At my wits end...

[stoneboy0 0]

I'm very new to Simcity 4, but I've messed around with it a little. I decided I wanted to slowly develop a nice region, starting with some suburbs. I located the manufacturing/dirty industry in an adjacent area.

At around 15k population, however, I started to get the "no job" zots in many areas, after which the building would dilapidate or become abandoned.  The poplulation is now around 25k (fluctuates between 24-28k) in a city that COULD contain around 40k (IMO). I also keep getting the "full employment without enjoyment" message, and demand is stagnant in both the suburbs and the industrial center for any commercial/industry.  Demand for $, $$, and $$$ residential, however, is through the roof.

The buildings affected are all income levels, and they seem to just build a house/apartment, then the "no jobs" zot appears, then it becomes abandoned.

I have the Jan 2009 NAM, and am using the "Simulator Z High" because it's supposed to help with this sort of thing. It hasn't, and I can only assume I'm doing something wrong.

Some pictures:

The region:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/region.jpg

The suburbs:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/suburbs.jpg

The industrial center:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/industry.jpg

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'd LOVE to successfully play this game, but I'm on the verge of deleting it out of spite. Thank you.

[io_bg 249]

Maybe you need more jobs?

[Livin in Sim 83]

Hi, stoneboy0,

Welcome to Simtropolis.  Thanks for posting some links to your pictures, they help a lot when trying to determine the problem.  The forums have become rather fussy about accepting links, however, and they have "deadened" yours.    To get around this, after you first paste the link in the "Insert Link" window, and "OK" it, you will usually have to "X" out of the window to get rid of it.  Then click anywhere in your message to turn the text into a link.  Next, right click on the link, select, "Edit Link" from the menu.  Delete the "javascript:void" thingy from the text box, and re-paste your link.  Click "OK", and it should work.  If that's all a bit too much, you can always just paste the link as text and people can copy and paste it into their browsers.  For pics, you can click on the "Insert Image" icon, the mountain next to the Smiley.  It doesn't seem to be as fussy for some reason. 

"Full employment without enjoyment"--I can relate.    It does tend to interfere with my work as a mayor.  I've never gotten that message; interesting.  You say all income levels are abandoning?  I can't tell for sure until I see the pics, but  abandonment can sometimes occur when there is too much R$$$, and not enough high income jobs.  R$$$ tends to develop before conditions are really right, and then abandon.  It takes a fair amount of R$ and R$$ to spur enough job demand for R$$$.  Even CS$$$, CO$$$, and I-HT need lots of lower and middle income workers.  If residential demand is good, have you tried adding more zones if you have the space?  Or you can upgrade the density of existing lots.  I use the "Make Historical" checkboxes to keep more R$$$ from developing, and raise R$$$ taxes a couple points.  That's just a guess.  You may have hit a commercial demand cap.  Landmarks, rewards, and an airport or airport tram can help this.  When your pics are up, we will be able to tell more.  Don't give up yet! 

Have fun.

--Liv

[stoneboy0 0]

I have fixed the picture links, per your instructions; thank you!

And there is plenty of room for more zones in the city; the problem is if I zone for more residential, it just results in many of my old neighborhoods becoming abandoned in favor of the new. 

I have placed a landmark in the city already; Fenuil (sp?) Hall. I also already tried raising taxes on the rich, and their demand DID drop, but the problem also extends to the $$ sims (and to a lesser extent, the $ sims).

Thank you for the thoughts, and if you need more detailed pictures of anything, let me know. I'd like to try everything before I give up on this!

[DITRO 15]

You could download the Radical Ordinance Mod, if worst comes to worst. I believe there is an ordinance that sends industrial demand through the roof. However, it does replace all the Maxis default ordinances.

[Dukat 2]

Nice. I think your city planning is close to mine in some aspects. I had the same problem as you have some time ago.

I think the probelm is, that you got a rising education level in your residential city. On top of that you got High Tech industry. Thus the AI builds a lot of R$$$ buildings. It thinks that it should develope to a R$$ or R$$$ city. But as you're still growing the city, new uneducated people arrive that keep demand for I$ and I$$ up. Accordingly you got a lot of  I$ and I$$ in your Industrial city. Whenever you stop zoning new zones consolidating the growth, the education level will rise slowly. That causes more R$$ and R$$$ to grow. But all the new R$$ and R$$$ people will find not enough jobs in the local high tech industry.  They will commute into the Industry city. But if you play the industry city, the strongly needed I$$$ will not grow due to pollution. Accordingly you get abandonment.

