Mass Transit Problems

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

So it seems no matter what I do I can't get people on my highways or my buses/subways.  They always only end up having like 2% used or something.  Are there some basic guidelines for mass transit?  Can I make a city survive on Subways alone for mass transit or do I need to have a combination?

[CaptCity 4,669]

Key thing to remember is that sims will usually use the route with the shortest distance, not necessarily the shortest time. So even though going on a highway to bypass congestion makes sense in real life, it may not be the case in the SC4 world. For highways, be sure to have ample on/off ramps where you need them. For bus/subway, be sure to have plenty of stations that sims can get to. Also, different wealth levels 'prefer' different transportation methods, so be sure to build what is wanted. You may want to check out the different pathfinding options in NAM (if you use it). Hope this is helpful...

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

I tried to use NAM but it wouldn't let me replace streets with roads.  I laid roads when zoning and I couldn't replace them.

[CaptCity 4,669]

You may have 'streets' and 'roads' mixed up. The ones that are automatically laid down when zoning are 'streets' (grey color). They carry the least amount of traffic before congestion hits. The 'roads' (blacktop - yellow stripes) carry more than the streets. If you are trying to relieve congestion, you don't want to go from a road to a street, but going from a street to a road will help. You can lay a road over a street, but not a street over a road. If you need to upgrade from a road, you can use avenues or oneways (as long as there is a return path), depending on your version of NAM.

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

Yeah, NAM wouldn't let me do that.  And I can only seem to get my subways at 25% capacity max and most are just unused.  I don't get it.  Also my buildings are all under distress and many get abandoned for no apparent reason, every desirability is high except traffic noise.  I don't get it.

[Evilheat 0]

I prefer you dwonload a combined trasportation where bus , subway and rapid transit in one station. Go search at the STEX where good transportation station

[CaptCity 4,669]

IheartSimCitymore...

If your buildings abandon, you can query them to find out possible reasons (Commute time, Lack of demand, etc.). May need to compare demand to the level of sims and types of jobs you have.

Also, as for surviving by subway alone, I've usually had better luck with a good mix of mass transit. As mentioned before, different sims 'prefer' different types of transportation. Not saying it can't work, but for me, a variety has been more successful.

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

I know I did that though.  I queried them and all desirability factors including customers are high, commute is medium or short.  The only thing that's high is traffic noise and I can't reduce that because I can't get anyone on my mass transit.  So really they abandon for no reason.  Everything is in the green such as safety, health, education, traffic, and land value yet they still abandon or go under distress.

Where can I get that STEX transportation thing?

Also I have a big question about schools that I've always wondered.  I know they have a circle that encompasses the buildings so say I put an elementary school in an area do I also have to put a high school in that same area to have them come in?  Or do I just place an elementary school in one area then the high school outside of its area to get people?

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

Also is there some place I can go to download regions that are already built with things like highways and mass transit so I can see how to make them work?  If I can get a good example I can answer many questions I have just by looking.

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

Bump, please help me.

[CaptCity 4,669]

IheartSimCitymore...

As far as I know there aren't any sites (at least the common ones) that offer developed cities for downloading. That would involve possibly very large files, in addition to the whole matching plugins issue. The only ones I can think of is a couple on the official site (one is called 'Maxisland' or something like that) that demonstrate some things in game.

As for the different level schools... Each is for the portion of the population at various age ranges (elementary schools, high schools, colleges, university), so as the age of the population increases, different schools come into play. To keep track of what might be needed, you can check the education levels of the population as you go along. This is probably an oversimplistic explanation, but I can say that I usually don't use nearly as many high schools as elementary, and the sims seem to stay pretty educated (but, who knows, I might be doing it wrong).

As for querying your abandoned lots.. If they have abandoned, there should be something in the query box under the name bar that says 'Abandoned due to ...'. If not, then the buildings might just be depressed. If all things in the query box seem on the up-and-up, then it probably has something to do with demand. Check the RCI graph to see whether that particular level is low and if something else is high. Also, you might need some capacity relief depending upon what populations you have.

For your transit issues, be sure that your mass transit lines offer at least as good of path to jobs as your roads. Might want to check different NAM options for better path finding.

Hope some of this helps...

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

Okay so for the schools I dont need to make the High School encompass all of the elementary schools to get IQ up?  Also, does the age range change over time or is it always constant in certain areas?

[CaptCity 4,669]

Schools...

I've never had to have to have a one-to-one ratio of elementary coverage to high school coverage to keep sims educated. Just made sure there was something for every age group. I guess ideally there should be total coverage for every education level, but I've never had an issue with it, and it would get very costly. Someone else might suggest differently. Could be something to test...

Age...

If you mean does the average age of sims in a city vary over time, that would probably depend on how the cities are built. What I've noticed... Stand alone cities level off after a while a stay pretty constant. Cities that go through changes such as new region connections or reconstruction projects have more of a variance.

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

Also, what's a good tax percentage to be at overall?  I'm keeping things at the default 7% normally.

