Elevated rail, no users?

[Palayer 0]

Hello.

I build some little town, around 10K+ sims and decided to try elevated rails for the puplic tarnsportation with the buses, first time for me to test this. I build the rails to circle town squire beside the road and build stations for rails and right next to it bus stops. I made double check that rails were attached together but there were no use of it at all? There were no error signs like residental without road connection etc. either.

I've been playing SC4 only for a week now and just couldn't figure this out... dummy.

Thank you for your time.

[TekindusT 3,809]

When I began playing the game I tried the EL-rail in this way and it was a total disaster (well, it was my experience). Mass transport (subways, EL-rail, regular rail...) has to be laid in a way it takes the residents from their homes to the jobs and viceversa, as sims always look for the shortest route to commute.

Circling the city won't work at all if this loop doesn't connect an industrial zone or a commercial district to a residential neighbourhood. If it does, the sims will only use that stretch of your loop and won't use the rest.

Oh, and welcome to Simtropolis!! You're going to have lots of fun here!

[Palayer 0]

Thank you, nice to be here I organized my town a bit and now it seems to work. I think maybe too many bus stops ruined it first time? Thanks for the info.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Allow me to add a word of welcome.

El Rail = Subway = Ground Light Rail (GLR).  This rail system can be a big advantage as your city gets larger.  One of the best resolutions for a heavily congested street is subway, but it is very expensive.  When there is really no room to upgrade a road without major urban redevelopment (bulldozing), subway can save the situation, especially if you use the RTMT stations in the commercial and industrial areas.  You have to be careful of these in the residential area so as not to block the road access of a property.  Subway can transition to El Rail using a transition piece in the game.  I think the El to GLR and Subway to GLR pieces have to be taken from the STEX.  Subway to El Rail is very nice going from suburbia to a downtown.

GLR is an acquired taste and has a serious learning curve.  You have to lay it down using special methods or puzzle pieces.  Puzzle pieces are a hazard.  If you load a puzzle piece on your cursor to place it, if you accidentally touch a transit enabled lot, you game will crash to the desktop.  So if you are doing this, use high magnification, and save frequently.  I have found the new GLR pieces with the current NAM to be very good at resolving traffic problems related to Maxis Avenues (AVE-4) in commercial districts.  You can get the train/tram running down the median.  Very nice.  With GLR you will have to acquire stations and trams from the STEX.

In general, only standard ground rail has parking.  If you expect Sims to drive to a station other than that, you need parking buildings or other parking facilities, even if you have bus routes.  Some Sims will drive, no matter what you do.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Well, in my opinion a bus stop every 8-10 tiles would be enough, but according to this Simtropolis Omnibus article [link] bus stops coverage span to a 6-tile radius, so one station every 10-12 tiles seems to be enough.

[HyperGaruda 0]

10K inhabitants is a bit too few imo if you want to build a subway/elevated rail network. I usually start to build my first line at about 30K, after which I gradually expand the network towards the medium and high density zones, as the city develops. Until then, I'd stick with busses for intra-urban travel and trains for interurban travel.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, I certainly agree with that.  I usually don't build rail of any kind until I am forced by traffic.  The new NAM has pretty much reduced the need until your pop gets over 100K.  I add roads and bypasses if possible before I put in rail links, but mine are usually subways in the CBD.  If need be, I will run them out to the 'burbs, but if I can, I'll bring them to the surface with El Rail.  As your city grows, you can always drop them underground and reclaim the land as service roads or even 1 x 1 lots.

For interurban travel, if I must have rail, I use ground rail unless the wealth levels indicate monorail.  Monorail seems to be a near occasion of sin with respect to the Sims-riding-around-and-around bug.  You have to be sure not to set up a multiple path loop.  This may happen over more than two cities.  Maybe we should call this the Boston syndrome in honour of the "Man Who Never Returned".  To fix one of these, I just had to obliterate an intermediate city in a loop and scrag some ferry terminals.

[HyperGaruda 0]

To A Nonny Moose:

Obliterate an entire city? Just cutting those connections for a while in all the endless loop cities should be enough to break it, don't you think? Well, that and some restructuring to prevent another loop...