Sunshine Islands is a fictional Hong Kong-style archipelago. Ten islands are split across eight zone numbers. Land is only in zones 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8. Zones 2, 3 and 5 are open water that the strategic roads cross. If your route number starts with the zone you are standing in, you should not be heading for a bridge. Island pages are in the island catalog. The four numbered roads are in the route catalog.
The official street map is on the Sunshine Islands site.
Where the land is
| Zone | Islands | How you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Long Island, Dove Island, Hospital Island, Container's Island | West side. Central-Western Bridge or Western Harbour Tunnel from the centre. |
| 4 | Moon Island, North Island, University Island | Centre, and the usual place to spawn. Moon Island opened in November 2017. |
| 6 | Horizon Island | North-east. Closed for redevelopment on 1 June 2024 with Version 2. Horizon's own routes 360, 462 and 670 are suspended. |
| 7 | Leafy Island | East. Senpai, Leafy Bay, Rainbow and YiYan. |
| 8 | Haisey Island | South-east of Leafy Island. Added on 6 February 2021 with the East Door update. Links are still thinner, and duties here are still numbered in the 7x series. |
Map notes give Moon Island an in-universe population around 250,000 and North Island around 140,000. Those figures describe the fictional city. They are not Roblox player counts.
Zone 4 is the first week
Moon Island is the original island. Eastmallow and Central are split by hills. Northern Interchange was the Version 1 spawn. In Version 2 you enter the map only after you pick a vehicle and a route, and the main bus spawn is Sunshine Pier. Landmarks drivers actually use are Sun Central Street, Sunshine Station, the Southern Cultural District and Central Hospital.
North Island sits north of Central. Norton is the built-up district, Northern Beach is the commercial strip, and Version 2.0 added the Rocky Road terminus with a school village. Passenger loads around the schools rise during school hours.
University Island is the campus. Route U47 is the shuttle.
Zone 4 also has the oldest and narrowest roads in the game. A short 4x route can be harder to steer than a motorway. That is still the right place to learn, because a missed stand is closer and cheaper.
The four strategic roads
These are mostly limited-access and posted at 70 km/h or above. Traffic lights appear on only a few sections.
| Road | What it is made of |
|---|---|
| Strategic Route 1 | Central Highway and the Western Harbour Tunnel |
| Strategic Route 2 | Cross-Island Highway: Long Island East Highway, Dove Island Bypass, Desire Bridge, Container's Island Highway |
| Strategic Route 3 | Axis Road, Leafy-Central Tunnel, Southern Central Road, Central-Western Bridge. The bridge and the Leafy-Central Tunnel are tolled. |
| Strategic Route 4 | Senpai Bypass, Leafy Road, East Door Tunnel, South Bay Highway |
Central-Western Bridge and the Western Harbour Tunnel are different crossings and they decide whether you are on a 1Bx, 2Bx or 3Bx duty. Desire Bridge is the weather-sensitive one. Strong wind closes it to buses and pushes services onto Y-prefix and Y-suffix diversions. See special services.
By 2024 the game had capped buses that in Version 1 could exceed 200 km/h. Do not expect those old top speeds. The posted 70 km/h roads still need more stopping distance than a Zone 4 street, especially in a 100-player server.
Termini worth learning by name
| Terminus | Zone | Why it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Sunshine Pier | 4 | Main bus spawn on Moon Island |
| Northern Interchange | 4 | Old Version 1 spawn and a bus-to-bus interchange |
| Norton Town Center | 4 | Norton hub rebuilt around the Version 2 scenery |
| Rocky Road | 4 | Version 2 terminus beside the school village |
| Southern Central | 4 | Southern Cultural District side of Moon Island |
| Senpai Shopping Center | 7 | Zone 7 anchor, and the start of the Urban Odyssey race routing |
| Rainbow | 7 | Rainbow and East Door side of route 75 |
| Horizon Depot | 6 | Horizon's depot. The island routes that end here are suspended |
| Container's Island | 1 | Western industrial end of the network |
| Long Island Ferry Pier | 1 | Western terminal for 25, 140, 171, 370 and the sightseeing loop |
The metro is scenery
Sunshine Islands Metro started as a setting on 1 June 2024 with Version 2. The official map shows three lines. You cannot ride, drive or enter the stations. Version 1 had an Easter egg that spawned an Addison Mass Transit train in the lower deck of the Central-Western Bridge. That is not a train mode in the current bus game.
If a sign says Central-Western Bridge and your route is 140, you are on the wrong crossing. Turn around at the next legal place and rejoin the Western Harbour Tunnel side rather than improvising a parallel motorway.