Key Features

Open the forecourt and secure ammunition

Use the starting M14 or Olympia to earn the 750 points needed for the depot exit. Avoid committing to a knife lunge after taking a hit. Open the exit before several windows are overwhelmed; the terminal has too little space to recover from a blocked doorway.
Bus Depot exterior in TranZit. The standalone Survival mode removes bus travel and perks.
Outside, use the MP5 or Remington 870 MCS wall purchase for a weapon with a dependable ammo supply. The Mystery Box sits in the forecourt; take a spin only with a clear approach and enough ammunition to recover from a poor result. There is no upgrade machine to rescue a weak weapon later.
You cannot obtain Jugger-Nog, Quick Revive or Pack-a-Punch in this mode. In solo a down ends the run. In co-op a teammate must revive you. Do not spend a round searching the terminal for Turbine parts or trying to call the TranZit bus.

A repeatable survival route

Gather zombies around the open forecourt, keeping the pillars and wreckage on a consistent side. Look ahead at fresh spawns rather than watching only the train behind you. Cut to a wider line when a zombie crosses the route; reversing into the following horde is usually fatal.
Hop over lava cracks and allow your health to recover before passing a zombie. Fire and an immediate melee hit can combine into a down. Burning zombies explode when killed: fire at the head of the train from a distance, then run past the cleared space.
In co-op, agree on one direction of travel and avoid dragging two trains into the depot door at once. Keep one manageable zombie while players buy ammo. For a rescue, pull the crowd away first, then have another player revive; there is no Quick Revive shortcut here.

Side Quests

Secrets and mode boundaries

There is no main quest, song activation sequence or buildable reward in the standalone Bus Depot Survival arena. The teddy, workbench and bus-related activities seen in full TranZit walkthroughs do not make a completable quest here. Use the TranZit guide for those systems.
Full TranZit map guide ↗

Sources and review

Written for the original Black Ops II release, on Original difficulty unless a mode is specified. Instructions were cross-checked against the linked community sources on 3 October 2026. Gameplay: Activision / Treyarch; photographs and charts: COD Zombies Guides, its credited contributors, mmmrkennedy and other sources named below. Shared-layout images may show another edition; follow the BO2 instructions. Source review and website checks are not an in-game playthrough.

Select any reference image to enlarge it. Screenshot and symbol sources are credited in the linked walkthroughs; this guide uses local copies for reliable access.