, as they do not require routes. In order to set up a cable car line, all the player needs to do is place stops and connect them with cables.

Cables can go over roads and their height can be adjusted with Page Up and Page Down, just like roads. However the cables cannot pass over buildings unless they are high enough. Cables can be built on water, even so that the concrete bases of the pylons are standing in the water. Cables have “bridge” variants that are used when they are built high enough or over water. Cables cannot be built with angles sharper than 45 degrees, nor can cables intersect other cables. Cables can be built steeper than most roads.

When any two or more stops are connected, the line will start to operate automatically. All stops connected to each other are considered one line.

Each cable car only has a capacity of 30 passengers, but they run often, allowing a constant stream of passengers to be transported. One example of a good use for cable cars is able is to use them to connect metro lines to areas separated by a geographic obstacle, which is much more efficient than a bridge or tunnel.

Cycling

Many Sims will take advantage of cycle lanes on roads or the chance to cycle on paths. This form of transport is used to cover longer distances than walking, thus lessens traffic.

Algorithm

As a pathfinder rule,

• Cyclist will prefer a path over sidewalk, every time.
• Cyclist will generally prefer to ride on bike paths over walk paths.
• Pedestrians can violate the bikes lane is only for cyclists rule,if they really need to for short distances.

Paths and Roads

• Cyclists can use Sidewalks of the Road to travel, and increasing the number of cyclists in the city will both decrease car and public transport use, especially if the path is direct.

• Road with Bicycle Lanes can increase the number of cyclists, but they delete parking spaces, increase noise pollution and decrease land value.

• 
  Bike paths allow cyclists to travel at twice as fast as they can on pedestrian paths.

Policies

Various policies exist which can impact cycle usage in the city. Cycling is allowed on main roads and some types of road have dedicated cycle lanes to speed commuters to their destination. This can also be affected by policies like "encourage biking" and "ban bikes on sidewalks".

Helicopter

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Helicopters are a means of public transit introduced in the Sunset Harbor DLC. Similarly to Blimps, they are a form of air transit. However, they are much faster, cause less noise pollution, and their stops take up less space. However, their incredibly low capacity lessens their practicality. They are best suited for extreme terrain or tourist flights.

A Helicopter Depot building is required to spawn helicopters for transportation. Helicopter Stop buildings must be placed for helicopters to land at for passengers to get on and off. A Helicopter Path must connect the depot and stops in order to create a helicopter route. The Metropolitan Airport has two helicopter stops built-in.

Medical, Fire, Police and Disaster Response helicopters from the Natural Disasters expansion are not used for transportation, and routes for these helicopters cannot be controlled.

Metro

Underground Metro stations are advantageous for heavily populated areas because, unlike train tracks, they can be connected by underground tunnels and therefore take up very little room on the surface. Metros also avoid intersections, so there will never be any traffic congestion and metros will be extremely efficient.

Underground Metro stations are much cheaper to place (₡15000) and maintain (₡240/week) than train stations, although the metro track itself is slightly more expensive. Metro Stations can also be placed on ground level or above, with the expense of taking up space on the surface and producing noise pollution. After placing metro stations and connecting them with tracks, metro lines must be placed between stations by using the Metro Line Tool and clicking the stations in the desired order. Like other forms of public transportation, metro lines must form a closed loop, but metro lines, like train lines, and monorail lines, can reverse their direction at a station. It is also possible to create multiple lines between different sets of stations. In the unmodded game, each metro train has a capacity of 150 citizens, and are colored in the same color as the line that they are operating, when visible above the surface.

Normal metro stations can accommodate two trains at the same time if they are traveling in opposite directions. The direction is determined by the station order on a line. Connecting multiple metro loops through a common station with trains traveling in opposite directions can be an effective way to interchange passengers. Conversely, overlapping lines traveling in the same direction can cause metro congestion. In the Train Stations content creator pack, there are new metro stations with more tracks and more platforms, which allows citizens to interchange with in one complex. There are still some more metro stations on the Steam Workshop that consist of two or more sets of platforms, enabling the ability for a metro station to serve more than two trains at a time and eliminating metro congestion. Those stations may require Steam Workshop modifications in order to work properly.

Generally speaking, a metro station will not handle more than 1 line passing through each platform without becoming congested — 2 lines can be used if 1 line per platform. If the metro station is a terminus station (that is, the line ends and metro trains reverse out the way they came) then you should avoid having two lines terminating from the same direction, however, if they terminate from opposite directions the lines will use both sides, eliminating congestion.

As with buses, metro lines should always come back on themselves, stopping at the same places (but going the other direction) so that people can return the way they came. If a metro line is built in a circular fashion, a second parallel line should be created in the opposite direction. When developing metro lines, which are generally more expensive (and thus require pretty high capacity) it is important to remember that citizens travel to and from workplaces (industrial, offices and retail), retail opportunities and recreational places (parks and monuments). As such lines that link together residential areas are generally less utilized.

You can change the color of the Metro lines by opening the transportation overlay (not the build menu) and clicking on either the trains or directly on the route.

The Multi-Platform Train Station and the Metro-Monorail-Train Hub both have built-in metro stations, though it is advisable to also build a metro entrance outside the station to serve more lines given the importance of such a hub. The International Airport has a built-in metro station. The Metropolitan Airport in the Sunset Harbor DLC also has 2 built-in metro stations.

