RollerCoaster Tycoon/Transport Rides

Transport Rides are tracked rides that help spread out your guests to areas all over the park without having them to walk. They have similar ratings to Gentle Rides. However, there are major differences that set them apart from other types of rides in the game. They usually have special characteristics that no other ride has such as a high capacity or a tall support limit. They are also often cheaper than most types of rides. Guests will also always ride them if they're free no matter how much they want to go home or what their ride preferences are. Their downsides are rather significant though. All of them have poor speeds compared to most rides. Their Excitement ratings are also often poor without vast scenery and theming.

Guests have rather simple pathfinding AI in order to prevent the game from slowing down when there's mass amounts of guests in the park. As a result, guests do not view Transport Rides differently than other types of rides. They won't ride a Transport Ride to get to a specific area in the park even if they're gunning straight to a certain ride that's far away or want to exit the park. (However, in the case of the latter, you can use a free Transport Ride with one station-exit to influence faraway guests to the park's exit sooner.) Therefore, the best way to use Transport Rides is to make your park uncrowded, spread your guests out to key areas, and keep their energy up by preventing excessive walking. Due to how many guests Transport Rides can carry, they become necessary for larger parks when extra paths aren't cutting it anymore.

In RCT1, you can only research Transport Rides by having Gentle Rides checked in Research and Development. It does not get its own section of research until RCT2.

Chairlift
Cost: $1,440 upwards Size: Variable Max Height: 160 ft. (54 m) Indoor: Yes Length Requirement: 492 ft. (150 m) Underground Penalty: 50% or more Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon

The Chairlift is a track-system that pulls suspended cars with the help of supports and cables. It not only has the highest support limit in the game, but also the lowest cost increase from raised track. This makes it a useful and cheap option to add shortcuts that goes over tall hills, mountains, and cliffs. One of the reasons it's inexpensive is due to how compact it is. It only requires one line of track and two stations. (In fact, it cannot function with more than two stations.) The cars also don't lose momentum when going uphill as the entire system works on one fixed speed. You can alter this speed in the settings. However, increasing the throughput by raising the speed will dramatically lower the Excitement rating. It is usually best to have speed on the maximum setting, but you can make the cars slower if you're trying to keep guests' happiness high.

Miniature Railroad
Cost: $1,300 upwards Size: Variable Max Height: 29 ft. (9 m) Indoor: Yes (Covered Cars) Length Requirement: 656 ft. (200 m) Underground Penalty: 50% or more Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon

The Miniature Railway is a tracked ride based on classic trains. It is the cheapest out of all the train-based Transport Rides. That low cost comes at a price though. It has a rather poor speed and loses even more whenever it has to go up an incline. Regardless, it has a great capacity for the price. There isn't a difference between the two Steam Trains other than the one with covered cars isn't affected by the rain. There's virtually no good reason to not go with the latter train when it's available. The Miniature Railway is not the best choice for transporting guests in larger parks due to its average speed, but it's still a solid option in a pinch.

Monorail
Cost: $1,550 upwards Size: Variable Max Height: 32 ft. (10 m) Indoor: Yes Length Requirement: 558 ft. (170 m) Underground Penalty: 50% or more Appearance: RollerCoaster Tycoon

The Monorail is a modern-based train that uses only a single rail or beam. It is the most flexible attraction out of all the train-based Transport Rides. They have decent speed for the class and good capacity. The best advantage this attraction has is with the "Large Monorail Train." This train increases the speed and capacity of the ride tremendously, allowing it to be a powerful form of transport. You can also use "Shuttle Mode" to let this ride move between two set points on one line of track. This is significantly cheaper to made, but only one train is allowed to be used in this mode. The Chairlift is a better substitute in most situations than a shuttle-mode Monorail, so Shuttle Mode is not usually recommended. Overall, this attraction is good for almost any scenario where you're building a ground-based Transport Ride.