Guides

Differences Between the Bus Depot, Bus Stop, and Bus Station (Cities: Skylines)

by Liz Villegas
Waiting for an approaching bus at a Bus Stop (Cities: Skylines)

The bus depot, stop, and station are three different facilities used for setting up your bus routes in Cities: Skylines. If you’re confused as to which one you need to build, here’s a quick summary:

  • Bus Depot: The source (spawn point) of the buses. These are necessary to have any buses running at all.
  • Bus Stops: Points along the road where passengers can get on and off. Without these, the buses will just remain in the depot.
  • Bus Stations: A hub with multiple stops. Buses from different lines stop here to let passengers on and off. Optional.

The bus depot and stops are unlocked at the Boom Town milestone, while the Bus Station at the Busy Town milestone.

Let’s get into some more nitty-gritty info about the three!

Bus Depot Details

The bus depot is the first thing you need to build in order to have buses in your city. It’s basically where buses spawn, and will automatically send out buses to any lines you create.

The depot does not act as a stop (that is, passengers cannot get on or off the bus here).

The depot is the first item in the Bus tab of the Transport menu. / Cities: Skylines
The depot is the first item in the Bus tab of the Transport menu.

You also have the option of building the biofuel bus depot, available with the Green Cities DLC.

It functions in the same way except that the biofuel buses that spawn from it, as well as the depot itself, are quieter than the regular.

SCROLL
Building Build Cost Upkeep Cost DLC Notes
Bus Depot 30,000 720/week none Source of regular buses
Biofuel Bus Depot 40,000 960/week Green Cities Source of biofuel buses

Bus Stop Details

Once you have your bus depot, you can start assigning bus lines.

You do this by selecting the Bus Line tool and clicking on the road at places where you want to have bus stops. There is no cost to placing bus stops.

Add bus stops along the road using the Bus Line tool. / Cities: Skylines
Add bus stops along the road using the Bus Line tool.

Each bus line must form a loop; in other words, it needs to end back at its first stop.

While in Transport view, bus stops appear as dots along the line.

On smaller roads, the bus stop will only have a sign; on larger (four- or six-lane) roads, the bus stop will have a waiting shed.

A bus stop with a waiting shed. / Cities: Skylines
A bus stop with a waiting shed.

Bus Station Details

Bus stations, from the After Dark DLC, are completely optional – but they can help keep your bus traffic organized.

Bus station / Cities: Skylines
SCROLL
Building Build Cost Upkeep Cost DLC Notes
Bus Station 65,000 1,200/week After Dark Hub for multiple bus stops

Each bus station can have stops for up to 12 bus lines.

You can have 12 different bus lines stop at the station. / Cities: Skylines
You can have 12 different bus lines stop at the station.

This is useful not only for allowing passengers to quickly transfer between lines, but also for keeping waiting buses off the roads.

It’s a great option near airports or train stations, allowing passengers from the same flight or train to easily head to different local bus lines.

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Liz Villegas

174 articles

Liz is a writer and photographer with a love for building and strategy games. Her spare time is often split between lifting, reading, drawing, annoying her dog Mr. Porky Butt, and squinting at stat tables on the wiki pages of whatever game she's currently playing.

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