In public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

, a limited-stop bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

, tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 or train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

 service is a service that operates along the same route as a local bus

Local bus

In computer science, a local bus is a computer bus that connects directly, or almost directly, from the CPU to one or more slots on the expansion bus. The significance of direct connection to the CPU is avoiding the bottleneck created by the expansion bus, thus providing fast throughput...

 service, but omits certain stops in order to offer a faster trip between the places served. The term is normally used on routes with a mixture of fast and slow services. Additionally there may be a "semi-fast" service with more stops than a "fast" service, but fewer than a "slow" service.

In a typical metropolitan area limited-stop services are most likely to be scheduled at times when more people are travelling, not limited to the Rush Hour. Leisure

Leisure

Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....

 and shopping trips tend to be more localised and geographically varied, thus requiring and responding to slower services calling at most stops along the route.

Sometimes a higher (premium) fare may be required for the faster journey, especially for some international trains in western Europe.

Railways

On railways, the layout of the tracks and number/length of platforms at stations will normally limit the extent to which a blend of fast/semi-fast/slow services can be operated.

In Australia, particularly in Brisbane

CityTrain

Citytrain is the brand name of urban, suburban and inter-urban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia. Its network, centering in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, is approximately in route length...

 and Sydney

CityRail

CityRail is an operating brand of RailCorp, a corporation owned by the state government of New South Wales, Australia. It is responsible for providing commuter rail services, and some coach services, in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities of New South Wales. It is...

, limited stop services are formed by commuter trains which run as limited stops or express services from the city centre to the edge of the suburban area and then as all stops in the interurban area. Same is done in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 by VR commuter rail.

Terminology for Dutch railways:

• fast: intercity
  Inter-city rail
  Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains.There is no precise definition of inter-city rail. Its meaning may vary from country to country...
  
  
• semi-fast: sneltrein
• slow: stoptrein

Limited stop bus services

A limited stop bus service usually operate on a route identical or similar to one or more local bus

Local bus

In computer science, a local bus is a computer bus that connects directly, or almost directly, from the CPU to one or more slots on the expansion bus. The significance of direct connection to the CPU is avoiding the bottleneck created by the expansion bus, thus providing fast throughput...

 routes, making stops at certain key points, such as major intersections, major landmarks, in a city's central business district

Central business district

A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

, or at transfer points to other bus routes.

Limited stop bus services are sometimes viewed as a form of bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

, but differ from bus rapid transit in that they otherwise operate as regular bus routes, with no dedicated lanes or other accommodations similar to those of a commuter rail service.

In heavily congested traffic conditions a bus scheduled as fast or semi-fast may not always achieve an appreciably faster journey than a stopping service along the same route, unless there are special bus lane

Bus lane

A bus lane or bus only lane is a lane restricted to buses, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion...

s. However due to fewer fixed stops, buses may run on a more flexible route to avoid the worst congestion at certain times of the day.

For example, Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 offers a service known as QuickBus

QuickBus

Route 40 is a limited stop bus route, identified as a "QuickBus", operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore and its suburbs. The line currently runs from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Woodlawn to Middle River, both in Baltimore County, Maryland , passing...

on some of its routes. These lines share the routing of other bus routes in the area, but make fewer stops and bypass all others.