Commute Time Problems

[Rury 37]

So I am having difficult time keeping commute times low in my cities. At first everything was great but now that my region's population has reached 900,000; commute times have risen and buildings are becoming abandoned. I have found a house where the sim commutes to the complete opposite end of the city by roads and the commute time is short, yet I have apartments where they commute 3-4 blocks either by walking, bus, or car and the commute time is long. How is this possible when the one traveling from the house travels a much farther distance? (both travel by roads). I have every type of mass transit and they are being used quite effectively, but it just seems like some buildings are bugged and the commute times are permanently long. How can i fix this???

If it matters the only mods I am using are the NAM, and bridge height mod.

[z1 566]

There are basically only two ways to get a long commute time when using the NAM traffic simulator: 1) All commutes to neighboring cities are considered long. 2) Failed commutes (where the Sims can't reach a job) are considered long. If you have enough failed commutes in a building, the building becomes abandoned due to commute time. But before that, you often see what you're seeing: a building where all the Sims commuting have short commutes, yet the building commute time is listed as "Long." What this means is that there are many unemployed Sims in that building; if you compare the number of Sims commuting from that building to the total population, you'll see that it's probably below the standard 40% - 60% that represents the workforce of a typical building.

I would be fairly certain that the source of your problem is that you don't have jobs of the sufficient number and correct type to keep all your Sims employed. Please see the excellent tutorial Workforce and Occupation Demands (Drives) for more information on how this works.

I'm also assuming that you're using a recent version of the NAM, specifically nothing earlier than the May 2010 version. If you are using an earlier version of the NAM, that could be your problem or at least part of it, and you should update to the latest version.

[Rury 37]

Thanks for clearing that up. I probably don't have enough jobs in some cities, as I am trying to have most my jobs in job only cities. But that begs the question, won't having long commute times to neighboring cities have adverse effects on regional play, or are long commute times not that bad? I just don't want abandoned buildings.

[Mikeaut1 261]

Thanks for clearing that up. I probably don't have enough jobs in some cities, as I am trying to have most my jobs in job only cities. But that begs the question, won't having long commute times to neighboring cities have adverse effects on regional play, or are long commute times not that bad? I just don't want abandoned buildings.

I never usually create bedroom cities for this reason. Usually, long commute times are okay. Out of my residential zones that have longer commute times, only a small handful of them turn into vacancies. It really all depends how you zone and neighbor each city. I recommend trying to shorten commute times by having both residential and commercial zones in each city.

[z1 566]

Long commute times - essentially inter-city commutes - lower the desirability of the Sims' residences, but only slightly. Generally, it's nothing to worry about. And other than the desirability factor, long commute times have no effect in the game.

What Mikeaut1 says corresponds with my experience as well.