A free update launched alongside Sunset Harbor expanded the metro network to have elevated and at-grade metro track and stations. The at-grade station is slightly cheaper to place (₡10000) and maintain (₡180/week) than the underground station, and the elevated station is the most expensive station in terms of placement (₡30000) and maintenance (₡360/week). The costs of the tracks themselves have also increased.

The Train Stations content creator pack adds more metro stations, in sunken and elevated forms.

The Airports DLC has an elevated metro station that can be connected to concourses at an Airport Area.

The free patch released alongside Plazas and Promenades added one-way metro tracks. The icon for the existing metro tracks was also changed.

Metro train models

The base game Metro train has a passenger capacity of 150.

The Airports expansion includes an Airport Express Metro train that has a capacity of 180 passengers. This model is faster than the base game metro train.

There are four additional types of metro vehicles that are available in the Vehicles of the World content creator pack, all of which have higher capacities than the metro vehicles in the unmodded game:

• S-Bahn Train (has a capacity of 200 citizens with high speed and fast acceleration)
• Underground Train (has a capacity of 300 citizens with average speed and fast acceleration)
• Subway Train (has a capacity of 400 citizens with high speed but slow acceleration)
• High Capacity Metro (has a capacity of 500 citizens)

Monorail

Monorails are a fast way of transporting people in dense areas. They create a lot of noise pollution, so they should generally stay out of residential areas. Each monorail has a capacity of 180 passengers. For the monorail, you need to build specially designed stations and connect them to each other via monorail tracks. There are also some transport hubs which monorails can be connected to.

Monorails can be built on top of roads. A special avenue type exists with the monorail tracks located over the median separating the two directions. There is also a version for the two-lane road with the tracks located over the lanes for vehicular traffic. These roads are just like a regular road so that you can easily upgrade existing roads to use it. While the monorail has stand-alone stations that work just like stations for any other transport type, you can also place it on top of a road. These stations can only have a four-lane road underneath. The tracks also work without a road, so you can connect sections of stand-alone track and sections of track on top of an avenue. Like with train tracks, both one- and two-way monorail tracks are available.

With the noisiness of monorail, it mostly appears in commercial districts or the city center. Transporting tourists with monorail is also a good idea, as you also find people using monorails to connect the city to beachfronts, airports and harbors.

Postal Service

The Postal Service is a special cargo transportation service, delivering mail and packages locally and outside the city. Much like the Garbage service, routing is automatic; the player simply locates the service buildings throughout the city. Unlike all of the other services mentioned here, the Postal Service Buildings are found under the “Garbage and Industry” section. Coverage can be seen using the "Post Offices" infoview.

Since mail is a type of cargo, mail can be used by cargo trains, cargo ships, and cargo airplanes, and cargo trucks can be seen on the highway transporting mail in between cities.

Building

The Post Office spawns a fleet of vans for local delivery and a small number of larger trucks. A fully loaded van leaving the post office will take away 1,000 sorted mail, and when it returns, it will drop off 1,000 unsorted mail. Large trucks carry up to 5,000 mail and will drop off sorted mail and pick up unsorted mail. It is unlocked at the Boom Town milestone.

The Post Sorting Facility spawns a large number of larger trucks. It is unlocked at the Big Town milestone.

Policies

Various policies exist which can impact mail vehicles usage in the city. This can also be affected by policies like "Automated Sorting" and "Free WiFi".

Ship

When you create a port, ships will automatically path to it. You don't need to create shipping routes yourself. However, the map needs to have some pre-existing ship paths that are reachable from the port.

Ships are unlocked when a city reaches the Capital City size milestone. Ships come in two forms: cruise ships and cargo ships, each of which will only visit their respective harbors. Both types of harbour are primarily for external connections (and can only be placed where such connections are available), however a city's citizens and internal freight traffic will occasionally make use of routes between ports.

Harbors create noise pollution, consume a large amount of water and energy, and have very high cost.

Cruise ships

Harbors will allow cruise ships to dock in your city. They will bring tourists to your city. To unlock the harbor, you need to reach the capital city size.

It is a good idea to place public transportation, such as bus stops, train stations, taxi stands, and metro stations, next to the passenger harbor to provide tourists easy access to public transportation, or use one of the Harbor hubs.

The Harbor-Bus Hub and Harbor-Bus-Monorail Hub each have 2 berths for docking cruise ships, while the Harbor and Harbor-Ferry Hub have one berth each.

In the unmodded game, each passenger ship has a capacity of 100 passengers.

• 

  Harbor

• 

  Harbor-Bus Hub

The Ferries and Monorails from Mass Transit can connect directly into these Harbor Hubs.

• 

  Harbor-Ferry Hub

• 

  Harbor-Bus-Monorail Hub

Cargo ships

A cargo harbor will allow cargo ships to dock in your city. They will take industry goods in and out of your city. Cargo ships may also travel between two Cargo Harbors (or Cargo Hubs) within the city. To unlock the cargo harbor, you need to reach the capital city size.

Cargo harbors cost ₡60,000 to build and ₡1,920 per week to maintain. Ensure that the cargo harbor is supported by an efficient road system since materials and goods will be flowing in and out. One tip is to place a freight station near the cargo harbor. Freight, like citizens, will take multiple forms of transportation to get to the final destination.

