Bus Trip Cut Short in a Power Cut ⚡ – Bus Simulator 21

The plan for this stream was straightforward enough: start my first proper Bus Simulator 21 playthrough, get the company set up, learn what I was doing and, at some point, hopefully drive a bus.

We almost made it to that last part. Before then we had microphone problems, mystery buttons, memories of my previous attempt at breaking the tutorial, a questionable character creator and chat preparing for the consequences of my driving. Then, just as the game was finally getting started, the power went out.

🚌 About the Game

Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop puts you behind the wheel while also giving you control over your own transport company. Alongside the driving, the game brings in routes, passengers and the wider management side of keeping everything running.

The Next Stop update also introduced a new Career Mode, combining the freedom of Sandbox Mode with the campaign’s economic system. For this stream, though, we were right at the beginning and still trying to get through the opening setup.

🧭 Where We Are in the Journey

This was meant to be the start of my first proper playthrough. I had tried the game before, but Mr Smith was very happy to remind everyone that the earlier test apparently involved going bankrupt, breaking the tutorial and getting out of bounds within about five minutes.

With that history behind us, one thing was certain: the tutorials were staying switched on. By the end of this stream we had created the company, sorted out the driver and reached the game’s introduction, but the first proper bus route was still waiting for us.

⚡ What Happens in This Episode

Trouble started before the depot had even opened. A microphone update earlier in the day had managed to scramble my Stream Deck and sound settings, so the first job of the evening was not learning a route or checking the mirrors, but finding out whether anyone could actually hear me. Happy_Cat_Lady confirmed everything was coming through loud and clear, while Vvoornth immediately announced they were “getting ready for the carnage.” With that vote of confidence secured, we could finally think about the bus.

There was certainly enough hardware connected to make it look serious. The steering wheel and gear stick were ready, and I had also been experimenting with an extra control panel earlier in the day. The slight problem was that it contained enough mystery buttons that I really needed a proper chart before trusting myself with it. That turned into an impromptu sound check as I pressed buttons and asked chat what they could hear. Somewhere in the middle of all this, ChrisMu1 triggered the bus command and was quoted £21 for a journey from Neville’s Cross to Trimdon Village. His immediate response — “21 pounds??” — gave us our first passenger complaint of the evening before I had driven a single metre.

We also welcomed a raid from asmith501, who arrived at exactly the right time to remind everyone that this was not technically my first encounter with Bus Simulator 21. I had tested it before, but “tested” may be the generous version of events. According to Mr Smith, the earlier attempt managed to include bankruptcy, a broken tutorial and getting out of bounds in roughly five minutes. That history became increasingly relevant once the game asked me to choose a difficulty and set up the new company.

Faced with the difficulty options, I briefly handed responsibility over to chat before making the highly scientific decision to pick the one with a gold star. The company was created, story mode was selected, and the tutorials were very deliberately switched on. This was supposed to be the first proper playthrough, and given what happened last time, those tutorials were less of an optional extra and more of a safety system. A menu mistake briefly threatened to undo the setup and sent me back through part of the process, which only reinforced the point. Without the tutorials, we were going to be in trouble before the wheels had even started turning.

Before we could actually test that theory, there was the important matter of creating our driver. The character randomiser produced a collection of increasingly questionable possibilities, including what I described as a rather “gangster” looking character, along with strange hats, dramatic hairstyles and outfits that did not exactly suggest someone ready for a professional shift behind the wheel. Every press seemed to change something else, so character creation quickly became its own little adventure.

Eventually, a theme emerged. The driver was going to look as though she had just crawled out of bed and somehow ended up responsible for public transport. Black sunglasses gave her a possible-hangover look, the clothing drifted towards pajamas, and Mr Smith was adamant that she needed to be a redhead. The hair colour menu did not always seem particularly interested in matching what I thought I was selecting, but after a bit of back and forth we got there. The finished result was less “experienced transport professional” and more “woke up late and has somehow been handed the keys to municipal infrastructure,” which seemed fitting enough for the evening.

Chat, naturally, had complete faith in the operation. A chatter arrived with “Honk honk Mr Crashyholm” before advising everyone to get the sick bags ready because he had seen my driving before. Vvoornth took that one step further and predicted a fleet of ambulances following the bus to treat passengers suffering “Raven-induced heart attacks.” We had not even left the starting area and chat had already organised the emergency response.

