Bus transit system

GameBurrow · January 26, 2023

Introducing a brand new transit system for our Department of Transportation (LS Transit), currently focusing on buses. This systems adds dynamic lines to the server. DOT managers and GTAW Staff can adjust routes and stops on the run.

Public info

Bus stops & destination display system

First new feature is the destination displays for the buses. On top of the bus you'll find a text label simulating the destination display on buses. For on route buses you'll find the route number and the destination for said route. There are also special destination displays like: Not in Service, Training bus, Test drive, Charter ride.

Next feature is that all of the bus stops on the map, that are used by the script, have a circle around them, they can have 2 different colors:

Green circle - There are buses on route on lines that go through this stop
Grey circle - There are no buses on route on lines that go through this stop

If you walk near the stop, you'll see the stop name and live route data

Transit App

To get the information on route buses and routes to the players, we are introducing the Transit "APP". You can open it by using /transitapp or from the new phone UI. In it. you'll see list of all the routes, how many buses are on route and and interactive map with all stops and on route buses. When you move your mouse over the bus icon on the map. you'll see it's line and next stop. Doing the same with stop, will list you all of the lines that go through it.

By clicking on the route, it will open up a route view, which will display you the list of all the route stops, if any buses are on route - where they are and the departure times from the stops. It will also highlight the route (and buses linked to it) on the map and connects the stops with lines in the order the bus drives them.

Last view of the map is stop view, which you can open by:

Clicking on the stop in the map
Click on the stop in the route view stop list
Using /viewstop near a stop in the map and it will open the app the stop view directly

On this view you'll see a list of all the routes going through this stop, how many buses are on route and what are their departures times on this stop. Of course, clicking on the route, you'll go to the route view.

On-board control system

To control this all, we introduced an On-Board Control System, which is inspired by how it works in real life buses. If an employee of the DOT sits into any of bus vehicles in the server, immediately they will be greeted with the on-board control system, that will control everything. By default it is turned off and there is no destination display on the bus.

By turning the system on, the destination display will also be turned on. In here the driver can see the current time and route delay. They can select their route or destination display mode (for the special destinations).

When selecting a line - the driver can choose between 3 different operating modes:

Normal - Route system turns active, destination display is automatically controlled and the bus appears in the transit APP
Training - Route system turns active but the destination display will be set to Training bus. Bus does not appear in the APP
Test - Similar to training mode, but sets the display Training bus and allows to choose unpublished lines to trial run them

After choosing the mode, driver will be promted to select their line and start time. Driver can choose a time up to an hour in the past for some scenarious like taking over route from another bus in case of accident or when he/she wants to return to route after server crash from the same spot.

Once a route has been selected, the system will display current delay, stop list with their departure times, higlights the current stop and sets the stop in the minimap for the current stop.

Drivers have the option to manually move the stop system forward and backwards, but it also works automatically by triggering next stop when the driver leaves the stop.

It also plays stop announcements into the server chat to everybody in the bus when the bus arrives and leaves the stop.

There is also a sound effect for the on-board system. If driver needs to depart - there will be up to 5 gentle beep sounds to let the driver know, that they need to move. Should the driver arrive at the next stop already late, it won't beep again as it would could get annoying.

Dynamic stops & lines management

To members of DOT, who have sufficent permissions and GTAW staff team, the lines can be managed by a neat UI. In the UI, you can add, edit & delete lines and routes. You can also choose which route are published and edit the delays for the stops which the timetable system uses.

Stops can be added, renamed and delete on the map by simple commands.

Commands

/transitapp - Opens the app (alternatively it can be opened from the new phone)
/viewstop - Opens the app to the stopview for the stop near you

Managers only
/transitmanager - Opens the line edit UI
/stopadd [Stopname] - Adds a new stop in the player positon with the facing of the player
/stopmove - Start the moving process of the stop near you.
/stopmovehere - Moves the selected stop to your position
/stopmovecancel - Cancels the stop move (if stop not moved within 5 minutes, it will cancel automatically)
/stopdelete - Deletes the nearest stop if it's not assigned to any routes

Edited February 15, 2023 by Nervous

GameBurrow · October 19, 2023

NEW! Short-term schedule planning

With the next update, we're introducing a small new feature - Short term schedule planning. This means when the drivers know they can drive on routes for a bit longer, they assign themself multiple trips, pre-generating timetables for those trips ahead of time. For example up until now, it was impossible for passengers to know if the bus drivers continues to drive after they finish their current route or if they will do the return trip - now you can see that!

How does it work?

Firstly, for the driver, there's a new Plan mode on the bus control system, which he can access by pressing the Plan button in the control system:

In the plan mode, once they click Add new trip - it will trigger the already known route select interface, but with one differencer - at the section where it generates available start times, it checks for any previous planned trips and shows you times starting from the end of the pervious trip.

Driver can add as many of the trips they want, there is no limit, though this info will be lost when the server restarts, that's why it's a short term solution.

When the driver wants to start driving the planned route, they just have to go to plan mode and click on the trip they wany drive, it will automatically load the trip into the system in normal operating mode.

There are also indicators for other drivers to see which routes and which times are already scheduled!