Cargo Hub

The cargo hub combines the cargo harbour and the cargo station and allows direct transferal between the ship and rail networks. This is especially useful if the shipping lane is a long distance from rail network and you don't want to flood the city with cargo traffic. Like the Cargo Harbor, Cargo Hubs can also handle trucks. Cargo hubs are unlocked at Colossal city and cost ₡90,000 to buy and ₡2,400 to maintain. Cargo hub can manage more freight than a cargo harbor, but cost more.

Ferries

• 

  Ferry Depot

• 

  Ferry Stop

• 

  Ferry Pier

• 

  Ferry and Bus Exchange Stop

• 

  Harbor-Ferry Hub

• 

  Ferry-Tram Hub

Ferries are small ships, and require the player to make lines for them similar to bus routes, which is something you cannot do for cruise ships.

Ferries require depots, where they can spawn from. For stops, they have the small "Ferry Stop", and the larger "Ferry Pier" and "Ferry and Bus Exchange Stop" which is a ferry-bus hub. Stops are very small and don’t have a lot of room for waiting passengers. Piers are larger and allow two ferries to dock at the same time. Ferry-bus hubs allow two ferries to dock at the same time, but they also have many bus platforms.

Ferries also need Pathways so they can find their way from stop to stop. Pathways are markers, functionally like roads for water, sort of watercourses. Many lines can use the same Pathways. The Depot also needs Pathway connections to lines, so ferries can find their way from the depot to the lines. Canals automatically have Pathways that are built with the canals. Ferries cannot carry citizen's cars, although a pedestrian leaving a ferry may spawn a "pocket car".

Ferries are best used in watery maps (such as Pine Rivers) as a similar network to buses.

Taxi

The Taxi service consists of two buildings:

• A depot from which taxis start their work shift and to which they return at the end of their work shift. Shifts last about 10 full routes, the percentage bar goes up by 10% after a citizen is picked up and dropped off.
• A taxi stand where they await customer calls. They can also wait at the taxi depot, but the depot is generally farther from the customer than the stand. If the taxis are busy, they will never have to wait, and therefore will not utilize the taxi stand.

The taxi service allows tourists and citizens to order taxis to take them to their destination. Taxis do not use lines, they receive requests from tourists and citizens and travel automatically to pick the customers up. If a taxi does not have a new customer in line, it will go to the nearest taxi stand to wait for a call if there’s still work shift left. Taxis provide good solutions for airports and railways. Taxis also do not need to park, which is useful when there are no parking spaces. However, they do block the road during loading and unloading a fare.

In order to utilize the taxi service in the best way, it is recommended to place the taxi stands in areas with a high tourism appeal (info view for tours).

The large terminals in the Airports DLC have a built-in taxi stand.

Taxis are important for the Commercial specialization districts. Tourists visiting tourism districts and citizens in leisure districts will both make use of a good taxi system.

Tours

"Hot Air Balloon Tours" organizes hot air balloon tours over the city. Tours with a high appeal value around the starting point are more popular.

Although categorized in game as a transportation service, the "Hot Air Balloon Tours" site is functionally more like a park, as it does not transport cims from place to place like other forms of transportation. Balloons take off from the tour site and fly over the city, eventually returning to the starting location to land. The player does not designate routes.

The "Sightseeing Bus Depot" automatically sends out buses to the bus tour lines, in the same way that regular buses are dispatched from their associated depots. The player places "Sightseeing Bus Stops" to determine the route. Tours going through areas with high appeal attract more tourists.

The "Walking Tour" is defined by making a route using "Walking Tour Point of Interest" signs. Tours going through areas with high appeal attract more tourists. However, longer walking tours have less attractiveness.

Train

Both types of train need tracks to run on. Tracks can be placed like roads, however trains cannot turn as easily as cars and the design of train junctions will need a different approach. Level crossings will occur when tracks and roads cross at ground level. Tracks can be elevated. As of Patch 1.1.0, tracks can be placed underground, however they cannot intersect with the metro system. One-way tracks were added in Patch 1.7.0 for free alongside the "Mass Transit" paid DLC. While bi-directional tracks consist of two tracks, one for each way, the one-way tracks consist of a single track.

Passenger trains and cargo trains can share the same tracks and even pass through the others' terminals on their routes.

Similar to roads, metro tracks, and monorail tracks, train tracks can have traffic congestion problems if too many trains are using the same rail line at the same time. When your track becomes too congested, cargo and passengers may fail to reach their destinations. You will therefore need to be careful when placing junctions on heavily used tracks, taking into account many of the same traffic considerations as with road intersections. A few steps can be taken to help avoid rail congestion. Separate lines can be made to accommodate freight and passenger trains, bypass lanes can be made around stations, and when building junctions, it is best to make it long enough for a full train (14 cells for passenger trains, 18 cells for cargo trains) to fit on so that if it is stopped, trains behind it going to a different location can pass unimpeded. It is also a good idea to separate passenger trains and cargo trains, especially when you are having a big city with you using quite a lot of both types of trains.

Passenger trains

Passenger trains will move tourists and citizens in and out of the city. When a passenger terminal is connected to the outside connections, trains will start automatically spawning. Train stations are more expensive to place (₡45,000) and maintain (₡960/week) than metro stations, although the track itself is slightly less expensive than metro track when it is placed at ground level; elevated and underground railway track is considerably more expensive to place.

Passenger trains can also be used to move people between train stations within the city. To do that, you need to create train lines in the same manner as bus, metro, or tram lines. This is done by placing stations, connecting them with tracks and then clicking on the "Line" icon in the train transportation menu. As with other transport lines, you must start at one station, connect other stations along the desired route and then repeat the process until you arrive back at the first stop where you will get a "complete line" message. It is best to segregate lines used within your city from intercity lines.

