Pahadi Bus Simulator

Take a hill-country state bus up the mountain roads of Himachal Pradesh.

Hairpin bends that need two bites of the wheel. Single-lane stretches with a drop on one side and a rock face on the other. A loaded bus that does not stop where you expect it to on a downhill grade.

THIRTY-TWO ROUTES
Shimla to Kufri Ghat, Narkanda to Hatu Peak, Kotgarh to Thanedhar, Rampur to Sarahan, Sangla to Chitkul, Killar on the Pangi road, Rohtang to Koksar, Kaza to Komic in Spiti, Dharamshala to Naddi, Chamba to Bharmour, Nadaun to Sujanpur Tira, the Chanshal and Jalori passes, Shipki La, the Shinkun La, Barot, the Parvati valley — and long hauls out of Delhi to Manali, Shimla, Dharamshala and Dehradun. Each one has its own weather, its own stops, and its own idea of how wide a road needs to be.

THE PANGI LEDGE
The Killar road is one lane cut into a cliff, with the river a long way below. Only one bus fits. When you meet something coming the other way, one of you reverses to the nearest widening — and it might be you. Streams come off the rock, cross the road and fall over the edge. There are no dhabas out here and nowhere to turn round.

FIVE BUSES
The PPN Sherpa you start on — 52 seats, 11 metres, and a turning circle that will make you think on a switchback. A plain UP Roadways carriage with a tin route board and a roof rack. A Punjab Roadways coach. And two air-conditioned ones: Haryana Roadways white and blue, and the PPN Himsuta in green.

Six more operators are shown on the selection screen and marked coming soon.

Haryana Roadways and UP Roadways are the names of real state transport undertakings. This game is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to either of them, or to any other transport undertaking or vehicle manufacturer. Every other operator, depot and vehicle name in the game is invented.

DRIVE IT PROPERLY
Pull up square at the stand. Open the door. Let them on. Watch the comfort meter if you like your passengers. Mind the fuel, mind the ground clearance at the fords, and take the kachi stretches slowly.

Steering wheel, left-right buttons, or phone tilt — whichever suits you — with on-screen pedals and a gear selector. Six camera views including a cockpit with working mirrors, and a 360 view of the bus standing in its bay.

A short guide walks you through your first run and can be switched off from the settings whenever you have had enough of it.

EVERY STAND IS DIFFERENT
Some depots are old dressed stone under a slate roof. Some are a seventies concrete block with the name painted across the parapet. Out at the road-heads it is a tin shed and a gravel yard, and the busy places have been rebuilt in steel and glass.

YOUR OWN MUSIC
Play the songs already on your phone while you drive. The game reads them to play them and does nothing else with them.

DRIVE IT ANYWHERE
No sign-up and no account. Every route, every save and your own music work with no connection at all, so you can play it on the bus or in aeroplane mode.

ADS
There is a banner on the menu screen, a full-screen ad when a duty ends, and an optional video after a run if you want to double that run's earnings. You will never see an ad while you are driving, and never more than one between two runs. Nothing else is for sale: there are no in-app purchases, and the buses and routes are unlocked by playing.

The ads need a connection and will simply not appear without one. They are served by Google AdMob, which uses your device's advertising ID. Where the law requires it you are asked first, and refusing means no ads are shown at all for that session.

Requires Android 8.0 or newer, on a 64-bit phone.

Recent changes:
The roads were almost black. They look like roads now, and the snow sits on the hillsides instead of hanging above them.

Buses cost lakhs, not crores - a coach is 52 duties away now, not 113.

The wing mirrors show the bus again, and the UP Roadways steering wheel sits straight.

New: a horn shop where you can listen before you buy, a mirror down the aisle behind you, and a film of your run to watch afterwards.

One full-screen ad when a duty ends - never while you are driving.