Bus-Tram-Cable Car: San Francisco, the TML Studios Transit Simulator
Bus-Tram-Cable Car: San Francisco is a real-time 3D simulation from the German studio TML Studios in which the player works as a public transport employee driving buses, trolley buses, trams and cable cars. The German version was released on June 29, 2011.
Updated
What the simulation offers
TML Studios of Erfurt, Germany, built the game on Trinigy's Vision Game Engine, which allowed more realistic street environments for the mix of mass transit on San Francisco's busy streets. The setting is a large, freely explorable city, and the game frames play as taking a job with the city's public transport system. Players steer through the city's streets while the timetable keeps the pressure on.
Sixteen detailed, animated vehicles are available: a bus, an articulated bus, a trolley bus, a cable car and several trams among them. The tasks follow an employee's working day. Players use the functions in the cockpit to keep to the timetable, and they have to watch the fuel gauge and the overall condition of the vehicle.
The English version was still in development when the German version came out in June 2011.
Trinigy, the engine's maker, is based in Southern Germany with offices in Austin, Texas, and Seoul, Korea. In 2011 it described the Vision Game Engine as used in more than 200 commercial game productions by companies such as Ubisoft and Take 2, across real-time strategy, racing, first-person shooter, role-playing and massively multiplayer genres. It listed support for Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, with iOS and Android on the way.
Key facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | TML Studios, Erfurt, Germany |
| Engine | Trinigy Vision Game Engine |
| Vehicles | 16, including bus, articulated bus, trolley bus, cable car and trams |
| German release | June 29, 2011 |
| Setting | San Francisco, California |
The studio behind it
TML-Studios is a division and label of TML-Edition OHG, founded in 2004 by Thomas Langelotz and Michaela Vogeler. It describes itself as an independent studio specialized in creative PC games and real-time 3D simulations.
The release list that accompanied the San Francisco simulation ran from add-ons for the train simulator MSTS in 2005 and 2006 through World of Subways Vol. 1: The Path (New York, 2008) and World of Subways Vol. 2: U7 Berlin (2009) to City Bus Simulator 2010: New York, Kehrmaschinen Simulator 2011, a street-sweeper simulation (March 16, 2011) and a Titanic dive simulator (July 2010).
What is true today
The simulation's own website, buscablecarsimulator.com, no longer exists: the domain name leads nowhere. TML Studios' site is active in November 2026, in German and English, and centers on The Bus, available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a hotfix for its Fernbus Simulator posted on November 4, 2026.
The studio's home page does not list the San Francisco title, so no official place to buy or play it is confirmed today.
Questions about the simulation
Who developed Bus-Tram-Cable Car: San Francisco?
TML Studios, an independent development studio in Erfurt, Germany, developed it on Trinigy's Vision Game Engine.
Which vehicles can players drive?
Players can drive 16 vehicles, among them a bus, an articulated bus, a trolley bus, a cable car and trams.
Is the game still available?
The game's own website no longer exists, and TML Studios' current home page does not list it. Availability through other sellers is not confirmed.