You can edit the train lines by selecting a train belonging to that line and clicking the Line Details button on the info window. It is useful to give each line a different color. Like buses, passenger trains will be painted the same colors as the lines they service.

In the free patch that came out at the same time as the Mass Transit DLC, an option was added to allow one to set if a station can accept intercity trains, so one can decide if trains coming from outside the city stop at all stations or maybe some of them.

The Train Stations content creator pack adds more train stations, in ground and elevated forms. These stations have built-in parking lots.

The Airports DLC has a train station that can be connected to concourses at your Airport Area.

The Plazas & Promenades DLC has an elevated train station.

Passenger train models

The base game Passenger Train has a passenger capacity of 240.

The Airports expansion includes an Airport Express Train that has a capacity of 240 passengers. It can also reach higher speeds than the base game trains can.

Three additional trains are available in the Vehicles of the World content creator pack:

• Bullet Train (has a capacity of 200 passengers and faster)
• High-Speed Train (has a capacity of 300 passengers)
• Commuter Train (has a capacity of 400 passengers but slower)

Cargo trains

Cargo trains will move goods more efficiently than cargo trucks. When a cargo terminal is connected to another cargo terminal or to the outside connections, trains will start automatically spawning.

When goods come into the cargo terminal via the tracks, they will be taken out to their final destinations by a small fleet of cargo trucks. When cargo trucks bring goods into the cargo terminal, a cargo train will spawn to take those goods to their destination, be it the outside world or another cargo terminal that is closer to the destination. Cargo terminals are traditionally used to connect industrial zones to import and export materials and goods, and because they offer a service boost to the industrial zone. However, freight stations can be placed outside large commercial zones and be used to import finished goods and bypass other road systems.

Every time a cargo train arrives, a lot of trucks will leave the terminal. When facing in front of cargo train terminal, trucks will always enter the terminal on right side and exit on left side. To control flow, build a one-way road heading to the left. This will minimize the need of vehicles yielding to each other. Please note about the one-way road:

• Only one lane is useful to reach the terminal; the others don't have any purpose. Using a 6-lane one-way road will also cause some bugs from the AI;
• If the intersections of the one-way road are too busy, vehicles would not be able to reach the terminal, and will despawn or serve no purpose;
• If the road of the terminal is too busy, vehicles would not be able to exit the terminal and thus the train might despawn with all its goods inside the terminal.

See also Cargo Hub in the Ship section. It is a cargo train station connected directly to a Cargo Harbor. The Cargo Hub is in the After Dark DLC.

See also Cargo Airport Hub in the Airplane section. It is a cargo train station connected directly to a Cargo Airport and is in the Industries DLC.

See also Airport Cargo Train Station on the Airport Area page. It is a cargo train station in the Airports DLC that is optimized for cargo operations in Airport Areas, but can be placed anywhere in a city.

Tram

Trams (also known as streetcars) are a railed transport system which can exist within the road network or independent of it. They offer an intermediary option between buses, metro lines, and passenger train lines, and can therefore be used to replace busy bus routes or to offer higher-order transit to areas whose density does not yet merit a metro line or train line.

Trams operate much like buses; however, they are slightly more expensive to maintain, with the advantage that they are not hampered by poor road conditions and snow. Tram lines should allow either two contra-rotating loops or a bi-directional line to allow cims to complete their return journey with ease. Unlike buses and other types of rail, the tram cannot turn around at the end of the line and travel backwards. The tram depot spawns the trams for the network, and independent networks can be created with the use of multiple depots. In the unmodded game, each tram has a capacity of 90 passengers.

Trams can be used as a cheaper alternative to the Metro, provided the budget and/or line vehicle count modifier is high enough and that the network is almost entirely separated from traffic (using tram tracks or 4 lane tram roads.)

When designing tram lines, the stops are created using the same method as for buses and additional lines can be recoloured using the transport interface. Stops can be placed on streets with tram tracks or tram tracks without roads. Tram tracks without roads have pedestrian paths which cims use to access the stop from the street or pedestrian paths.

Tram models

Snowfall released with a single model for trams, with a passenger capacity of 90. Patch 1.15.1 added an additional 12 new trams for Snowfall owners in the free Roads & Vehicles update. Each one has a different appearance, and capacities range from 65 to 140 passengers.

Trolleybus

Trolleybuses operate in a similar manner to trams rather than buses. They are basically trackless trams. Instead of tram tracks, they require a Trolleybus Depot and an attached network of roads with Trolleybus Wires. There are small and medium road variants with wires. They have a capacity of 30, which is the same as a bus, but less than trams. Note that trolleybuses require a constant electrical connection on their entire route. Trolleybus roads since the latest update can have intersections with trams and might share roads with them. As of the latest update they are also the quietest bus vehicle in the game, being even less noisy than biofuel buses while having variants with higher capacities.

Interaction

Citizens can use multiple modes of transport in order to get to their destination, so a common route can be split across more than one public transit line, either of the same or different types. Not all citizens will use public transportation, but more citizens will tend to use it the more efficient it is.

As an example, a citizen might walk to a bus stop, take the bus to a train station, take the train to get closer to their job, then take a bus the rest of the way there. A useful side-effect of this is that train stations can be placed in less densely populated areas as long as some other mode of transport can get your citizens there. A well-designed public transport system will make such transitions easy for your citizens.