Solutions: Tax out I$ and I$$ in your Industry city after your education level has rose above 160 in the residential city. Dependency: Get a stronger population base which's average education level is less stressed by  moving in of new people in a high percentage of people compared to your overall population. Force I$$$ to grow then in your Industrial city. Prior to this you should tax R$$$ in your residential city by 11-13%. This will cause less R$$$ to move in. R$$ people will move into the R$$$ houses and stop abandonment.

[Jezus53 18]

Dukat has the right idea. I think the problem is you're tax system. though I am a firm believer in the flat tax system, Maxis decided that flat tax rates are dumb. So you have to set taxes to influence demand. If you're problem is commercial jobs, then I suggest setting you're taxes around 8% for CO$ and increased by .1% for each one.

[stoneboy0 0]

I'd like to thank everyone for their input. I never would've guessed taxes were the problem, but when I raised the $$$ tax amount to 12%, the "no job" zots disappeared almost immediately.  I then demolished many of the abandoned buildings (especially the apartments/condos.. yuck).  Slowly but surely, both commercial and industrial demand has begun to increase and the empty lots began to fill up with lower income housing.  My city now has a population of 33k, a new high!

In the industrial center, I also raised taxes on dirty manufacturing; short term, this means that it can sustain itself financially! Hopefully the long term effects will be as mentioned above.

Thanks again! I'll think I'll be visiting here frequently.

[Jezus53 18]

I'm glad it's working out great for you!

[stoneboy0 0]

Ok; it is becoming painfully obvious that I am only dimly aware of many of the mechanics of this game.  I'm trying to understand, though, and perhaps you can all pull my fat out of the fire once again.

Population growth was great, as mentioned above. Until I hit around 38k people, and I started having the "no job" zots pop up again. So I went into the industrial city, and watched as manufacturing exploded onto the screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/jobs.jpg

Triumphant, I returned to the suburbs to watch my people go to work.... but they didn't.  Population began to decline as the zots remained and buildings became abandoned:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/population.jpg

Since the last problem was a tax problem, here is my tax screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/taxes.jpg

Here is the current demand in the suburbs:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/demand.jpg

Once again, if you need anymore pictures or information, just ask! And thanks again; this forum is a lifesaver.

[Jezus53 18]

I would try raising taxes on the low income to 8% That will lower demand which would help with population control while you fix your job crisis. How is you're traffic? Is it really bogged down in some parts? Is the commute time ridiculous? Check and see if a lot of areas are red or not. Let me know of what's going on too.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

I have made some successful and quite large cities in my own Patrician Showcase, so I may be of help. Keep in mind that I have the Radical Ordinance Mod, but I don't use it much in my newer cities, so these points should be universal.

These are the points I would use if I were in your place. Note that I may not be aiming for the same goals, but both of us wish to build suburbs if I read the top post correctly.

- Your residential tax rates should be inverted. Lower taxes on the rich to 9 percent, the middle class to 8 percent, and raise the rate on the lower class to 9.5 percent. This will make for a better residential area.

- Lower tax rates on low and medium wealth commercial services to 6.5 percent, high wealth to 7.5 percent, and medium wealth commercial office to 8 percent.

- Zone commercial strips on major roadways. This will be more realistic, and reduce commute time, a common cause of unemployment.

- Lower taxes on manufacturing to 12 percent to stimulate demand

- Make an avenue connection in the north of the suburb to the industrial area to reduce commute time

Hope these tips work.

[phillyb86 0]

i tend to keep my dirty and manufacturing industry in a seperate tile and when you get the demand for high tech, i build it in the residential city which helps reduce commute times. i also build commercial along my main roads which also helps. when starting out tho i raise R$$$ to 20% to keep them out and lower it later when there is enough jobs to support the high wealth population

[Dukat 2]

Originally posted by: stoneboy0 Ok; it is becoming painfully obvious that I am only dimly aware of many of the mechanics of this game.  I'm trying to understand, though, and perhaps you can all pull my fat out of the fire once again.