The conversation wandered in several other directions while the setup continued. Happy_Cat_Lady brought tales from Helldivers involving a first encounter with a Bile Titan, exploding bugs and being covered in green “bug lube.” EntertainJD arrived with Valborg greetings, which soon mixed with the stream’s usual harmonica-and-dysentery nonsense. In amongst all of that, The Collector shared some genuinely lovely news: their subscriber count had climbed from 97 to 115, and they thanked me for helping them get past the 100 mark. It was one of those streams where the game was only part of what was going on, with chat happily filling every gap while I wrestled with menus and controls.

Eventually, though, everything looked ready. The controller was connected, the steering wheel was connected, the gear stick was connected — even if I suspected it might spend most of the evening acting as somewhere to rest my hand — and the game finally moved into its proper opening. The introductory radio broadcast welcomed the arrival of a new transport company and started selling us on the city itself, talking about Oakwood, nightlife, beaches, shopping areas and the different places our future passengers might want to visit. After all the setup, character creation and reminders of previous tutorial disasters, it finally felt as though the actual journey was about to begin.

Chat was still busy preparing for disaster, with sick-bag and ambulance jokes landing over the game’s cheerful introduction to its public transport future. The obvious expectation was that sooner or later I would crash the bus, break the tutorial again, miss a stop or find some completely new way to upset the passengers.

Instead, reality got there first.

Right in the middle of the opening sequence, the power went out. The timing could hardly have been better if we had planned it. We had spent the evening joking about everything that might go wrong once I started driving, only for the electricity itself to pull the emergency brake before we had properly begun. The stream remained alive for a short time on backup power, and chat confirmed they could still hear me while everyone tried to work out what was happening.

Naturally, it did not take long for the outage to become the final running joke of the night. Mr Smith decided it was a sign that “they don’t want him to drive buses” and later supplied the wonderfully appropriate “404 error, Doc not found.” Happy_Cat_Lady suggested I was probably performing a dance for the power gods to convince the electricity to return, while The Collector noted that the alarm switching off was at least a positive development. For a brief moment, the power cut had become more entertaining than anything the simulator had managed to throw at us.

Unfortunately, backup power was only ever going to buy us a little time. I returned to chat long enough to confirm that we would have to call the stream there because the backup supply was not going to last forever. Everyone was understanding, although nobody was about to let the evening end without one last round of comments. The Collector suggested a chicken stream, Happy_Cat_Lady declared that I had broken the power grid, and Mr Smith decided the Bus Simulator developers were probably responsible.

I signed off with thanks, dropped a final #blameMrsmith, and Mr Smith responded with the only sensible instruction left: “get that bus back on.”

So, in terms of actual transport progress, this first proper session was gloriously modest. We created the company, picked the settings, made absolutely sure the tutorials were enabled, built ourselves a red-haired, sunglasses-wearing driver with strong “just got out of bed” energy, and reached the game’s introduction. The first proper shift was almost within reach when the real-world power grid ended the route before the bus could properly leave the starting line.

That leaves us with a very clear job for next time. The tutorial is still waiting, the city is still there to explore, and we still need to find out whether I can actually get a bus onto the road without repeating the previous combination of bankruptcy, broken tutorials and accidental out-of-bounds adventures. Assuming the electricity behaves itself, the next stream should finally answer the question chat had been waiting all evening to see resolved: what happens when Dr Ravenholm is actually allowed to drive the bus?

🎥 Watch the Episode

You can see the full setup, chat commentary and rather sudden ending in the episode on YouTube.

You can also visit my YouTube channel and follow the rest of the series through the Bus Simulator 21 playlist. If you enjoy the video, leave a like, let me know what you thought in the comments and subscribe for more.

🔴 Join the Adventure Live

The raid from asmith501, chat preparing sick bags before the bus had moved and everyone reacting to the power disappearing are exactly the sort of moments that only really happen live.

If you want to be there when we finally attempt to get this bus onto the road, come and join us on Twitch or YouTube.

🌐 Community & Links

The bus may not have made it out of the depot this time, but there are plenty of places to keep up with everything between streams.

Live — Be there for the next attempt at getting the service running:
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Support — If you would like to help support the channel:
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More — Explore my other projects and work:
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💡 The Bus Never Left the Depot

For a first proper session, our progress was modest but memorable. The company exists, our red-haired driver is ready, and the tutorial has so far survived everything I have done to it. We just need the electricity to cooperate long enough to actually drive somewhere.

Next time, the first job is simple: get the bus back on and see whether I can make it through the tutorial without repeating the previous bankruptcy and out-of-bounds adventures.

— Dr Ravenholm