I usually change setting before playing:
bits_per_month: at least 20
one tile is 100m in my game.
station coverage: 3 (but now I am playing with 4)
I increase distance between cities and distance between factories too.
I play with more AI enabled (Althow I vote for singleplayer)
Firstly I connect some industries, than I move to passenger transport. Mail transport is created as the last one.