All aboard! Bus Simulator 16 is ready to depart! (Video)

Publisher astragon and developer stillalive studios are happy to announce that the long-awaited Bus Simulator 16 has officially left its depot and is now available from traditional retailers and via digital download for PC and Mac with a recommended retail price of €24.99/£18.99.

In Bus Simulator 16 players slip into the shoes of a budding bus operator in the lively city of Sunny Springs. In this role they will be able to drive buses including licensed vehicles by the famous German bus and truck maker MAN. In addition to steering the buses themselves, they will also get the chance to set up and manage their very own bus company in cooperation with their friends.

Early on, novice bus drivers will start in the outskirts of the city, learning how to drive the buses and becoming familiar with their faithfully reproduced, fully operational cockpits. They will also need to prove their skills in the transportation of passengers and by creating their initial bus routes and timetables. The better the player manages all these tasks the better the image of their company will become. This in turn will not only reflect upon the popularity – and with that the finances – of the bus operator, but will also gradually unlock other city districts and new buses. With their increased financial income players can then buy new buses and hire additional drivers, who can then be assigned to the player’s bus routes.

Randomly occurring events will provide new challenges to every bus driver’s day: Be it passengers running late at the bus stop, wheel chair users who need the assistance of access ramps for boarding, stuck doors, emergency vehicles, construction works, traffic jams and even passengers who have had one drink too many! Just as in real life, players will have to make the right decisions and take the correct course of action to avoid running behind schedule and to ensure customer satisfaction. The built-in route editor will also enable players to easily create completely new bus routes as well as amend existing ones. This guarantees long-term variety within the open, freely drivable game world.

Virtual bus operators who love to play together will enjoy the multiplayer mode in Bus Simulator 16. Here, up to 32 participants at once will be able to operate a bus company. All of them will have joint access to the management menu of their business and will be able to create and change routes, buy new buses, manage the staff, assign lines to others, talk to each other in the game chat and much, much more.

Thanks to the game’s modding tools, creative minds can not only add new bus designs themselves or buses created by the community , but also customize the game world by changing already existing objects or adding new ones.