[CaptCity 4,669]

Default's good, unless you want to control development by using tax rates. You can lower a certain rate a little to encourage growth, or raise one to limit growth.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Hello IheartSimCitymore,

On schools -

In SimCity 4 - it is not IQ that you worry about but EQ (Education Quotient).

In theory, based on ages of home-grown-sims (as opposed to locations) you should need about one (1) High School per every three (3) Elementary Schools; or, if you want to really focus on education, one (9-12) per two (K-. Elementary Schools should definitely cover ALL of your Residential (and certain areas - as in farm houses - of your Agricultural) zones.

In regards to location, again - in theory, if you place your Schools so that the Elementary Schools are within the bus-ing area of the High Schools, then any sims of High School age within the Elementary Schools Bus-ing area should be able to get to the High School; again - if focusing on education - don't forget a City College (for Associate programs) and a University (for Master and Doctorial programs).

On age distribution -

After population has stablized - your sims will be spread, more or less evenly, across the Life Expectancy (LE) spectrum (i.e. birth to death).

In theory - K-8 schools should have 5 - 13 year olds, 9-12 schools should have 14 - 17 year olds, City Colleges should have 18 - 19 (for associate programs - or 21 for bachelor programs), and a University would offer another 4 years of schooling - beyond that offered by a City College.

Please Note - without modds - with lower Life Expectancies, your work force will be approximately 40% of your total residential population; after Life Expectancy crosses a certain threshold amount, your work force will be approximately 60% of your total residential population. I highly recommend to allow for additional traffic that will be created by crossing this LE threshold.

Others - say members of the NAM team - could better advise you as to your traffic problems.

Hope this helps someone,

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[The Arrowz 3]

If you play rush hour, the default is 9% and they grow fine with that; the original was always at 7% so I left it at that, dunno if you raise it to 9% what effect it'll have

[Muck308 55]

I find that lowering taxes can provide a spike in population... but only immediately. After time, demand rates seem to level back out to where they were. More so with commercial.

[k808j 0]

To IheartSimCitymore

   Download No car, freight, bus etc lots from the STEX, and place them on strategic roads.  This way u can control the sims method of travel

[IheartSimCitymore 0]

NetPCDoc, thank you that answered a lot of my questions.  But to be clear, you're saying as long as a High School is in the bussing area of at least one elementary school then it will get students?

So if I have a large residential area with 3 elementary schools in the core and the high school out near the outskirts as long as all 3 bussing areas and the high schools touch each other they will cover the area?  If that is true I can save big bucks.

Thank you all also for the advice on taxes.

K808J can you link me those things you're talking about, I looked but I can't find them or I don't recognize them.  But when I use NAM I can't make my streets into roads.  I tried it just recently again even after a re-installation and same thing.

I'm still having some trouble making a good source of income.  I made a large area and I covered it with Power, Water, Fire, Police, Garbage, but I can just barely make ends meet with hospitals.  When I say barely make ends meet I mean I make a profit of about 50 dollars, if that.  So I don't have enough to really expand or get education set up.

What am I missing here?

I haven't gotten my city big enough yet to try any mass transit methods but I can share that what I have been doing with mass transit is placing them at corners where there is high traffic and I'm starting to think it's a bad strategy.

What is a good strategy?  Should I just make a line running from my residential districts to my commercial and then to my industrial along the most congested roads?

[Nuck97 0]

IheartSimCitymore:

I signed up to reply to your post....a few months back I found a transportation tutorial on this site titled "Greyveil's Transportation Tutorial"....it shows you a method of setting up streets vs. roads vs. avenues and also where to place mass transit stops.   I've found, in general, it's best to set up your roads inefficiently so Sims are more or less forced to use mass transit.   Once your city reaches a significant size, this is a great way to make some money in the transportation department.   

Below is the link for Greyveil's tutorial.   It's quite handy.

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=61381&enterthread=y

[kingdiz_55 12]

Maybe your highways are not accessible because there is also an issue regarding the pathfinding of the game, this may be the cause of your problems.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Originally posted by: IheartSimCitymore  But to be clear, you're saying as long as a High School is in the bussing area of at least one elementary school then it will get students?

So if I have a large residential area with 3 elementary schools in the core and the high school out near the outskirts as long as all 3 bussing areas and the high schools touch each other they will cover the area?  If that is true I can save big bucks.quote>

 

I have not really tested this concept to that extent.  I tend to place my High Schools such that the bussing radius from the High School includes two or three Elementary School Lots (not just their bussing radius).  However - feel free to try it out and get back to us on just how well this truly does work.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[tungston 19]

IheartSimCitymore, the high school will only effect the area included in it's radius. It has a different age group, and education effect.

[k808j 0]

IheartSimCityMore,

   Here r ur links, https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13857, https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/index.cfm?id=13856 also in the keyword search u can type in 

no truck etc.  Matter of fact type in anything you r looking for ie mass transit and all downloads pretaining to that subject will pop up.  I found a lot of my downloads this way.