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Transport Line Numbering & Planning Principles

By AkisuzuLightz

As a continuation of Cities in Motion series, Cities: Skylines acquires players to plan plenty of public transport lines to assist city development meanwhile the line map could be a mess. Here are some my personal transport line numbering rules and planning principles which are helpful for me to manage my city public transport.

This guide provides 2 different versions of line numbering systems that are partly same. The full version uses letters B, C, F, L, M, N, P, R, S, T to indicate transit ways and may be suitable for complex transport network in large cities. On the contrary for small cities, the simplified version removed letters L, M, N, S and introduced more numbers to make it more realistic. But notice please, the rules are simply designed to serve for the city creation, if there are some situations would be better to break rules, so break them. In addition, some planning suggestions are also here for your reference. Convinced that these concepts would be useful and significant even in coming CSL2, to read those now might be not too late yet.

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Created by

AkisuzuLightz
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Category: Achievements, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Loot, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Walkthroughs, Workshop

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

23 Aug, 2023 @ 10:56am

12 Apr @ 12:11pm

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Guide Index

Overview

Road Vehicles

Railway Vehicles

Other Vehicles

Suffix

Comments

Road Vehicles

L#　　　　Regular Bus (Full Version)
#1 #2 #3　Regular Bus (Simplified Version)

A simple letter L (Full Version) or three simple numbers (Simplified Version) stand for a regular bus Line for it is the most fundamental transport way.
# means single or multiple number(s), e.g., L1, L14, L51 (Full Version). While #n means a single number, e.g., 419, 810, 900(Simplified Version). In detail:
- #1 stands for the region (the high level of districts and areas) the line serves for, starting from 1 and cannot be 0.
- #2 stands for the district or the area the line serves for, starting from 1 for every region and can be 0 if the region has only one district or area.
- #3 stands for the order the bus line in the district or the area, starting from 1 for every district or area and can be 0 if the district or the area has only one regular bus line.
- It is possible that both #2 and #3 are 0, which means it is the only regular bus line in the region.

Regular bus stops are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 50u (400m) between each other.
BRT line has a separate letter.

(The bus line numbers in the simplified version.)

B#　　　　Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

BRT is a kind of bus indeed. A bus line has longer average stop spacing than regular one or connects important sites such as traffic hubs, tourist attractions or remote position is usually called bus rapid transit (BRT).
BRT Lines sometimes utilize viaducts and specific bus lanes.

BRT stops are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 100u (800m) between each other.

T#　　　　Tram (requires Snowfall DLC)
T#　　　　Trolleybus (requires Sunset Harbor DLC)

Tram and trolleybus share the letter T.

Tram and trolleybus are similar, so it is recommended to choose one to develop for small cities.
Tram or trolleybus stops are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 100u (800m) between each other.

Railway Vehicles

N#　　　　Monorail (Full Version, requires Mass Transit DLC)
#1~10 　　Monorail (Simplified Version)

An N stands for monorail for the starting letter M has been occupied by urban metro.
The number only can be 1~10 which are shared by monorail and urban metro. (Simplified Version)

There are certain similarities between metro and monorail, so it is recommended to choose one to develop for small cities. Notice that it is usually too long for monorail to extend to suburban areas. Metro will be a better choice if there are extending plans, otherwise rebuild an independent suburban railway network by train.
Monorail stations are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 150u (1200m) between each other.

M#　　　　Urban Metro (Full Version)
#1~10　　　Urban Metro (Simplified Version)

The number only can be 1~10 which are shared by monorail and urban metro. (Simplified Version)

Urban metro stations are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 150u (1200m) between each other.
Suburban metro has a separate letter.

S#　　　　Suburban Railway (Full Version)
#11~20　　Suburban Railway (Simplified Version)

Suburban Railway is either metro or train indeed.
The number only can be 11~20. (Simplified Version)

Suburban railway stations are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 300u (2400m) between each other.

R#　　　　Train

Train stations are usually suggested to leave spacing of no less than 450u (3600m) between each other.

(The city has only 2 train stations and evidently there is no need to number at all.)

Other Vehicles

C# Cable Car (requires Mass Transit DLC)

Not suitable for mass transit indeed. Only use in hill and river terrain.
There are no specific principles for terrain-oriented transit ways but still leave spacing of no less than 50u (400m) between each stop.

F# Ferry (requires Mass Transit DLC)

Only usable in marine.
There are no specific principles for terrain-oriented transit ways but it is still recommended to leave spacing of no less than 50u (400m) between each stop.

P# Blimp (requires Mass Transit DLC)
P# Helicopter (requires Sunset Harbor DLC)

Blimp and helicopter are similar, so it is recommended to choose one to develop for small cities.
Both are not suitable for mass transit indeed. Only use in special terrain.
There are no specific principles for terrain-oriented transit ways but still leave spacing of no less than 50u (400m) between each stop.

(In this city, every non-road vehicle line has unique Latin name overriding rules above.)

Suffix

A small letter following the origin line number is applied to express a branch, clockwise / counterclockwise of a circuit or any other varieties of a line. e.g., 19a, 19b, 2x.