Population growth was great, as mentioned above. Until I hit around 38k people, and I started having the "no job" zots pop up again. So I went into the industrial city, and watched as manufacturing exploded onto the screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/jobs.jpg

Triumphant, I returned to the suburbs to watch my people go to work.... but they didn't.  Population began to decline as the zots remained and buildings became abandoned:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/population.jpg

Since the last problem was a tax problem, here is my tax screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/taxes.jpg

Here is the current demand in the suburbs:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/demand.jpg

Once again, if you need anymore pictures or information, just ask! And thanks again; this forum is a lifesaver.quote>

You got a slow rise in R$$ and R$$$.  These people need jobs. You could zone some middle density commercial areas in your residential city and make a downtown. You could rely on CO$$  and CO$$$ to employ those people. You could also zone new areas for High Tech Industry.

The major problem is the lack of public transportation now. You got roads, but people won't travel that far by car. Some jobs in the industry city are out of reach. That causes the unemployment, I think. You can verify whether the jobs are attended by using the button that you find below the question mark in the left bottom of your screen. Click on the roads and check whether there is traffic at all.

It is time to deploy a system of bus station in both cities. People will walk up to 7 tiles to reach a busstation. With busses people are willing to commute to work over larger distances. The next step would be subway and rail.

[stoneboy0 0]

There are no significant traffic congestion problems within the city (the Simulator Z "high" setting included in the NAM helps with this).

The only way $ and $$ residential demand will drop much at all  is by setting their tax rates around 12%; then it drops like a stone into negative demand.

I adjusted the tax rates downward for all commercial and high tech industry, but even the immediate growth that provided in those areas did not stop the no jobs/abandonment issue.

The situation is so frustrating that I de-zoned subdivisions one by one until I was at full employment. The sims will STILL build buildings, not find jobs, and abandon their homes AT THE SAME TIME industry and commercial buildings are being abandoned because of a lack of workers.

I appreciate the input. I'm getting close to giving up on the region building idea, because every time I try to build homes in one city and jobs in another, it doesn't seem to work.

P.S. I would have replied sooner but the site was unavailable for awhile. Thanks again for taking the time to post.

Edit: I should also mention I also put another landmark and a commuter airport in the city to see if it would help create more jobs and get rid of the abandonment; sadly, it did not.

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: Dukat

Originally posted by: stoneboy0 Ok; it is becoming painfully obvious that I am only dimly aware of many of the mechanics of this game.  I'm trying to understand, though, and perhaps you can all pull my fat out of the fire once again.

Population growth was great, as mentioned above. Until I hit around 38k people, and I started having the "no job" zots pop up again. So I went into the industrial city, and watched as manufacturing exploded onto the screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/jobs.jpg

Triumphant, I returned to the suburbs to watch my people go to work.... but they didn't.  Population began to decline as the zots remained and buildings became abandoned:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/population.jpg

Since the last problem was a tax problem, here is my tax screen:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/taxes.jpg

Here is the current demand in the suburbs:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/demand.jpg

Once again, if you need anymore pictures or information, just ask! And thanks again; this forum is a lifesaver.quote>

You got a slow rise in R$$ and R$$$.  These people need jobs. You could zone some middle density commercial areas in your residential city and make a downtown. You could rely on CO$$  and CO$$$ to employ those people. You could also zone new areas for High Tech Industry.

The major problem is the lack of public transportation now. You got roads, but people won't travel that far by car. Some jobs in the industry city are out of reach. That causes the unemployment, I think. You can verify whether the jobs are attended by using the button that you find below the question mark in the left bottom of your screen. Click on the roads and check whether there is traffic at all.

It is time to deploy a system of bus station in both cities. People will walk up to 7 tiles to reach a busstation. With busses people are willing to commute to work over larger distances. The next step would be subway and rail.quote>

Sims actually preffer to travel by car and will drive pretty far. Plus, it's 10 tiles, unless you have a mod that either lowers it or increases it. I do agree that sims will not want to travel for long amounts of time. You need one way roads, avenues and highways to speed up traffic and increase flow. Also, through in bus stops and some rail. You should be fine. Once you get to around 50k to 80k, you shouldthrough in a subway. That will fill up quick so you want to use a lot of it . Don't skimp out on it.

[_alphaBeta_ 6]

What do the industrial demand bars looks like when you set all industry taxes in the residential city to 9%, the neutral tax rate?