Some buildings act as hubs, containing more than one mode of transport in a single building. The International Airport from the After Dark DLC has an underground metro station built into it, allowing cims to transfer between air and metro travel within the building. The Mass Transit DLC added several hub-type transportation buildings, connecting metro, passenger rail, monorail, ferries and buses together in various combinations. More hubs are available in the Sunset Harbor DLC. The Train Stations content creator pack adds two train hubs, one metro hub, and one train-metro hub, with parking lots built in to the two train hubs. The large terminals and concourse hubs in the Airports DLC also have a built-in underground metro station, and public transport buildings can be attached to concourses within the Airport Area.

Pedestrian paths may be useful to provide quick routes for the walking segments of your citizens' journeys.

Like citizens, goods can take multiple modes of transport in one journey whilst being transported. They can be transferred between road, ship, plane, and trains.

List of Transport service buildings

Building	Unlocked	Cost (₡)	Upkeep (₡/week)	Pollution	Noise Pollution	Water (m3/week)	Electricity (kW)	Size (cells)	DLC	Notes
Airport	Metropolis	150,000	4,800	0	150	960	1,600	64×22	-	Provides passenger aircraft access for the city.
Airport Cargo Train Station	Boom Town Level 3 Airport	60,000	1,440	0	115	400	1,200	×		Dual track cargo train station. Can be placed anywhere in city.
Airport Bus Station	Boom Town Level 1 Airport	25,000	400	0	90	240	400	×		Bus Station that attaches to a concourse in an Airport Area.
Airport Train Station	Boom Town Level 3 Airport	40,000	640	0	115	320	1,040	×		Train Station that attaches to a concourse in an Airport Area.
Biofuel Bus Depot	Boom Town	40,000	960	0	25	240	640	6×4		Source of Biofuel buses.
Blimp Depot	Big Town	20,000	264	0	100	160	560	16×8		Source of blimps.
Blimp Stop	Big Town	16,000	264	0	75	160	320	6×12		Stop for passenger blimps. Must connect via a Blimp Pathway to a Blimp Depot. Two or more Blimp Stops connected via Blimp Pathways can be connected by Blimp Lines.
Bus Depot	Boom Town	30,000	720	0	50	320	800	6×6	-	Source of buses.
Bus-Intercity Bus Hub	Big Town	55,000	880	0	75	320	480	22×13		Allows bus travel in and out of the city via coach. Does not require bus lines or stops for intercity travel. Requires highway connection in/out of the city. City buses and Intercity Buses stop at different platforms.
Bus-Metro Hub	Grand City	70,000	1,200	0	50	320	640	15×8		City bus terminal with two perpendicular underground metro stations.
Bus Station	Busy Town	65,000	1,200	0	75	320	800	16×8		Not a source of buses. Allows multiple bus routes to have a stop in one location without blocking the road.
Bus-Train-Tram Hub	Grand City	80,000	1,280	0	50	160	640	×		Allows multiple bus routes to have a stop in one location without blocking the road, with easy transfer to trains or trams at this hub.
Cable Car Stop	Small City	15,000	272	0	50	80	160	3×6		Cable car lines can end at or pass through this stop.
Cable Car Stop, End-of-Line	Small City	15,000	272	0	50	80	160	3×4		Cable car lines end at this stop.
Cargo Airport	Metropolis	200,000	3,200	0	150	800	1,920	64×26		Airport specializing in cargo delivery. Truck and plane cargo transfer area.
Cargo Airport Hub	Megalopolis	250,000	4,000	0	200	1,120	2,400	64×26		Airport specializing in cargo delivery. Truck, train and plane cargo transfer area.
Cargo Harbor	Capital City	60,000	1,920	0	120	1,040	1,600	15×8	-	Allows trucks to transfer cargo to/from ships. Must be built on shoreline with access to shipping route. Ships travel to/from outside connections (off the map), and to other Cargo Harbors and Cargo Hubs within the city.
Cargo Hub	Colossal City	90,000	2,400	0	120	1,120	1,920	24×8		Combination of "Cargo Train Terminal" and "Cargo Harbor". Provides direct rail access for cargo arriving/departing via ship, in addition to trucks.
Cargo Train Terminal	Small City	60,000	1,440	0	115	400	1,200	16×6	-	Trucks transfer cargo to/from trains. Trains travel to/from outside connections (off the map), and to other Cargo Train Terminals in the city. Unlike Passenger Trains, players do not create "routes".
Compact Bus Station	Busy Town	45,000	720	0	50	208	480	6×4		A compact bus station to serve as a hub for bus lines. Place bus stops at the bus station to let passengers easily transfer on their journey though the city
Crossover Train Station Hub	Big City	100,000	1,600	0	100	400	800	14×10		A train station with 8 tracks and 4 island platforms, with half the tracks and platforms being elevated and the other half being in a depressed grade. Each level can handle up to 4 trains at once, making it useful for cross-platform interchanges between train lines. Both the elevated and depressed levels cross each other on a 45˚ angle. Includes three rectangular park-and-ride lots.
Elevated Airport Metro Station	Boom Town Level 2 Airport	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	×		Elevated Metro Station that attaches to a concourse in an Airport Area.
Elevated Bypass Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	4×16		An elevated metro station which consists of four tracks and two side platforms; can handle up to 2 local metro trains at the platforms while allowing express metro trains to pass through the station without stopping. The station has entrances on both sides of the road.
Elevated Bypass Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	16×8		An elevated train station which consists of four tracks and two side platforms; can handle up to 2 local trains at the platforms while allowing express trains to pass through the station without stopping. Includes a rectangular park-and-ride lot.
Elevated Dual Island Platform Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	4×16		An elevated metro station which consists of four tracks and two island platforms; can handle up to 4 metro trains at once, making it useful for cross-platform interchanges between metro lines. The station has entrances on both sides of the road.
