Airports and Commuters

[Urbanator 7]

Hi y'all. Quick question about airports as I haven't really used them so far - do they generate/receive a large number of commuters?

I'm going to be placing an airport in one of my cities pretty soon and I was wondering if it would need major transport links (eg: avenues) like a realworld airport or not?

Any help/tips are appreciated.

[husher 18]

Air ports are finiky things, i always surround mine with roads or place then near avenues to give good transport links-car parks, bus stops and small hotels are a great help but not railways they rarely seem to do anything. I always try to grow commercial sectors around them that really helps a lot- the really big default airport is great with loads of traffic going in and out, but for some reason the police get it in their heads that there's crime there despite having a station on the terminal but nothing i do seems to stop it despite using the police academy in every city.

I recently added a hele-port near the airports and pipeline connections to the modular oil terminal to feed the POL tanks on the air port it looks great and does increase the usage.

[Urbanator 7]

Interesting... So there is actual traffic in and out of the airports (other than a few jobs). Then it would seem that avenues are a better option than roads for surrounding the airport itself (on the 'business-side' at least). The railway issue is curious but I will probably place one near it anyway because it makes sense to have one like we do in reality. Thanks for the info.

By the way, as far as I remember, there is an issue/bug with the police effect from standard stations not penetrating more than a couple of squares from the street/road. This means that deep lots like the airport aren't fully policed. I think there are a few police stations on Simtropolis which reach further but I don't recall which ones.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Airports do not support commuters in any way. They are eye-candy in that regard. They do lift the commercial caps and provide a few jobs.

[Urbanator 7]

So, no commuters at all? I'm aware of the caps (Maxis guide) but never having made good use of them I wasn't sure if they added to traffic. If they don't then I can use roads around them - at least where there is nothing else likely to cause heavy traffic. Avenues look pretty close to overkill when placed for an airport...

By the way, does the notification system still work? I have not had any for this topic even though I'm 'following' it.

[husher 18]

sorry , i meant to say that they are self contained but effect the area around them, one thing though i down loaded the weapons test range and used it once, the thing kept zeroing the police budget!- cue an angry advisor!!

[poshbakerloo 186]

They do generate a bit of traffic, but the amouth is very small, inrealisticly small. One of my cities (Winslow) has a big airport with 2 runways and 4 terminals...and there are only 200 commuters that travel to it, even though its being used over capacity apparently.

[westy177 203]

they may not do much but they do make a large city look more realistic

[Moskva 75]

Airports are not eyecandy, they boost commercial sector. For what regards connections between the city and the airport, that's eyecandy now, will just be usefull for the airport workers... Now, my Lenin'sk airport is well connected to the city by freeway, railways and metro.

[Urbanator 7]

Hmm... it is disappointing that the traffic won't reflect 'usage' but for the sake of realism I think I will go down the avenue route as it will look better in the long run. Plus, if I have the airport on a main route, the other traffic should mask the lack of airport commuters.

Thanks for all the replies.