This is the second of what will be a series of guides on how to play the game. Ideally, you should read them in order, but if you are already an experienced player, only the later guides will be of any use.

Before reading any further, you might find it helpful to have read my first guide:Please note that the various sections of this guide do overlap, and sometimes contain the same information, as all the problems are in some way linked!

The Problem

If you have a good network set up, one that is attractive to many people, then it is quite possible that your stations will fill up very quickly. This will mean that your vehicles will become overloaded and unable to transport such vast numbers of passengers. Very soon, you can have tens -or even hundreds!!!- of angry customers fed up with waiting for too long.

What not to do!

The seemingly obvious solution is to add more vehicles to your lines. This is not always a good idea, however. Too many busses will quickly cause traffic jams, meaning that your passengers have to wait even longer for the next bus! The same thing will happen with trams, although not necessarily as quickly, depending on whether they are running on roads or elsewhere. Metro lines, on the other hand, can have quite a few trains running on the same line before adding any more becomes pointless: As soon as metros have to wait for another to leave the station they are coming into, stop adding trains to the line!

The Solution

- First of all, visit my guide "CiM: Beginner's Basics", to see whether your network is well designed, using the right form of transport in the right places;
- Next, look at the journeys of several passengers. Where are they going from and to? If enough people are making a similar journey, consider adding a new line that links these locations;
- Once you have done this, see if any routes on your network should be "upgraded" to a different form of transport. For example, if you have a bus route that is attracting many passengers, why not change it to a tram line? *
- Then, "upgrade" your vehicles. Instead of adding more busses, trams, or whatever else, replace your existing vehicles with ones with a higher capacity, so that more passengers can be carried at any one time;
- Finally, if you are still having the same problem, increase ticket prices! Raise them as much as you like, even well into the red prices, as people will still use your services if they are good enough. Fewer people will now be using your services, which also means you will have fewer angry customers. Your reputation will increase, and the higher prices mean that although you have fewer (paying) customers, your income should not be severely hit (and might even rise!).

* This issue is also addressed in the other sections of this guide.

The Problem

Traffic Jams. Fairly easy to understand, frightfully common, yet seemingly impossible to get rid of!

The Solutions

There are only two causes to congestion, private vehicles and your public transport vehicles. You must first identify whether the former or the latter are the issue, or if it is a mixture of both.

Scenario 1: The problem lies with too many people using their own means of transport, and it is their vehicles that are causing large amounts of traffic.

- Work out where the vehicles are coming from and going to;
- Set up a line linking these locations (visit my guide "CiM: Beginner's Basics" to see how to do this properly);
- Bear in mind that the service needs to bring passengers from A to B as quickly as possible. If it is faster to go by car, people will do just that.

Scenario 2: The problem is caused by your vehicles blocking the roads, most likely because of the time spent at stops.

- Work out exactly where your vehicles are blocking the traffic;
- Usually, this will be at stops. Move these stops to either roads that are less busy, or that have more lanes;
- Bear in mind that vehicles essentially only obey one rule: that is to let any other vehicle pass that wanted to maneuver before them. For this reason, avoid placing stops near junctions, as very quickly you can have vehicles that are all blocked in some way, and the traffic simply stops.

Scenario 3: The problem is caused by too many of your vehicles in one place, whether that be a junction, or at a stop.

- This situation is one of the worst, and often requires you to completely redesign your lines in the area;
- It happens when several of your vehicles are stopping at one single stop, and they all arrive at once, or when several of your vehicles arrive at a junction simultaneously, and all block each other because their paths are crossing (trams are notorious for this sort of issue, as are helicopters);
- Get rid of any small loops that cause vehicles to come back onto the same line, where they are blocked by another vehicle trying to get to the terminus, which in turn is blocked by the vehicle trying to leave the terminus, and so on and so forth...
- Create more stops, on several streets, and keep these away from junctions!
- Reduce the number of vehicles on the line, preferring fewer vehicles with higher capacities;
- Change the line type! Sometimes, there may be no solution but to scrap a whole route, a tram line, for example, and to replace it with another route, such as a metro line.

The Problem

Imagine this: You have a large network set up, plenty of vehicles running, there are hardly any traffic jams... basically, everything seems perfect. That is, until you get to the end of the month and you realise that you're losing more money than you earn!

The Solution

- Check your network: are your sure that you have built it properly?
- If you can't see anything obvious, look at the little details: ticket prices, stop maintenance/quality (type). The devil really is in the detail in this game! (visit my guide "CiM: Beginner's Basics" for more information);
- If you've played around with the settings, and you are still losing money, drastic steps need to be taken! Restarting the game is a good idea, but if you are determined to continue, then...
- Get rid of the least profitable vehicles! You can check which vehicles are losing you the most money in the lines panel;
- Replace these with more attractive vehicles. Unless the line as a whole is doing very badly, in which case...
- Scrap the whole line! Use the money you've made from selling vehicles, stops and/or track to build a better line somewhere else;
- If you really have no money at all, or could simply do with a little extra to build a new (profitable!) line, then take a loan from the bank. Prefer the low interest rates if you expect your line to immediately make profit, and the higher rates, but which give you more time to pay back if you think your line will take some time to attract passengers.

Thank you for reading my guide! I hope it provided you with some helpful advice on how to play Cities in Motion. Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome below! Feel free to rate and favourite, it helps me to know what you think.

Why not check out my first guide? CiM Guide 01