Depots & servicing

Where vehicles start, and how they stay reliable.

New buses, trucks and trains drive out of a depot. They come back to it for servicing.

Depots

Pick Road depot in Roads or Train depot in Railways and click level ground beside your road or track. R turns its door.
A road depot costs $1,500 and a train depot $3,200.
A new vehicle needs a depot linked to its first stop. The buy window says which one is missing.
Ships and planes need none: they appear at their first dock or airport.

Breakdowns are a new-game option: None, Reduced, Normal.
Every vehicle has a reliability that wears down day by day, faster once it is old.
An unreliable vehicle breaks down and stands still for one to three days. A train behind a broken-down one waits at a signal or a junction; with neither between them, it runs into it.
Every 120 days a vehicle wants a service. After its next stop it calls at one of your depots on the way, stays a day and comes out as reliable as new.
Only a depot within 80 tiles of the vehicle is used, so build one on every long route.
Ships are serviced at docks and aircraft at airports. Aircraft never break down.
A blinking amber light marks a broken-down vehicle. Its window shows its reliability and last service.