Elevated Dual Island Platform Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	9×15		An elevated train station which consists of four tracks and two island platforms; can handle up to 4 trains at once, making it useful for cross-platform interchanges between train lines. Includes a semicircular park-and-ride lot.
Elevated Island Platform Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	3×15		The station has entrances on both sides of the road.
Elevated Island Platform Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	16×11		Includes a park and ride lot.
Elevated Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	20×4	-
Elevated Metro Station With Shops	Big Town	35,000	560	0	50	240	640	×		An elevated metro station with small shops. Place metro stations first, connect them with metro tracks and then plan the routes.
Elevated Train Station	Small City	65,000	1,040	0	115	560	1440	×		An elevated train station for citizens and tourists to use when traveling the city. Place train stations, connect them with train tracks to the outside tracks or other stations for passengers to arrive.
Ferry Depot	Boom Town	33,000	752	0	75	320	800	12×8		Spawns Ferries and must be connected to ferry pathways; does not act as a stop.
Ferry Stop	Boom Town	5,000	96	0	50	80	160	4×7		A small ferry stop that fits in a canal easily.
Ferry Pier	Boom Town	7,000	112	0	70	80	240	12×12		A large ferry stop with room for two ferries at once.
Ferry and Bus Exchange Stop	Busy Town	75,000	1,040	0	75	80	160	12×8		Connect ferry and bus networks with this combined stop.
Ferry-Tram Hub	Busy Town	30,000	480	0	75	80	160	×	1.16.1	Connect ferry and tram networks with this combined stop.
Glass Box Transport Hub	Big City	100,000	1,600	0	100	400	800	16×24		This hub consists of an elevated metro station with 4 tracks and 2 island platforms that is integrated into an at-grade rail station consisting of 12 tracks and 6 island platforms. The rail lines leading out of the station can only be connected at the far end of the station, which is furthest away from the metro platforms. Passengers can switch between metro/rail inside this building. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled.
Ground Bypass Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	16×8		An at-grade train station which consists of four tracks and two side platforms; can handle up to 2 local trains at the platforms while allowing express trains to pass through the station without stopping. Includes a rectangular park-and-ride lot.
Ground Dual Island Platform Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	15×10		An at-grade train station which consists of four tracks and two island platforms; can handle up to 4 trains at once, making it useful for cross-platform interchanges between train lines. Includes a rectangular park-and-ride lot.
Ground Island Platform Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	16×8		Includes a rectangular park-and-ride lot.
Harbor	Capital City	80,000	1,600	0	120	1,040	1,600	15×8	-	Provides tourist access to city. Must be built on shoreline with access to shipping route. Ships travel to/from outside connections (off the map).
Harbor-Bus Hub	Colossal City	120,000	1,920	0	130	1,040	1,600	×	1.16.1	Dual-berth cruise ship terminal with a built-in bus terminal. Provides tourist access to city. Must be built on shoreline with access to shipping route. Ships travel to/from outside connections (off the map).
Harbor-Bus-Monorail Hub	Colossal City	135,000	2,160	0	130	1,040	1,920	×	1.16.1	Dual-berth cruise ship terminal with a built-in bus terminal and monorail station. Provides tourist access to city. Must be built on shoreline with access to shipping route. Ships travel to/from outside connections (off the map).
Harbor-Ferry Hub	Colossal City	85,000	1,696	0	120	1,040	1,600	×	1.16.1	Cruise ship terminal with a built-in ferry stop. Provides tourist access to city. Must be built on shoreline with access to shipping route. Ships travel to/from outside connections (off the map).
Helicopter Depot	Colossal City	50,000	800	0	75	192	560	13×7		Spawns Passenger Helicopters and must be connected to Helicopter Stops by Helicopter Pathways. Does not act as a stop.
Helicopter Stop	Colossal City	20,000	320	0	50	96	320	6×6		Stop for passenger helicopters. Must connect via a Helicopter Pathway to a Helicopter Depot. Two or more Helicopter Stops connected via Helicopter Pathways can be connected by Helicopter Lines.
Historical Train Station	?	20,000	800	0	75	80	400	×		A train station from the early days of rail travel.
Hot Air Balloon Tours	Big Town	7,500	64	0	0	0	48	7×13		Organizes hot air balloon tours over the city. Tours with a high appeal value around the starting point are more popular.
Intercity Bus Station	Big Town	38,000	480	0	50	192	320	10×8		Allows bus travel in and out of the city via coach. Does not require bus lines or stops for intercity travel. Requires highway connection in/out of the city. Allows city buses to stop in bays.
Intercity Bus Terminal	Grand City	65,000	960	0	75	256	560	15×9		Allows bus travel in and out of the city via coach. Does not require bus lines or stops for intercity travel. Requires highway connection in/out of the city. Allows city buses to stop in bays.
International Airport	Megalopolis	250,000	8,000	0	175	1,280	4,800	64×64		Provides passenger aircraft access for the city. Underground metro station built-in. Two-Lane road built-in. Requires additional 60×14 cells for the runway.
Large Underground Metro Station	Small City	28,000	448	0	50	240	720	×		Access the underground metro and connect to the city's transportation network with four tracks crossing at different depths. Place metro stations first, connect them with metro tracks and then plan the routes
Metropolitan Airport	Megalopolis	300,000	8,000	0	200	1,280	5,600	97×73		Provides passenger aircraft access for the city. Two perpendicular underground metro stations built-in. Two Helicopter stops built-in. Two-Lane road built-in.
