InCities: Skylinesyou are tasked with creating a thriving metropolis by providing your civilians with sufficient services, intricate road networks, and living space. One of the largest mechanics in the game is public transport, as it significantly decreases the amount of traffic in your cities.
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Furthermore, Cities: Skylines has also provided new forms of public transport withvarious DLC packs, allowing you to further customize and upgrade your infrastructure. Since there are so many different types of public transport available in the game, check out the list below to see which of these options will bolster your city.
15Blimps
Released with the Mass Transit DLC, Blimps are widely regarded as one of the strangest, and worst public transport options within Cities: Skylines. First and foremost, while these blimps are certainly giant, they can only carry 35 passengers at once, meaning there will be significant wait times between each trip, thus generating traffic and queues on the ground.
Furthermore, this transportation option creates an unsightly blemish on your skyline, since these floating monstrosities may interrupt a scenic view or clip through your skyscrapers. However, these blimps can be useful to transport civilians above dangerous terrains, such as large mountains.
14Helicopters
Released alongside the Sunset Harbor DLC, Helicopters are another form of air transportation. While these Helicopters are much smaller, more visually appealing, and give off significantly less noise pollution, they have a very small passenger capacity.
Similar to blimps, Helicopters are only truly useful during disastrous situations, such as a forest fire. However, they can be used to decorate a waterfront skyline, creating a nice tourist attraction.
13Cable Cars
Cable Cars are another form of public transport that became available with the Mass Transit DLC, and are mainly used to climb tall mountains and provide aesthetic decoration. These cars only hold 30 passengers, and you can not create multiple stops with them, meaning you should only use this public transport in rural parts of your city.
Specifically, combining the Cable Car with content from the Park Life DLC will allow you to create an elevated path in your nature reserve or public park.
12Taxis
Taxis are another form of public transport in Cities: Skylines that does not provide the greatest bonuses to your city. Since the Taxi service actually drives on your road networks, using this form of public transport without a significant metro or bus infrastructure will actually add even more traffic to your road networks, instead of alleviating congestion.
Furthermore, since these taxis can only carry a small pool of your civilians, other forms of transport will severely outperform your taxi service while also having dedicated roads or tracks that deliver civilians to their destinations faster. If you do want to add taxis to your infrastructure, this form of public transportation was added with the After Dark DLC.
11Trolleybuses
The Sunset Harbor DLC introduced trolleybuses to Cities: Skylines, but this public transport is a strange amalgamation of buses and trams, and carry up to 30 civilians across different roads. To utilize these trolleybuses, you must first place the depot, and then upgrade your designated roads with trolleybus lines that require electricity.
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While these trolleybuses may seem useful at first glance, there are other forms of public transport that carry more passengers and have designated roads that alleviate traffic across your city.
10Ferries
Released with the Mass Transit DLC, Ferries are essentially aquatic versions of buses in Cities: Skylines. Sadly, the passenger counts on these ferries are not realistic, so these boats will only be able to carry 50 passengers at once.
Furthermore, there are some maps in Cities: Skylines that only have small rivers or no water connections whatsoever, rendering this form of public transport completely useless. However, while these ships may not carry the most passengers, they can still add a nice aesthetic to your cityscape.
9Intercity Buses
Added to the game with the Sunset Harbor DLC, the Intercity Bus depots can serve as regular bus stations, but are mainly utilized alongside tourism districts. Specifically, these bus stations bring in tourists from outside your city, meaning that your tourism districts will generate more revenue.
However, you can also use these depots as regular bus stations, meaning multiple bus lines can converge at one point, essentially making a transport hub. Furthermore, these intercity buses can carry up to 60 passengers, also making them a great option for transporting large groups of civilians.
8Cruise Ships
Cruise ships are the largest passenger ships in the entire game, and they were actually added to the base game of Cities: Skylines. These large cruise lines hold up to 100 passengers and mainly function similarly to Intercity Buses.
Specifically, these large ships will drop off groups of 100 tourists that are eager to visit the many different attractions in your city, meaning that you should create a strong transport hub right outside your harbor to deliver these tourists to their destinations seamlessly.
7Buses
When you enter a new game of Cities: Skylines, the very first form of public transport that you will unlock is buses, which carry 50 passengers across the city. These vehicles were introduced with the base game, but there are various DLC packs that either add skins for your buses, unique bus depots, and roads with bus lanes.
To correctly utilize this form of public transport, you will also have to develop different bus lines across various districts in your city. However, it is important to provide your bus services with other forms of public transport as your city develops, since there will be many more civilians moving around your city.
6Trains
Trains are another form of public transport that were originally released with the base game of Cities: Skylines, and have since received new assets and stations with various content packs. Interestingly, you can actually designate trains to carry passengers or cargo throughout your city.
Trains can also be upgraded to carry up to 400 passengers at once, allowing you to greatly cut down on queue times throughout your cityscape. While these train stations are fantastic at moving people around, they alsogenerate a large amount of noise pollution, so ensure that you space these stations away from your residential areas.
