Snobby Sims Refusing to Ride the Subway

[Tagtraum99 0]

Hi all,

So, I have a hi-tech city. Exclusively middle and upper class sims. They have a great subway network with stations right by their buildings... but they want to drive everywhere. Total population at this point is 67,000 on a medium tile, so it's about time.

Furthermore I get rediculous commute times and am getting 'no job' zots. I know playing with the traffic simulator (Z) is an option. What setting should I use to strike a nice balance between driving and public transit? No LA for me please. ;-) 

Thanks much!

[pipelad 6]

hmmm do you have the comutter shutle ordinace activated? that could convince some of your sims to use the subway instead of diving. The thing with middle and highh welth sims is that they can by cars... so they do and ofcourse like to dive them.

[biloxisean 0]

Off course you can force them to use the Subway eliminating all ways to get to jobs except by subway.

[Nuclear550 3]

I suggest posting a picture. This help us figure out your problem. This is how the subway goes: For every one subway in a residential area, you must put one in each the commercial area and the industrial area.

[Raceman95 3]

nuclear, i think he knows that but just for sure post a pic and subways need lines to be draw by YOU

[IchimaruOO 8]

Originally posted by: Tagtraum99

...Exclusively middle and upper class sims. They have a great subway network with stations right by their buildings... but they want to drive everywhere...

quote>

Hi Tagtraum!

   Sadly I don't have much experience with high-wealth sims, but I have some with traffic in general.

   So here's what I think: You're still using the original Maxis traffic sim. right? If so, sims will take the most direct path to work and will hardly use any track-based transit, especially if they'd have to walk in a different direction than their job to get to the station...

Furthermore I get rediculous commute times and am getting 'no job' zots....

quote>

   ...If this causes clogged roads, then the zots appear unfortunately. Also, though you probably know this, one has to make sure there are return trips available, which can be tricky around avenues and one-ways.

   As for R$$$ - according to the manual - 80% of them will want to use their cars no matter what. I heard that this can be negated with the Commuter Shuttle, and placing Tollboths, and Parking Garages near mass transit (but I'm not sure myself).

I know playing with the traffic simulator (Z) is an option. What setting should I use to strike a nice balance between driving and public transit? No LA for me please. ;-) 

Thanks much!

quote>

   Yes, the Z-sim is good. it has 4 versions by network capacity; use a lower capacity if you want more mass transit usage and higher if you want to rely more on the road network or have MASSES of high-rises.

   There's also a peculiar thing about the Z-sim, and that's that it shows traffic congestion differently than the original... takes some time getting used to (I use the Traffic Volume data view to pinpoint higher-than-good road usage)

   And, bus traffic now counts toward congestion and sims will use less bus when there's no rail/sub/etc. available.

P.S.: What is 'LA'?

[Tagtraum99 0]

By LA I mean Los Angeles where the only thing in walking distance is your car.   I'm using the NAM, is this what you are refering to as the Maxis traffic sim? Any idea about which version of the NAM I should use, if I still want some PT in play?

Would love to post a picture. How exactly do I go about doing that, and what view would be most beneficial?

lol, I tried the commuter shuttle ordinance, and it didn't do squat!

Edited - Combined multiple posts.

-CaptCity

[redrummage 9]

Your asking what setting of simulator z you should use? Or are you asking what type of simulator you should use?

Here is the simulator z thread. www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm

P.S. You might want to hit the edit button as not the draw the wrath of the moderators.

[IchimaruOO 8]

Originally posted by: Tagtraum99

...I'm using the NAM, is this what you are refering to as the Maxis traffic sim? Any idea about which version of the NAM I should use, if I still want some PT in play?

quote>

No, by Maxis traffic I meant the original, unmodded rush hour traffic sim (The one where sims remember their route, but are still retarded enough to choose a congested street over a good avenue 3 tiles away )

Hmmm... which version... there're about 6 to choose from, I haven't tried anything but the Z with low capacity so far and I'm quite content with it. I'd suggest reading the NAM Documentation, it details the stuff in much better detail then I can ever hope to do. The Doc. comes with the NAM package, look for it in your ...\My Documents\Simcity 4\Plugins\Nam folder since you already installed it.

EDIT:

   The NAM consists of several parts, like:

The traffic simulators; (most important)

Network puzzle pices;

Overpasses;

etc.

   I think it's possible to install the package without a mod traffic sim if you don't select one at all at install time. Which one did you choose? You're asking about the Z sim but didn't say what you're using now.

   I'm asking this because you're saying Commuter Shuttle has no effect and it reminded me of not-so-long-ago when I played without NAM.

[Tagtraum99 0]

I wish by no means to incur the wrath of moderators. I am truly grateful that this site is here and that everyone is so helpful. I am new here. Please explain, what will hitting the edit button do, as opposed to reply? Is reply making me take up too much space?

Sorry for the cluelessness!

Tagtraum99, no wrath incurred...     Please see my PM.

-CaptCity

[BelgradeSim 9]

Tagtraum: Your city is still just too small.

~ 60.000 residents means ~ 30.000 workers. If the traffic network is good (avenues, highways) they will just choose cars to go to work.

Now, about the Z simulator: I use it, i think it's the best till now. I rarely have Sims complaining not to reach their jobs, but Simulator Z is the one that favors car the most. When I instaled it, the use of cars in my cities almost doubled! The use of busses also significantly fell while use of GLR/EL/Subway also increased but in my 880.000 metropolis it's still less than use of cars! (maybe that's because i have good networks ) Especially high wealth Sims, they just choose mostly cars although they have tram line next to their homes. Though, in other 960.000 city i have, the use of EL/Subway is dominant.

The second thing is the $$$ Sims themselves. It's nice to have their rich homes and fancy residential highrises in your city but remeber that their number should not exceed 10-15% of entire city/region population. No mather what kind of jobs you have (IMT,IHT, $$CO, $$$CO...) the number of high wealth Sims working there will be around 10-15% because they are only at the top, mannaging positions (which sounds logical, you will agree). So if you have a lot of $$$ Sims they just wont have where to work. For every rich Sim you should have 5 $$ Sims and 3-4 $ Sims.

I figgured that out here on forums and through experience, since in my big city a lot of rich Sims came and built their high dense highrises, thah quicklu after they abandoned it reporting that they dont have jobs.