Picture this: dragons fly overhead, kingdoms rise and fall, ancient prophecies unfold, and your chosen hero is still stuck at the ogre-run bus depot because the "next available troll cart" is delayed by three hours. 

Exactly. 

Fantasy worlds are full of chaos and wonder, but most of them skip over a crucial, painfully relatable piece of life: transportation. Not the glamorous kind - pegasi, teleportation circles, or royal carriages, but the awkward, crowded, smelly, always-late kind that real people use. If your fantasy world has a perfectly functioning transit system, you're doing it wrong. Here's why your world needs a broken, bureaucratic, delightfully dysfunctional public transport network. 

1. It Grounds the Fantasy in Reality 

Even the most surreal worlds need friction. Readers will believe in magical swords and soulbound crowns, but they still crave the mundane annoyances that make a world feel real. And nothing is more universal than being stuck, late, or lost in a transit nightmare. A hero stuck on a hay-powered bus that breaks down every 10 miles? That hits harder than a dragon attack. A rebel leader is trying to reach a secret meeting, but the underground mole tram is "temporarily diverted due to flooding in the lava tunnels." That's world-building gold. When your characters have to navigate magical yet malfunctioning transportation, it instantly makes your world more relatable. 

2. Chaos Breeds Comedy and Conflict 

Unreliable systems are comedy gold. Imagine: 

● A knight yelling at a sassy enchanted map that keeps rerouting them through haunted woods. 

● A necromancer forced to carpool with a paladin because all the broomsticks are booked. 

But the dysfunction isn't just for laughs. It can drive the actual plot. Missed connections can delay urgent missions. Strikes by magical beast unions could ignite political unrest. A detour through cursed territory might send your party into a whole new subplot. Poor transportation is more than background noise; it's a narrative catalyst. 

3. It Reflects the Culture and Power Structures 

The way a society functions reveals everything about who holds power. Is public transport magical? Mechanical? Living? Is it cheap and accessible, or reserved for the elite? 

● Maybe the rich teleport everywhere, while the poor have to queue for the unpredictable flame-cart. 

● Maybe the centaurs run their efficient transit network but refuse to let humans on board. 

● Maybe the only working system is a cursed railway powered by forgotten souls, and no one wants to talk about it. 

Suddenly, you're not just building a world; you're showing its cracks. The transport system (or lack of one) tells readers how organized, fair, and interconnected your world really is. It can reveal inequality, corruption, class divisions, or ancient grudges still shaping modern life. 

4. It Humanises Your Characters 

We've all been there: delayed trains and missed stops, and overcrowded carriages that smell like regret and wet leather. Putting your characters into that mix is a fast track to making them real. Let them grumble. Let them panic. Let them bond over shared transit misery. Maybe your ultra-serious wizard panics when his teleportation stone glitches mid-journey and dumps him in a bog. Maybe your chosen one is late to the final battle because they misread the rune schedule. These moments show who your characters really are, not when they're slaying beasts or kissing royalty, but when they're exhausted, running late, and cursing the transport ministry. Frustration reveals character. 

5. It Keeps the World Moving, Literally!

A functional and imperfect public transportation system fosters motion and connection. Information travels. Rumors spread. Cultures mix. 

● A stolen item passed between passengers on the moon-sled express. 

● A bard overhearing a government conspiracy on the late-night ghost tram.

● A refugee sharing space with a royal on the overcrowded undersea snail line. 

These aren't just scenes; they're turning points. Your world can feel much bigger and more alive when people move and when that movement isn't seamless. Every delay, every stop, every encounter opens up opportunities for interaction, friction, or revelation. 

Final Stop: Why It Matters 

Public transport is messy, flawed, and unpredictable, just like real life. Adding that element to your world makes it richer, funnier, and infinitely more believable. So don't just create epic quests and ancient spells. Build a schedule full of delays. Populate your stations with weirdos, rule sticklers, and drunk trolls. Let your world breathe, crawl, break down, and reroute. And maybe, just maybe, let your hero show up late to save the day because the worm bus took the wrong tunnel.