Setting the industry taxes high in a city that you'll never build industry doesn't accomplish anything. Leaving them at 9% will allow you (and us) to better see what's going on.

When you mix 1. the fact that higher wealth sims can supplant lower wealth sims and 2. education, you get very different demand profiles. It's clear that commercial demand is down, which may have been a result of the mass-replacement of educated R$ in the city with uneducated R$$. Unfortunately, those commercial jobs are still needed, however.

You may want to try building a R$-only sector. I've not had much success in doing this in my primary residential city since I can never drop desirability low enough to only attract R$ sims and nothing else. You can, however, put the R$ sims in your industrial city, and set the tax rates for R$$ and R$$$ through the roof. This will ensure only R$ develop. Next educate them fully. This should drive up your commercial demand and stabilize it. The R$$ sims will not be able to develop over the R$ in this city, and they'll get most of their jobs from the ID while driving up demand for commercial. A fully educated R$ demands 85% commercial, but they can get a job almost anywhere. This commercial demand will help restore the economy of your main residential city.

[stoneboy0 0]

The dirty and manufacturing tax rates are high in the residential city are high because I've build a few "technology parks" for the high tech industry, and I didn't want any dirty or manufacturing sneaking in. I will adjust them to 9% and post a screen shot.

I will also set up a slum in the industrial city and see if that helps stabilize things somewhat. 

Cross your fingers!

[Livin in Sim 83]

A very interesting post, _alphaBeta_, and BTW, welcome to Simtropolis.

You may want to try building a R$-only sector. I've not had much success in doing this in my primary residential city since I can never drop desirability low enough to only attract R$ sims and nothing else. You can, however, put the R$ sims in your industrial city, and set the tax rates for R$$ and R$$$ through the roof. This will ensure only R$ develop. Next educate them fully. This should drive up your commercial demand and stabilize it. The R$$ sims will not be able to develop over the R$ in this city, and they'll get most of their jobs from the ID while driving up demand for commercial. A fully educated R$ demands 85% commercial, but they can get a job almost anywhere. This commercial demand will help restore the economy of your main residential city.quote>

It makes perfect sense.    It's been the most thought provoking thing I've read for awhile, and I'm going to try it when I start developing my new region.  I won't do it before making my farm towns, but fully educated R$ would drive commercial.  And you're right, they could get a job anywhere.  Let us know how it works, stoneboy0.

Have fun.

--Liv

[_alphaBeta_ 6]

Originally posted by: stoneboy0 The dirty and manufacturing tax rates are high in the residential city are high because I've build a few "technology parks" for the high tech industry, and I didn't want any dirty or manufacturing sneaking in. I will adjust them to 9% and post a screen shot.

I will also set up a slum in the industrial city and see if that helps stabilize things somewhat.

Cross your fingers!quote>

Ah, I didn't know you did some have industrial in the residential city. Either way, you should be safe temporarily reducing the tax rate to see if there is any demand for ID or IM in this city. A couple things to keep in mind when developing the slum:

1. Get an elementary school in there ASAP, followed by the usual high school and city college.
2. Let the ID and IM demand go up and zone land for them. You need them as they play a crucial part in employing the slum residents.
3. Don't rush. Without hospitals (use them if you can afford it) it will take sometime for the R$ to reach full education, and see that commercial demand.

Since there's a good amount of ID and IM already in the city, R$ demand should be way up. When the R$ sims first move in, ID demand should also increase. As they become educated, ID demand should subside and IM should increase slightly. Every step of the way, make sure you develop industrial zones (if necessary) to get the ID and IM buildings. When you're nearing the end of the process, ID and IM demand should be down, but commercial is up. Here's the key - those R$ residents, according to the RCI meter, are no longer interested in the ID and IM. Both those buildings will stick around regardless, however, and provide jobs for R$ sims at any education level. Even though an educated R$ sim demands commercial, they will still be employed by the ID and IM.

Make use of the commercial demand back in your primary city.
Good luck!

Originally posted by: Livin in Sim A very interesting post, _alphaBeta_, and BTW, welcome to Simtropolis.

It makes perfect sense.     It's been the most thought provoking thing I've read for awhile, and I'm going to try it when I start developing my new region.  I won't do it before making my farm towns, but fully educated R$ would drive commercial.  And you're right, they could get a job anywhere.  Let us know how it works, stoneboy0.

