How ETS 2 Coaches Works: Jobs, Passengers and Bus Stations Explained
The Coaches DLC turns Euro Truck Simulator 2 into something it has never been: a passenger transport game. SCS Software has explained most of the systems over more than a year of dev blogs, but the details are spread across a dozen posts. This guide puts them in one place.
Everything below is based on what SCS has shown so far. The DLC is still in development and the studio stresses that features can change before release.
Coach Mode
Coaches live in their own Coach Mode, next to Truck Mode and the Car Mode coming to American Truck Simulator with Road Trip. Each mode has its own progression, vehicles and statistics. Your money and map exploration are shared, so trucking income can pay for a coach, and roads you discover in one mode stay discovered in the others.
You switch modes from the menu while you are not driving. The switch takes effect when you press Drive, and only one job can be active across all modes. More on Mode Switch.
The three job types
| Job | Needs your own coach | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Jobs | No | Ready-made coach jobs, a way to start and earn money before buying |
| Contract Jobs | Yes | Scheduled passenger services from nearby cities, often with several stops |
| Tourist Jobs | Not stated | Day trips from a station to a landmark and back, on a relaxed schedule |
Contract Jobs start with a trip to the right bus station. You confirm the line, the game skips to departure time and the passengers board. Harder routes pay more and give more experience. Ownership and Contract Jobs explained.
Tourist Jobs take passengers to natural scenery, city centres or even industrial depots for guided tours. Some destinations have opening hours. The trip length depends on whether the landmark is locally or globally known, and you get a scenic viewpoint with a short cutscene when you arrive. Tourist Jobs explained.
Passengers and satisfaction
This is the heart of Coaches. Every passenger has their own satisfaction, their own sensitivity and the mood they boarded in. Smooth driving improves it. Hard braking, sharp turns and traffic violations hurt it. A perfect leg between two stops earns a bonus.
A G-force indicator shows how hard you are pushing, and passengers will let you know out loud when you go too far. Satisfaction counts towards your result at the end of the journey, and it has to be balanced against keeping to the timetable. Passenger satisfaction explained.
Bus stations
SCS has rebuilt the old bus station prefabs that sat in over 100 locations on the map, added new stations to fill gaps and reach most major cities, and worked stations into older map DLCs such as Italia, Road to the Black Sea and Beyond the Baltic Sea. Some city centres were even expanded to make room.
Some stations are tight on purpose, and you may find vehicles parked where you need to be. The map changes are free for everyone who owns the base game or the map DLC. Bus station rework · Stations in map expansions.
Owning a coach
Coaches are bought from the Online Dealer, stored in a separate virtual garage that does not use truck slots, and can be financed with a loan. You can customise the chassis, engine, transmission and interior, and drive freely without a scheduled service. Fuel and fatigue work as they do for trucks, and coaches are subject to mandatory breaks just like trucks.
Coach-only equipment
- a destination display at the top of the windscreen
- split sun visors you control separately
- a rear-view camera that appears on the dashboard in reverse
- ambient and ceiling lighting for the passenger area
What it will not do
Producer Dominik has been clear that Coaches is not a coach company simulator. You will not manage a bus business or hire coach drivers. The focus is on driving and on the passengers.
Still waiting on
The release date and price. See our ETS 2 Coaches release date page for the latest, and our list of confirmed coaches for the vehicles.