Metro Plaza Station	Big City	100,000	1,600	0	100	400	800	13×12		An open-cut metro station with five sets of platforms serving 10 tracks, along with six additional tracks that can be used as bypass tracks. There are four side platforms and 8 tracks on the upper level in a bypass configuration, and three island platforms and 8 tracks on the lower level in an express-local cross-platform configuration. This station is useful if there are many metro lines that terminate here.
Metro Station	Big Town	10,000	160	0	50	160	480	20×4	-	Ground level metro station.
Metro-Intercity Bus Hub	Small City	65,000	1,040	0	50	320	640	15×9		Allows bus travel in and out of the city via coach. Does not require bus lines or stops for intercity travel. Requires highway connection in/out of the city. Underground metro station built in.
Metro-Monorail-Train Hub	Small City	70,000	1,040	0	135	400	1,200	20×8		Passengers can switch between metro/monorail/train inside the building. Metro trains/Monorails/Passenger trains travel between stations as dictated by player made routes. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled.
Metro-Train-Monorail-Tram Hub with Road	Grand City	130,000	2,080	0	125	400	1,200	×	1.16.1	The built-in road has tram tracks and monorail platform. Ground level and elevated train platforms. Elevated, ground level, and underground metro platforms.
Metro-Tram Hub with Road	Small City	30,000	480	0	50	160	480	×		Passengers can switch between underground metro and road level tram stops at this hub.
Monorail Station	Small City	15,000	240	0	115	160	480	10×3		Monorail station built beside a road.
Monorail Station With Road	Small City	20,000	320	0	115	160	480	8×4		Same as "Monorail Station", but built on top of a road. Road is a 'medium' "Four-lane Road".
Monorail-Bus Hub	Small City	32,000	512	0	125	400	800	16×10		A monorail station built on top of a road, with built-in bus stops on both sides of the road. Road is a 'medium' "Four-lane Road".
Monorail-Tram Hub with Road	Small City	25,000	400	0	80	160	480	×	1.16.1	A monorail station built on top of a tram road.
Multi-level Metro Hub	Small City	45,000	720	0	75	240	800	×	1.16.1	A metro station with elevated, ground level, and underground platforms.
Old Market Station	Big City	100,000	1,600	0	100	400	800	16×16		A brick-constructed elevated railway station with 8 tracks and 8 side platforms that is situated on top of an old market. Includes a rectangular park and ride lot that is located below the station at grade level.
Parallel Underground Metro Station	Small City	26,000	416	0	50	240	720	×		An entrance to the underground metro with four parallel tracks ideal for busy areas of the city. Place metro stations first, connect them with metro tracks and then plan the routes.
Post Office	Boom Town	6,000	80	0	10	160	640	4×3		Provides local postal service. Post vans: 10 Post Trucks: 2
Post Sorting Facility	Big Town	25,000	400	0	30	240	1,280	9×12		Large trucks collect mail from local post offices for sorting and delivery outside the city. Sorting Capacity: 8,000 pieces of mail/week Post Trucks: 20
Sightseeing Bus Depot	Busy Town	35,000	800	0	50	320	800	6×4		Sends out buses to bus tour lines.
Stadium Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	160	480	×		Metro Station. "Stadium Station" sign can be disabled by renaming the asset. There are 3 variations that may be selected in the infobox for this building.
Sunken Bypass Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	8×12		An open-cut metro station which consists of four tracks and two side platforms; can handle up to 2 local metro trains at the platforms while allowing express metro trains to pass through the station without stopping. The station must be placed perpendicularly to a four-lane or six-lane road.
Sunken Dual Island Platform Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	5×19		An open-cut metro station which consists of four tracks and two island platforms; can handle up to 4 metro trains at once, making it useful for cross-platform interchanges between metro lines. The station must be placed perpendicularly to a four-lane or six-lane road.
Sunken Island Platform Metro Station	Big Town	30,000	480	0	50	192	560	3×18		An open-cut metro station which consists of two tracks and one island platform. The station must be placed perpendicularly to a four-lane or six-lane road.
Taxi depot	Boom Town	15,000	160	0	40	160	160	6×3		Source of taxi cabs. Taxis are dispatched as required, and return here at the end of their shift. Capacity: 25 taxis
Taxi stand	Boom Town	1,000	16	0	10	32	80	4×1		Not a source of taxi cabs. When a taxi cab is not busy it will return to the closest taxi stand to wait for a fare, unless a taxi depot is closer. Capacity: 5 taxis
Train-Metro Hub	Big City	100,000	1,600	0	100	400	800	20×14		A train station and ground level metro station on either side of an included Four-Lane Road. The two stations are connected by a bridge over the road. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled.
Train Station	Small City	45,000	960	0	115	400	1,200	16×3	-	The train station platforms have a length of 60 tiles. Passenger trains travel between stations as dictated by player made routes. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled.
Train Station, Multi-platform	Small City	60,000	960	0	125	400	1,200	20×16		A train station with 12 platforms (six pairs of track). Passenger trains travel between stations as dictated by player made routes. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled. Built-in Metro station.
Train Station, Multi-platform End Station	Small City	60,000	960	0	125	400	1,200	16×25		An end-of-line train station with 12 platforms (six pairs of track). Passenger trains travel between stations as dictated by player made routes. Passenger trains will travel to/from outside connections (off map) if "Allow Intercity Trains" is enabled. Built-In Metro station.
Tram Depot	Boom Town	40,000	768	0	75	80	240	10×12		Source of trams and must be connected to tram tracks.
Trolleybus Depot	Busy Town	40,000	640	0	50	160	800	10×12		Source of trolleybuses and must be connected to roads with trolleybus wires.
Underground Metro Station	Big Town	15,000	240	0	50	160	480	2×2	-

