For anyone who is a SimCity addict, looking for an alternative, check out Mobility 2.
It looks a lot like SimCity, without some of the bells and whistles of later versions, but it focuses on public transportation, and was, until recently, available for free. Now it’s into version 2.11, includes a land editor and available as shareware for the princely sum of $14.
Another alternative, also European in origin, design, and feel: TrafficGiant, from JoWood Productions. In TrafficGiant (yes, dreadful name, I know, “you control an entire fleet of buses, trams and much more. You experience realistically functioning town traffic with thousands of vehicles and pedestrians. You can ask each inhabitant what he thinks and feels” (er, only about transportation, of course).