Commute time

[thijskr 1]

Hello,

Is there such a thing as an anti-commute mod, superfast traffic mod or anything like that?

I know it's cheating and that it's not realistic etc I am not always looking for something realistic but also something which looks good so I'd love a modification that takes care of those big ugly black buildings whenever you're sims dont get to their job fast enough.

[pipelad 6]

well actually the new NAM 2010 with out being a cheat helps alot with the commute time, you can "cheat" by using the traffic simulator configuration tool and setting the commute scale time multiplyer (dont remember the exact name) and that way you modify the comute time graph... but abandonment because of comute time is not only because the comute is too long, you can have happy sims with long commute that dont abandon if your city has enough of the other desire factors (parks, civics, etc..) also a good way to reduce commute is to construct mass transit systems that dont rely on streets, like rail, monorail or subway, that usually takes cars and buses from your road network, reduse traffic and as a result reduce commute and reduce abandonmet due to comute.

[Dizastrow 4]

Along the same lines of what PIPELAD said, I usually have many residential areas that are connected to business and industry by only 1 or 2 roads so sims are forced to take the multiple rail-lines i have built into the business and industrial districts.  Then I make sure that there are plenty of bus stops in the residential neighborhoods and the business districts so if Sims have to commute by other means than rail they will take the bus which is quicker and reduces car traffic and commute times.

[thijskr 1]

but there inst a mod

[pipelad 6]

not directlly.. the NAM is a mod but it dosnt do exactlly what you whant, i would say it does like 50% of what you are asking.

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: thijskr

I'd love a modification that takes care of those big ugly black buildings whenever you're sims dont get to their job fast enough.

quote>

That's what the traffic simulator in the new NAM does.  It is now possible to build large cities where residences are never abandoned due to commute time.  With the new traffic simulator, if you do get buildings abandoned due to commute time, it is becuase there weren't appropriate jobs available for the Sims.

If you just want the traffic simulator and not the whole NAM, you can get it in the NAM Traffic Subsystem.

[mattamillion 2]

Originally posted by: z1

That's what the traffic simulator in the new NAM does.  It is now possible to build large cities where residences are never abandoned due to commute time.  With the new traffic simulator, if you do get buildings abandoned due to commute time, it is becuase there weren't appropriate jobs available for the Sims.

If you just want the traffic simulator and not the whole NAM, you can get it in the NAM Traffic Subsystem.

quote>

So I was curious about this. In my region of ~2.3 million I have more jobs than workers, and in some of the suburbs, I get abandoned houses. I have the latest NAM and use simulator Z medium. Commute times are roughly 70 minutes. What's interesting is that the initial residential buildings I built don't abandon, and as the population increases the higher-density buildings don't abandon... but the low density R houses do.

Any thoughts?

[pipelad 6]

hmm that is strange... and maybe not. Is the high-density closer to the jobs? if that is the case, maybe the sims in the houses prefer to live closer even with a not to high commute.

Also how is the desirebility in that parts? do you have enough parks, helth, education and safety? is there a landmark, or a plopable building near by with the NIMBY effect? abandonment for commute time is not always for the commute time, (strange as it might seem) i might be also for low desire

[mattamillion 2]

The high density is closer to the jobs--which makes sense, if you're building a traditional suburb next to a large metro area. It's a medium tile city of about 60K sims connected by subway/hiway/rail to my large tile mega-city of 1 million.

All of the desirability options are there: good schools, hospital, a college, lots of parks, etc. EQ is around 160, average income $110K, etc.

One thing I tried recently was jacking up the taxes on R$$ and R$$$, which reduced the demand. That seems to have helped somewhat... is it something along the lines of the fact that if the R$ are displaced and there aren't enough jobs for R$$ or R$$$ within driving distance that it causes the no job zot?

EDIT: I did a quick check, and it looks as though some of the dilapadated areas have lower education and health, although they are still well within radii for both hospitals and schools--and houses next door have high school/health scores. Is this the cause, esp. if these were originally R$$ or R$$$ and have now been supplanted by newer (closer) R$$ housing? Even if bulldozed, though, they don't seem to redevelop.

[z1 566]

Having enough jobs for Sims is actually a fairly complex issue.  Not only do businesses require Sims of certain wealth levels, but they require Sims of certain educational levels as well.  It is possible to have many more jobs than the number of Sims in your workforce, and still not have the right jobs available for your Sims.  Please see Workforce and Occupation Demands (Drives) for all the gory details.

I've seen the problem where health levels are low even when there's sufficient hospital coverage, but I don't know what that's from.

Different educational buildings have different effects on Sims of different ages.  So if two adjacent buildings have a different age distribution of Sims and your education coverage isn't complete across all age levels, you can get different educational levels in the two buildings.  To be complete, it's good to have coverage by elementary schools, high schools, colleges or universities, museums, and libraries.

[mattamillion 2]

Thanks, z1. That makes sense. I have the Census Repository Vault installed, and I've attached a screenshot for this city to my post. (Never tried that, hope I did it right.)

So what the mouseover help says is that the "drives" for the R is essentially that my city can support up to 118,000 people based on the available jobs out there. It also says that my sims are looking for 33K commercial jobs and 17K industrial jobs. (Side note: R$ taxes are 9.0%, R$$ are 9.6%, R$$$ at 9.7%.)

The upshot here is that I should build a bunch more R$, ideally with a lot of CO$$$ nearby? Am I reading that correctly?

[SC4BOY 20]

As you play with it, it will start to make more sense. You are overpopulated on R$$$ and need more R$ and R$$ (from the top section).. Either your taxes are too high for R$$ (which you may be doing on purpose to grow R$) or you don't have enough "aminities".. civics, parks, etc. The negative demands for C and I could be overbuilding (likely) or you may have taxes too high.. It looks like you just need a lot more residents of the proper education level. Unfortunately as far as I know the Census Repository doesn't help you understand the role of education other than indirectly. (You can see how that varies in the Drives, etc post that z1 linked.

[pipelad 6]

 4 mill R$$! wow! thats a lot! as SC4Boy correctlly put it you need way more R$, as strange as it might seem they are very very important!, i woudl say that the % of eac for a good and nice balance (from total population) 55% R$ sims, 40% R$$ sims and 15% R$$ sims, so basically what i think you need is get your R$ sims to at least 5mill and you should be ok. (if im reading correctlly the repository info) Getting R$ to move is quite easy, just start a neighbour city, raise taxes for all $$ and all $$$, create some low welth jobs (dirty industry, C$) and build some big  gethos! that will add the necesary R$ you need. 

[SC4BOY 20]

If you take the "other city approach" you must be sure they can get to the jobs.. I was assuming you would develop them in the city where they are needed (far and away the simplist approach as a rule)