Express traffic

[ketony]

I have been playing this game for a while but I never understand the logic of passengers boarding a train. If a passenger wants to go from A -> C, but there are trains from A -> B and B -> C only, will he get on the train to B and switch train? What if there is a train that goes from A -> B -> C or A -> B -> D -> C?

Another problem is there is too little express demand between distant cities, no matter how large they are. I'm a bit sad to see there is so little demand between e.g Vienna to Istanbul in the orient express. How is express demand generated? I have observed it's not totally proportional to city size. E.g. A and B are 3 stars and distances from A -> C and B -> C are close, but the demand can differ a lot and just can't be explained by city sizes. It seems to me some cities are deemed more "important" and generate more express demand by default.

[OilCan]

If there is no train from A -> C then passengers will travel from A -> B and then B -> C. They switch trains.
If there is a train which goes A -> B -> C, then passengers will board at A, they will all get off at B (recall that every train consist is emptied at a station, no through cargo remain on the train), reloaded at B and then they get off at C.
Same thing for A -> B -> C -> D. Off at every station, reload at every station.

Passenger traffic depends on two things (primarily): the number of houses in a station's cache (green box) and the number of passenger-demanding buildings at a destination city (museums, churches, stadiums, houses). Passengers do not like to walk long distances to a station. If the house is not within a station's cache, they will not walk to the station. Apparently, there is not a taxi service in RT3.

[Hawk]

Another thing to keep in mind is building a hotel and maybe a restaurant at B may prove reasonably profitable.
I've not seen a tavern profits to be worth it though.

[Blackhawk]

If I remember correctly the game manual mentioned something about passenger traffic and while they're willing to "switch" trains a couple times there is a limit for how many times they'll switch before they say it's not worth it. So while they may take a train from A -> B -> C and be fine with the stop over in B. They wouldn't particularly care for a train that goes A -> B -> C -> D -> E -> F -> G -> H before finally reaching their destination.

As for a lack of demand between large cities. I can't really speak for the specific scenario you mention, but I've had times were I'll have large cities all the way across the map and I'll send an express train between the two as there was enough demand. It could be that some of your passengers are trying to go to closer cities hoping that will get them closer to the next big city instead of waiting for a train with a direct route.