Have fun.
--Livquote>

Thanks for the welcome.

[stoneboy0 0]

Ok; I'm still in the process of implementing this plan, but here's how it's going so far:

The little slum I was going to build is a residential center of 51,000 people; all R$, all medium/high density. I was amazed, but they just kept coming. I've built schools, libraries, hospitals, and a little park area, just to ease the bleakness of their little sim lives.

This has caused the commercial demand in all areas to skyrocket, so in the suburbs I built a lovely shopping/office area, as well as zoning more land along the many avenues. They seem to be doing well.  C$ demand is still through the roof, but all other levels have calmed down.  R$ demand in the region fell after reaching 51k people in the slum, but is now very high again and they are starting to build more houses in the suburbs again (despite a 9.5% tax rate).

My plan is to go back to the industrial/slum area, make more housing available for the R$ sims, keep education high, and zone more areas for the ever-expanding manufacturing/dirty industry.

Also, the abandonment issue is still happening in the suburbs; because of this, the population is stalled at around 40k even though demand is high for R$, R$$, and R$$$ residential.

As usual, please ask if you need more info or pictures. I'm going to go work on this some more.

Thanks!

[_alphaBeta_ 6]

Hmm, well those weren't exactly the results I was hoping for. All wealth-levels are still abandoning? I noticed in one of your previous screenshots that there are some R$ sims in the residential city (close to the border) that don't have jobs. That has me suspicious of your transportation network. A R$ sim that close to the border should have no issues finding a job.

It's hard to tell, but I also see that you made use of the pedestrian walkways that come with the NAM. You've positioned them between your residential buildings and the commercial ones with no outside access in (that I can tell, perhaps you could take some screenshots of the trouble areas to better observe your city layout). Only the residents in the immediate vicinity (that share a backyard with the walkways) will be able to access those commercial jobs. It's possible that residents who are close, but on the other side of the street may select those jobs only to realize they can't get there. You may want to stick with all roads until you figure this out. I haven't used them myself, but you may want to read the readme that came with the NAM on the proper usage of the walkways.

If commercial & industrial demand is down in your residential city, everyone should be employed. I think the jobs are there, but people can't get to them. You may also want to try a different traffic simulator in the NAM.

You can also try adding dedicated subway lines to the troubled areas, and give them direct access into the industrial city. Are the abandoning buildings cycling? By this I mean do you they abandon, then repopulate, no job zot, then abandon again? If so, when people initially move back in, where does your route query tool show them going? I'm curious what jobs they do find initially.

[stoneboy0 0]

Yes, all wealth levels are abandoning. When I first started having this problem at a population of 15k or so, I also suspected the traffic network. However, the problem was solved (for a while) simply by raising taxes on the R$$$, as discussed in earlier posts.  I will take some screenshots of the traffic network when I get home (I'm at work now).

There are actually routes to get into commercial areas surrounded by the NAM pedestrian walkways. Oddly, they're some of the more attractive and stable parts of the entire suburb. I'll post a screenshot, though, on the odd chance that there is a problem there.

The simulator Z is supposedly ideal for what I'm trying to do, but I may give simulator A easy a shot, just to see. I'm trying to concentrate on building good traffic networks rather than a lot of mass transit (sims seem to prefer driving anyway), but again, there may be something wrong with my traffic network.

Yes. It is a very cyclical pattern of abandonment, mostly involving a few neighborhoods. I'll take a few screenshots when I get home.

Thanks again!

Edit: You actually have me wondering now if people CAN get to those commerical zones surrounded by pedestrian malls; perhaps the sims don't think the way I do and they can't find a way in. That would lead to them building homes/condos, almost immediately not being able to find a way to the job that is there, and then abandoning again, only to have another building sprout up immediately with the same result.  I'm going to tinker with that as soon as I get home. Good idea!

[Livin in Sim 83]

Oh, good eye, alpha, and I think I remember reading that residentials don't use the ped mall tiles.  So they must have a road.  I wonder if this could have some bearing on your commercials that are totally surrounded by ped malls.  Those commercials aren't abandoned, but do they show commuters when you click on them with the transit query?

