Mass Transit

[Chesh 173]

Just curious as to of what kind of mass transit options are people's favorite and why?

[Markus J 242]

BUS, because it's the only one I seem to use right, and get max useage out of.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

I don't do much in the way of mass transit, but it's typically buses and Light-Rail/El-Rail/Subway that are popularly used, as those are the only options. First choice, for me at least, is buses.

There's also Monorail and plain-old Rail, but those are more in-line with regional transport, not intra-city transport.

  Edited July 14, 2012 by Ganaram Inukshuk  

[Chesh 173]

And you don't get traffic problems in the latter stages of your cities when you don't use mass transit? Huh.

[Markus J 242]

I get traffic problems, but instead of adding more transit options... I just upgrade my roads and freeways (Like southern Cali).

[z1 566]

There's also Monorail and plain-old Rail, but those are more in-line with regional transport, not intra-city transport.

That may be what the documentation says, but somebody forgot to tell the Sims. They use everything as a form of local transport, as most of their commutes are very short. Even with highways, you rarely see Sims traveling on them for more than a few exits.

[Chesh 173]

So monorail and normal rail aren't better options than a subway system, for instance, when it comes to regional transportation?

[Afronaut 1]

bus leading to monorail is a basic formula for my towns.

I don't use highways or subway but that might just be because my cities rarely top 100k

[z1 566]

So monorail and normal rail aren't better options than a subway system, for instance, when it comes to regional transportation?

The speeds for subway, passenger rail, and monorail (in the NAM) are 105 kph, 140 kph, and 225 kph, respectively. Due to their faster speeds, Sims may be more likely to take passenger rail or monorail to a destination outside the city, or even inside the city. But subways will still get them there if these forms of transport aren't present. My main connections between cities are subways, sometimes a dozen or more lines running parallel to each other on main commuting routes and carrying a up to a half million Sims or more. The main problem with monorail and passenger rail is that they take up surface real estate, which limits their capacity to move large numbers of Sims around. The most important thing to remember with these, as with all forms of mass transit, is to put your stops close together and have a lot of them. Otherwise, the Sims won't use your nice new monorail or passenger train. In the real world, rapid transit stops may be up to a couple of miles apart. That's almost the size of a large tile. If you put your stops that far apart in SC4, your Sims will stare at you in confusion and find another form of transit.

To put it another way, the traffic simulator has no concept of local transit versus regional transit. There are just different transportation systems that run at different speeds.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I avoid any kind of mass transit as long as possible. In the normal course of events, I do lay down ground heavy rail for freight, and when I start getting heavy pedestrian use on roads, and especially avenues, I put bus stops along the avenues (only). If there are long hauls between residential and industrial that is serviced by rail, I sometimes stick in a few rail terminals and bus routes leading to them.

When a bus route really heats up, I bite the bullet and convert it to subway/bus, but carefully. I build subway segments carefully, and only at the hottest parts. If a subway line begins to head out into the country, I surface it on to EL.

I sometimes use monorail if there is very heavy traffic between tiles as a pressure relief for the linking roads/highways.

"My object all sublime

"I shall achieve in time

"To make the punishment fit the crime

"The punishment fit the crime."

Sir W. S. Gilbert in the Mikado.

[rweather5 22]

In my small cities I'll just have bus stations. With big cities, I have bus stations next to all my elevated rail stations. Sometimes I'll put rail near my industry.

  Edited July 14, 2012 by rweather5  

[jacksunny 741]

I usually use Subway/GLR/Elevated Rail because of the easy transitions between them.

[Moskva 75]

Well, i am not sure about favorite, but i am sure about when i use them.

- Bus. This is the first i get to use in my cities. I always use them.

- Railway. Sometimes the city i am planning is placed on the way of a railway, otherwise railway wont come, unless there's a huge industrial zone to serve.

- Freeway. If it can be considered "mass transit", here i come with freeways. When my city is getting large, or when i am laying out before, following my "Brick realism", i go with freeways. I try to make rings usually, but not exclusively.

- Underground. Well yes, you cannot do without it. Large cities must have it. Sometimes it becomes elevated rail in suburbian areas.

- Monorail. I use it to connect stuff, like a peninsula, or perhaps airport with something else (i didn't do that because already rail and metro were servicing airport-city core route).

- Ferries. Well, they seem a bit useless but sometimes they're necessary. Are they mass transit? "Bah".

- Tram. I nearly never used it but i'd like to bring it back in smaller suburbia.

  Edited July 14, 2012 by Moskva  

[Zeck180 18]

I rarely use elevated rail and have never used monorail. I have at lest mastered how to effectively use rail lines that the capacity at most stations is maxed out and I'm able to turn a profit from them. Subways I use a lot, with many stations all over the city. Buses i'll only use for the sims to get to the train station or subway. Despite how much I hate to lay tram lines, I do on occasion will use them, mostly to make the city look more cultured.