Custom buildings

Custom public transport buildings are available in the Steam Workshop. Some of those stations require Steam Workshop modifications in order to work properly.

Trivia

• In order from least to greatest the demand of inner-city transport for passengers are: Office, Industrial, Residential and Commercial. Commercial also generates traffic for delivery of goods, and Industrial generates traffic for delivery of both raw materials and products.
• The Bus-Monorail Hub costs less than the bus station, even though they have the same amount of bus stops.

• Industry demands more mass cargo transit than passenger transit, which is why it is more important to have a cargo train terminal and cargo harbor nearby to industry than to residential or commercial zones.

• Having a large amount of exports is just as bad as having the same amount of imports, since trucks squeeze into whatever roads, terminals and harbors they can reach.

• Harbors will always have pre-built two-lane roads on their entrance and cannot be modified. This is a problem on cargo harbors since trucks enter and leave in the same manner as in cargo train stations. To solve this, have an outgoing one-way road on the left side and incoming one way road on the right. It is therefore advisable not to place intersections on the harbor's road.
  • The terminals for Airport Areas in the Airports DLC also have pre-built roads.
  • Train-metro hub have a pre-built four lane road in the same way as Monorail Station with Road. The hub is a huge barrier for Four-Lane Road with Monorail.

• Space Elevator is the monument that handles the bulk of inter-city transport. If city is attractive enough, the Space Elevator will be fully utilized by tourists and immigrants (or emigrants, if the city becomes hostile), sometimes even more so, than airports, harbors, and train stations.

• The cargo train's locomotive resemble the EuroSprinter, particularly the ES 64U.

• The metro vehicles in the vanilla game resemble the Bombardier Movia 346.

• The following are the bases for the transport vehicles from the Vehicles of the World DLC:
  • The S-Bahn Train is based off the DBAG Class 483 and the Siemens Inspiro.
  • The Underground Train is based off the London Underground S7 Stock.
  • The Subway Train is based off the St. Louis Car Company R44 and the Pullman Standard R46.
  • The High Capacity Metro is based off the Tokyo Metro 10000 Series. While the real-life 10000 Series uses pantograph collection, the variant used in-game operates via third rail.
  • The Bullet Train is based off the 100 Series Shinkansen.
  • The Commuter Train is based off the Alstom PL42AC and the Bombardier MultiLevel Coach. While the real-life PL42AC is a diesel locomotive, the variant used in-game is electric.
  • The High-Speed Train is based off the Euroduplex.

• The vanilla cargo trucks have a capacity of 8000.

• The capacity of vanilla road and rail based vehicles are dependent on their number of sections, with each section carrying 30 passengers. For example, metro vehicles have a total of five sections (yielding a total of 150 passengers), while train vehicles have a total of eight sections (yielding a total of 240 passengers); this is best observed when encountering a glitch where a vehicle is "cut" (a monorail with only three cars, resulting 90 passengers).
  • Sometimes, a glitch can occur when a vehicle is "cut" (a sole cargo train locomotive without anything else, a train with only two cars); this usually occurs if the in-game vehicle limit is reached. They will park centrally once they reached their destination or stops. For public transport, one way to resolve this is to reduce the number of available vehicles until the offending vehicle disappears, then raise the numbers back.
  • In the Vehicles of the World content creator pack, there are vehicles that do not follow the section capacity rule mentioned above.

• A bus stop can be placed inside the Large Emergency Shelter, a useful place to terminate a bus line. However, only the "departing" side of the road (same side as where evacuation route starts) can accommodate a stop.
  • Emergency buses can share bus stops with regular buses. They can even use the platforms of the bus hubs, but can prevent other buses (except intercity buses) to utilize the platform.

• Bus stops and sightseeing bus stops are mutually exclusive; they cannot share the the same stop. As such, sightseeing buses cannot use platforms on bus hubs, nor the built-in road of the Large Emergency Shelter. The sightseeing stop is visually different from regular stop.

• It is possible to connect a pedestrian path to the rear of many transport buildings, providing an alternate entrance.
  • This is especially true when building has a hang on spot or gravel ground, it’s more likely to attach to the ped path.
  • The small building at the back of the Passenger Train station is actually connectable to a path, so it’s possible to have citizens exiting the train station from the back side, directly to destination instead of using the further main entrance to the station. This can be seen in the train and elevated metro stations for Airport Areas too. The stand-alone Monorail station also shows this phenomenon.

• The vanilla sightseeing bus model has some in-game buildings on it, such as the Luxury Hotel unique building from the After Dark DLC.