[stoneboy0 0]

Well, the pedestrian mall tiles weren't the problem, but I changed them for now anyway. I was really hoping that was it. =|

At any rate, here are a few pictures of the problem neighborhoods and a few of my traffic network as well... since I took these pics I've also connected the avenues on the western side of the suburbs to the industrial/slum city, and I added a freight rail line in the industrial city, just to mess around with it a little bit.

Problem Neighborhoods:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/ProblemNeighborhood1.jpg

(the empty lots in this one are where I demolished abandoned condos/apartments)

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/ProblemNeighborhood2.jpg

(note the many dilapidated and abandoned homes in these subdivisions)

Traffic Network:

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/TrafficNetwork1.jpg

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/TrafficNetwork2.jpg

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/TrafficNetwork3.jpg

https://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss130/stoneboy0/TrafficNetwork4.jpg

The population has been slowly increasing to around 43k because a few new neighborhoods I build, but those same 2 problem areas continue to have the cycling abandonment problem, significantly hampering growth.

Thanks again for taking a look and for all your thoughts!

[Livin in Sim 83]

Oh, nuts, I was hoping we were onto something.  Hmmm, the only thing I can think of is that maybe it's something to do with that long avenue.  You do have cross over roads, tho, so they should be able to turn to get to the other side.  Did you try clicking on some of the ones that aren't abandoned yet to see if they have long commutes, and click with the transit query to see where they're commuting?  Just click all over the grid with it--it could be informative.

[_alphaBeta_ 6]

Hmm, well cross that off the list.

What does your demand window look like when you set taxes for everything to 9%? Run the simulator for at least six months (demand is based on the highest tax rate over a 3 month period). Did you check the commercial desirability in your commercial areas? When you click on commercial buildings, what's the occupancy look like? Are all the buildings offering half as many jobs as they could (20/40)?

Do you have the means to post some of these cities somewhere on the internet that they could be downloaded from? Your screenshots are helpful, but there's nothing like checking things out yourself. Zipping up the entire region folder would be best. If not, we'll try to continue working the problem this way.

I would also route query the buildings that do have jobs, and especially the buildings that keep cycling. Try to keep checking to see what job they do find before putting up the no-job zot.

[stoneboy0 0]

Ok. I made a .rar file of the entire region and uploaded it. I can be found here:

http://www.2shared.com/file/4814884/40513817/Stoney_County.html

It was actually the New York region, but I renamed it just in case you've already developed your own New York.  Also, I've been (for the most part) using the NAM Simulator Z high. Traffic congestion and walking distance might be considerably different for you if you use other simulators.

I used the traffic query tool on the roads coming out of the bad neighborhoods; the sims still living there don't seem to have a problem using the road network or finding jobs. The commercial buildings I click on seem to have full or near-full employment (48/51 jobs, for example).

Hope this helps, and thanks again!

[ArchangelMichael 51]

Dukat mentioned an important point: bus stops!  You need them in your suburbs and in the neighboring industrial city (to receive incoming bus traffic).  Sims also love subways because they are fast.  Additionally, I have noticed with simulator z (I use the "ultra" version) that sims are willing to walk MUCH further than 7-10 tiles.  I have a city full of over a half million well-educated R$ residents flanked on either side by a commercial city and an industrial city, and after installing simulator z, over 30,000 of them actually walk 20+ tiles out the neighbor connections!  I had never seen them do that prior to this new traffic simulator.  I have also noticed much more balance among the various transit types.

Your highways look good (except for an issue described below), but I would add some onramps for those roads leading into the subdivisions (near the large high school) as they currently have to go around a giant U-turn to reach the avenue that connects to the highway.  The potential future issue I see resulting from your current highway network is that of eternal commuters.  Follow the link to learn about it, and sign up for the forums at sc4devotion.com and do a search for eternal commuters to get lots more information.  I was unable to find much info about it here.  If you have no city to the south, remove all neighbor connections in that direction before building a city there or you'll be sorry.  I found this out the hard way.  To make matters worse, the problem does not go away once it has arisen, even if you demolish the neighbor connections.

Besides commute times, the "no jobs" issue can be affected by commercial desirability, as mentioned by _alphabeta_.  Check your desirability overview for both CO wealth levels.  If you see red over your commercial zones, that is a strong indicator that your residents are not willing to work in those areas due to crime, pollution/garbage, lack of water, or whatever.  Plazas (particularly the large 3x3 plazas) increase commercial desirability in a local radius, and raise residential demand city-wide by 9,000 points.  Good mayor ratings also make your whole city more desirable to all developers.

