My setup is this:
1. Create a bus route between two cities that are short distance from each other. Put bus stations on the outside of the city. Add enough stagecoaches so that the frequency is between 60 and 90 seconds.
2. Create a tram line from the city center to a tram station next to the bus station. Put enough trams on the line so that the frequency is between 60 and 90 seconds.
Expect the first year to have a loss. After that, you should be profitable. I found that 60 second frequencies on mass transit lines are good (at least on easy) in order to get lots of traffic on the line. Residents should only walk to where I don’t have trams running. I found that a 60 second frequency on the trams turned an unprofitable line into one exploding with traffic. It also jump started my bus lines. When I had a 4 minute frequency on a stagecoach line, hardly anyone was using it. When the frequency dropped to 78 seconds, I soon had 50 people waiting at the station.
If I get enough intercity bus routes going (1 short hop between cities, I use railroads for city connections that are farther), I can wind up having four bus stations in a hub city, all on the outside. In those cases, I will extend my tram line from the city center so that the tram starts in one corner, moves through the entire city, and winds up at the other corner station.
I use separate tram and bus stations because I have so many vehicles on the line in the early days that using the same station (even a large station) can cause bottlenecks. Horse trams can have up to 10 trams on one line to keep the frequency as close to 1 minute as possible. As they get upgraded to the electric trams, I can have 2 vehicles on the line while keeping the frequency at 60 seconds.
I’ll take screenshots of my intercity tram routes for you:
This was taken before I started putting each line on its own station. As you can see, all my intercity tram routes are profitable. The only trams not profitable are my shuttles (Tram/Bus Station to Rail Station, not enough traffic). All of my bus routes are wildly profitable save one.
