Hello all,
I have some suggestions regarding public transportation availability in the city. For starters, DCC is byfar the best transportation option in the city besides driving but kind of pricy. And CityBee is the most readily available and cheap but also dreadfully slow. Those players without cars need a third option. And drivers need more passengers for excitement and realism. What I would suggest is to do a slight overhaul of the bus driver job that would provide better transportation for passengers and would attract more drivers. Keep in mind, I work as a public bus operator IRL.
Here are what I believe to be the most easily implemented changes:
Publish the bus routes and stops on Discord for all players to see and utilize.
For the time being, all of the routes that currently exist are effective, although it would be good to add a couple long-distance routes to places like Blaine County or Paleto Bay.
Show the destination of the route for the drivers. Currently the driver only sees the route number but doesn't know where they are driving to. When passengers ask it has to be known by memory, which is kind of hard especially for new drivers.
Allow drivers to choose routes and create a cap for drivers on certain routes (e.g. routes would not be over-saturated with drivers).
Given that there can't be a set schedule of buses, perhaps have automated sponsored Bleets when a bus is departing the bus depot (i.e. "Route 1001 to Downtown via the Bank is now in service. Please dial 511 for transit info"). This would increase ridership.
Create a flat-rate fare for passengers to pay ($20?)
And here are some more long-term suggestions that would drastically improve public transportation:
Make Los Santos Transit a privately-owned faction, like DCC. This would allow for management of routes, drivers and fare structure.
Create a one-day training course for new drivers to be endorsed to transport passengers.
Add timepoints. For example, give the driver 2 minutes to get from point A to point B, and if they arrive early they must wait to depart at the correct time or receive a warning message that they have left passengers behind. If feasible, give on-time bonus pay to drivers who arrive and depart their stops on-time.
Create transit supervisor roles to assist with bus-related reports (i.e. accidents, assaults, murders, etc.) and to communicate with the necessary authorities (eases the burden on LSPD).
Related to the above, create a "/reportaccident" command for bus drivers to report the accident to a supervisor or police.
This is a huge one: create a 511 system for players to check transit information (i.e. a player dials 511 on their phone and it'll say how far the closest bus stop is, and how far the closest bus is, as well as the route and destination).
Anyway, just a few suggestions. Hopefully this contributes in some type of way and I'm glad to hear any suggestions or to answer questions.
