City bus simulator

About

Route 4 is a bus driving game that runs in your browser. It is set in Nepal: a city route through a Kathmandu-style grid of streets, a long-distance run from Kathmandu to Pokhara on the Prithvi Highway, a local bus from Butwal down to the Sunauli border on the Siddhartha Highway, and a city bus along Lakeside and the shore of Phewa Lake in Pokhara. Traffic keeps left, the bus is right-hand drive, and passengers wait for you at every stop.

There is nothing to download. It works on phones, tablets and computers, and you can add it to your home screen to play it like an app, even offline once it has loaded.

Features

Four routes

• Route 4, Kathmandu city: six stops from Ratnapark to Kalimati, traffic lights at 16 junctions, cars that stop at red lights, and the Ring Road around the outside.
• Siddhartha Highway, Butwal to Sunauli: the real 25 km road, built from OpenStreetMap: about 13,000 buildings where they really stand, the real shop and bank names, petrol pumps and police posts, the Lumbini Gate, and the border at Belahiya. Eight stops from Butwal Bus Park through Jogikuti, Manigram, Kotihawa and Bhairahawa, with Indian trucks, motorbikes, autos and e-rickshaws all the way, and a queue of trucks at customs.
• Pokhara Lakeside: the real 6.4 km road from the Tourist Bus Park along Baidam Road and Lakeside Marg, past Barahi, Hallan and Khahare Chowk, and along the shore of Phewa Lake to Khapaudi, with the real hills, the lake and its boats, the Tal Barahi temple, the World Peace Pagoda and the Annapurnas at their real bearings. 30 km/h in Lakeside, scooters everywhere, and people walking on the narrow shore road. A first version, still being checked against real footage.
• Prithvi Highway, Kathmandu to Pokhara: eight stops through Naubise, Malekhu, Kurintar, Mugling, Dumre and Damauli. Choose the Nagdhunga tunnel or the old pass, follow the Trishuli and Marsyangdi rivers, refuel at Benighat or Abukhaireni and take a meal break at Mugling.

Driving

• A long bus that swings wide on turns, with smooth steering, throttle and brakes.
• Steering wheel and pedals on touch screens, keyboard on a computer, or a gamepad.
• Doors, parking brake, reverse, indicators, hazard lights, headlights with main beam, and the horn.
• Five cameras: chase, driver seat, door, free orbit and top down.

Rules of the road

• Speed limits of 40 km/h in the city and on hill roads, 50 km/h on the Ring Road, 80 km/h on the open Terai highway and 30 km/h in the border bazaar.
• Traffic police with radar guns. You are only fined if they catch you.
• People at zebra crossings in Kathmandu and the Terai bazaars. Give way, or lose points.
• Rain: wet roads that brake longer and grip less, wipers in the driver's seat, and slower traffic.
• Red lights, the Thankot police checkpoint, roadworks flagmen, a landslide and potholes.

Nepali roads

• A Tata LP 1112 day bus with "शुभ यात्रा" on the windscreen, "Horn Please" on the back, luggage and a blue tarpaulin on the roof, and a golden idol on the green felt dashboard.
• Potholes that throw the bus onto one side, unmarked speed breakers that scrape if you take them fast, and gravel and mud where the tyres lose grip.
• Motorbikes that slip past on the inside and cut blind bends, villagers carrying a doko and stray dogs that only move when you sound the horn.
• A conductor who warns you about oncoming tippers and knocks twice on the side when you are through a tight spot, plus a musical pressure horn and air brakes.
• Old diesel buses with a five-speed manual gearbox (automatic clutch, or a clutch pedal that can stall the engine), or a new electric bus with an automatic, regenerative braking and a battery to charge on the highway.

Your bus, your settings

• Pick a number plate such as 8848, 6256 or 0128, or type your own, in black, red or green.
• Day and night, traffic density, graphics and sound settings, and stats for every route on your device.
• Your best score and fastest run on every route, and online leaderboards: pick a nickname (no email, no password) to put your shifts on the boards and share your driver profile.

How to play

1. Pick a route and press Start shift.
2. Release the parking brake (Space, or Park on a touch screen) and pull out. Keep left.
3. Follow the arrow and the minimap to the next stop. Stop inside the yellow box on the left of the road.
4. Open the doors (F, or Doors). Wait for passengers to get off and on, then close the doors and pull out.
5. Keep the ride smooth, watch the speed limit beside the speedometer, and stop at red lights and checkpoints.
6. On the highway, slow down for speed breakers and sound the horn (H) to get villagers and dogs off the road.
7. At the last stop your shift ends. Your score counts fares, comfort, damage, delay, fines and penalties.

Controls

W S

Gas and brake (hold S for a smooth stop, double tap for an emergency stop)

A D

Steer

Space

Parking brake

F

Open or close the doors

R

Reverse or forward

1-5 0

Diesel bus: choose a gear, 0 for neutral; , and . shift down and up

Shift

Clutch (when the clutch pedal is on in settings)

Q E

Indicators

Z

Hazard lights

L

Headlights

C

Camera

N

Day or night

U

Rain or clear

H

Horn (tap for the tune, hold to repeat)

P Esc

Pause, settings, end shift

Touch screen: turn the wheel to steer, press the pedals deeper for more gas or brake, and use the buttons for doors, park, gear, indicators, horn, camera, lights and pause. On a diesel bus, tap the top of the gear display to shift up and the bottom to shift down. Drag the scene to look around and pinch to zoom.

Gamepad: left stick steers, right trigger accelerates, left trigger brakes. A opens the doors, B sets the parking brake, X switches between forward and reverse, the d-pad left and right shift down and up, and Y changes the camera.