I will download your region and try the following, then report back:

1) Add bus stops... lots of them.  This has never failed me.

2) Make sure crime and garbage are under control in the commercial areas.

3) Plop several plazas, some large & some medium, throughout the commercial areas.

4) Maybe add subways or some other transit choice.  To quote z, "More flexible distribution of traffic also means that Simulator Z is much more dynamic about allowing Sims to choose their transportation."  Your sims may simply want more choices for commuting.

This is an intriguing problem, and I hope we can help you find a solution.  You might also want to try starting a new region to see if the problem will duplicate itself there.  If all else fails, ask the demand master, RippleJet, at sc4devotion.

*****EDIT*****

I forgot to ask for a list of everything in your plugins folder so that I can exactly replicate your situation.

I just took a look at your cities and there are a couple points I can make right away:

1) Issues 2 and 3 stated above are moot -- you have those under firm control.

2) Make sure streets and roads fully intersect avenues.

3) Make more avenue crossings to allow commuters easier access out of their homes and into their workplaces.  Use streets for this purpose -- roads will create a traffic-light-controlled intersection and this will increase commute times, just like in reality.

4) Maxing out the funding for power plants shortens their lifespan.

5) Set funding for the waste to energy plant to $0.  It will still burn garbage and pollute like crazy, but it will not produce electricity, which is OK because $1,000 for 5,000 MWh is too pricey.  Just plop another coal burner or two.

6) While ped malls in front of industry allows access to workers, it does not allow access for freight.  These should be changed to streets or roads.

I'll check back soon.

Mike

[_alphaBeta_ 6]

I got it!

The quick rundown is that you didn't have cross streets on your avenues leading out of town. See pictures below (red boxes). In order for a sim to commute to work, he must be able to get there and get back home. Since the avenue is one way, they couldn't turn around to come back home. While this took several hours for me to realize, I also learned an important thing about the simulator. When a sim moves in, they chose a job. If it turns out to be inaccessible (like this case), they instantly give up and move out. The simulator isn't smart enough to realize that there is a job nearby, but it cannot be accessed, so go find the next closest job that IS accessible. All your troubled areas were selecting the commercial zones (outlined in blue in the pictures below) on one side of the avenue with no way to either get there in the morning, or get home at night. Whew.

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In order to bring your city back to life, follow these steps. Pop into your industrial city, and give it more time. The education level of the R$ sims isn't quite high enough for my previously mentioned plan of driving up commercial demand. Wait until the education graph shows 160, and everyone is mostly green in the data view. Pop back into your residential city and make the three cross-streets (outlined in red). Co$$ and Co$$$ should explode all over the place. You should then see your abandoning neighborhoods recover. After everything has stabilized, you'll notice that if you route query some of the commercial zones (outlined in blue in the pictures) their commuters should look familiar - it's all the old houses that could never hold a job. Now that they can get to the job they selected when first moving in - they're here to stay.

If your curious how I finally found this, here's the story. I started out the same and created some crazy commercial demand with your R$ sims in the industrial city. I zoned commercial under the airport (several huge blocks) until all $$ and above commercial demand was depleted. Still nothing. I also noticed that the route query tool showed that no one was actually commuting there. I also noticed your northern most IH parks weren't getting any commuters either. Since your problem seem centered around R$$ abandonment, it seemed odd that these heavy R$$ employers weren't getting commuters.

I figured they were too far away so I installed dedicated subways from this new commercial district to the trouble areas. Still nothing. At this time I noticed R$ and R$$ demand were thru the roof. Nothing made sense. Then I happened to noticed that one of these commercial zones (outlined in blue in the pictures) didn't have commuters either. That was really odd since they were right on top of the R$$ who couldn't find a job. Then I noticed the lack of a cross street on the edge of the map allowing sims to make a U-turn to get home before proceeding out of the city. Completed the road there and bingo! The troubled area sims didn't commute to my huge commercial sector because there were closer jobs to be had - they were just accessible only one way.

Frustrating to think that this all came down to three road segments. There could be more traffic errors actually, so stay alert. If you see commercial buildings that don't have commuters near jobless sims - check the transit network very carefully.