Bus Route

Bus Route puts you behind the wheel of a big red city bus on a cartoon town seen from above. The map scrolls and turns with you, the route is painted on the road ahead, and every stop is a yellow box at the kerb with a shelter and a little crowd waiting on the pavement. Pull the whole bus into the box and come to a stop, and the doors hiss open: riders step off, new ones hop aboard, and the doors close again before you move off. The kerbs keep you on the tarmac, but every bump against a kerb, a parked car or a bollard costs you a star.

The bus drives like a bus. It has a long wheelbase, so right turns need a wide swing, and the brake builds up the longer you hold it: stamp on it at speed and everyone's tea goes flying. Miss a stop and you can keep the brake down at a standstill to find reverse and back into the box. The timetable bar along the top shows every stop on the line, where you are and where the timetable says you should be, so you always know whether you are early or late. Town traffic is gentle: cars in front set the pace, cars at junctions wait for you, and nobody ever drives into you.

There are forty routes, from a quiet loop with four stops to an eight-stop last bus home at night in the rain. Later lines add rain that makes braking take longer, roadworks that send you round the block on a detour, and night routes lit by street lamps and your own headlights. Each route has three stars to earn: arrive on time, pick up every passenger, and drive smoothly with no bumps and no hard braking. Routes are quick, one to three minutes each, and your stars and high score for every route are saved in your browser, so it is easy to relax with one more run.