Difference between passenger rail & sub/elevated

[Sapulator 0]

Hey guys,

what's the difference in how sims choose either passenger rail or elevated/subway, and monorail for that matter?

When I plop them in a city, they all seem to use either one alot. Do higher $$$ sims use a certain mode of transportation?

Are the passenger trains more used for certain types of zone travel (e.g. residential to industrial), or for longer distances?

Thanks!

[SC4BOY 20]

They have no "preference" due to its type of transit. However they do care about speed for getting there. Various speeds have been assigned by simulators so its hard to say what is better than what.. you should be able to use the new "NAM configuration tool" to look at your setup. In many cases it is more related to where it goes rather than what it is. Once sims find a "good way" to get to a "demand site".. (ie jobs) they tend to use it. I think Z1 has speculated that the "destination selection" process is weighted to subways, but I haven't looked at it myself. I rarely use subways myself other than perhaps for a select route.. never "blanket transport".

[z1 566]

Originally posted by: SC4BOY

 I think Z1 has speculated that the "destination selection" process is weighted to subways, but I haven't looked at it myself.

quote>

What I have found from my experiments is that in large, spread-out cities, some form of rapid transit is necessary to avoid abandonment and dilapidation.  It's not necessarily subways, but subways are easiest to place in an already built-up city, or in a city where you've already got the layout planned.  Other than that, the Sims just take whatever mode(s) of transportation get them to their destination the quickest way.  Monorail is the fastest type, followed by passenger rail, and then subway,el rail, and GLR; the last three are equivalent.