Take to the busy streets of Berlin, Germany, on an impressively realistic 1:1 scale, transporting city folk from destination to destination on custom-designed routes that hit all of the vibrant districts, tourist attractions, and popular landmarks along the way. With incredibly high-resolution visuals, players will get an immersive and realistic “public transportation” experience, all from the comfort of the driver’s seat.

The Bus’ massive, meticulously detailed in-game map allows players to edit lines and routes, timetables, tours, and more. Board and deboard passengers, oversee ticket sales, and maneuver through AI-controlled traffic that features a variety of vehicles, pedestrians, and complex traffic light routines. With the “Free Movement” feature, players can even explore the world “on foot” and walk freely inside of their busses. Dynamic weather patterns make for unpredictable workdays, while the full day and night cycle crank the immersion up to a whole new level.

In The Bus, you build and customize a fleet of meticulously detailed public transport busses and plan transport routes. You are fully in control of which vibrant districts, tourist hot spots, and city landmarks you want to pass along the way! Along with all of the usual specific simulation must-haves, The Bus will introduce true multiplayer gameplay, something unique to the genre.

Publisher Aerosoft and developer TML-Studios rolled out phase 2.0 of the Steam Early Access of The Bus.

With the update to version 2.0, all players can upgrade the title from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 for free so the already impressive graphics get even better - and the virtual version of Berlin can be enjoyed in its full glory. New passenger voices further enhance the driving experience. A new addition to The Bus fleet is the eCitaro. The fully electrically driven city bus with a length of more than 12 m offers enough space for over 80 passengers and impresses with the latest technology.

For the further development of phase 2 of Early Access, TML-Studios is planning to integrate a modding editor for creating your own maps, routes and busses, a new route for line 200, AI buses as well as trams, the Berlin line 245, the VDL Citea in seven versions as well as the implementation of further features of the Unreal Engine 5, such as Lumen or Nanite.

"Since the beginning of the Early Access phase of The Bus in March last year, we have released many updates: three lines, the new MAN Lion's City double-decker bus, controller support and numerous improvements have been implemented by our development team. We are excited to kick off a new era for The Bus with Phase 2.0, which has many new features and optimisations in store for players. We will continue to regularly release free content for The Bus and fine-tune the game for the final release," says Thomas Langelotz, CEO of TML Studios.

The main features of The Bus 2.0:

• Upgrade to Unreal Engine 5
• New bus: eCitaro
• Repaints
• Visual bus selection in 3D
• Passenger voices: Passengers greet and ask for a ticket
• New physics engine
• Updated vehicle AI
• Numerous user interface and sound optimisations

From December 19 2022, The Bus will be available for €32.95 (instead of €25.95 previously).

Key Features:

• Berlin as You’ve Never Seen It: The Bus brings Berlin to life in a beautiful and accurate 1:1 representation of some of the city’s most popular sports, like world-famous Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten
• Take a Hike: Need a break from the wheel? Feel free to hop off the bus and tour the city on foot with the “Free Movement” feature!
• No Road Rage Allowed: A dynamic AI powers the traffic, lights, pedestrians, and slew of other drivers on the road, offering a realistic driving experience on those wonderfully maintained German roads
• Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom: A full day and night cycle along with ever-changing weather conditions ensures a simulated experience that rivals the real thing, so get those wipers ready
• Play How You Want: The Bus allows players to pilot their land-yacht with classic keyboard+mouse controls as well as support for most driving wheel accessories — pedals or not

The Bus is in development for PC (Steam).