After watching the usual morning torrent of abuse directed at Translink, our local public transport provider, I thought of a game idea.
You have to drive a bus containing 50 litigious windbags through the winding streets of a European city during rush hour trying to arrive at bus stops on time so you can unload and load passengers who hate each other. You can take advantage of bus lanes part of the way but these can be also occupied by lawbreaking drivers and homicidal taxi drivers. Weather conditions will vary from brief periods of sunshine to lengthy periods of rain and short periods of heavy snow, where the roads will not be treated. In this city, there are political dissidents who think nothing of placing explosives on the roads which delays you further. If you’re a minute late, you lose points. If you’re a minute early, you lose points. If the bus actually gets above 75% full, you lose points. If the bus fills and you cannot take on any more passengers, you lose points. Every bus you send out costs you more points. As your points get lower, the traffic gets worse as more people take cars. And the best bit, your points start at zero. Have fun.
Yes, that does kinda suck. And pretty much describes the poison pill that is public transport provision in Northern Ireland.
On a more serious note, I do have a transport-related game idea. One a bit more fun than that above. I guess it will wait until I find some collaborators and money.
What is a “bus”? Better still, what is a “bus lane”…??
I live outside Belfast and oi bain’t never seen one of them thar bus things ‘ere. It must be one of those things that people in “cities” get.
A social network game played by morning commuters? Nice 😉