Elevated Rail VS Subway

[Mr Saturn64 742]

In the modded game, I perfer el in less dense areas, than have it I to subway when you get to the downtown areas of the city.

[Patrick216 0]

I like the way EL looks in more poorer areas of my cities. Gives it a gritty feel, and reminds me of some parts of NYC. 

 

However, I prefer subway more. 

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I like both. Elevated rails looks great in areas that are not so dense. Areas with highrises can be a problem if you want the streets to have some light from the tall buildings. It's a different story for areas that have buildings are 3 to 6 stories.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

On the contrary, I prefer to use viaduct rail and connect my rail to subway via lots.

Instead of the el-rail, I devote that network to trams and GLR.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

My playing style generally wants regular rail.  However, if I develop a town with subways as part of a single tile scene, I will sometimes use EL Rail to connect with outliers with the view that as the pods merge, the EL can be converted to subway at an appropriate time.  Sometimes it is appropriate to use a Ped Mall with stations on two sides to create a transportation plaza to allow change between urban and suburban rapid transit.  Can make an interesting commercial plaza.

[timmie 988]

I rarely use el-rail since it is very uncommon in Europe, as far as I know. I prefer GLR and subways.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

And GLR is as rare as hen's teeth in most Canadian cites, Toronto being an exception.  I guess Its a matter of what one knows from local experience.  I haven't used GLR in a long time, but I suspect I have the skin for Toronto (Red Rocket) Streetcars.  Recently I've been using heavy rail.

[Superbacon 380]

I use EL-rail more often and just connect it to my heavy rail via transition lots. In the dense areas I'll have some subways. But I'll also connect that to my heavy rail and light rail.

[Bdub01 201]

Subway all the way! I tried El once and it was a disaster. I've never had a problem with subways and since its underground I don't have to move roads or buildings around.

[Magneto 316]

Elevated rail for me. Nothing wrong with subways, just that I prefer to have visible forms of transportation.

[VMIUJcadet09 250]

I like both El-rail and subway; however, I combine both aspects with the GLR to create a multi-modal light transit network in most of my cities. If I HAD to pick, I'd choose El-Rail just cause I don't really like changing from normal view to underground view and back.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Elevated rail for me. Nothing wrong with subways, just that I prefer to have visible forms of transportation.

This is why I try and create transit maps in Inkscape/Illustrator whenever I design subway networks. It helps me reinforce that there is in fact a people mover lurking beneath my cities. Entirely optional of course, but all adds to the experience of my play.

[Mr Saturn64 742]

I do like the visibility, but I also like having the subways in less dense zones, allowing for more space under the city rather than not have enough room for elevated rail.

[Prophet42 1,503]

I always use subway in high density areas or where I don't want to 'ruin' the look with an El train.  However, I do like the use of El in certain areas to give a more realistic look (aka Chicago style).

[Gurning_Chimp 398]

I like subways in rich areas and elevated in the poorer areas. It just looks cooler in my opinion.

 

Trams tend to go in historical cities.

[Kiiroitori 55]

I use both, but preferably I like to use elevated rail (when given a face lift)  cause it gives a more visual portrayal of a metro system since im into heavily asian cities. however a subway is also good as well, since it gives me an underground metro option where I can switch between the two.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

In my current style of play, I generally only use subways in conjunction with avenues (if any), and only when the load on the road becomes too great (over 300%).  I tend to think of it as a relief choice, not as a primary transit mechanism.  It is too expensive.

[simcity1999 34]

Subways (and monorails) in zone 1 (downtown), El Rail in zone 2 (city limits). Heavy rail (commuter train and regional train) on zone 1, 2, and 3 (suburbs). MRT (El/Subway) stops every 1.5-2 KM, Monorail stops every 1-1.5 KM, Commuter train stop every 3-4 KM, Regional train stop every 6-7 KM.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Since the maximum dimension in the largest city tile is 4.sqrt(2)=5.6 Km, how do you plan to place "Regional train stop every 6-7 KM."

[simcity1999 34]

Since the maximum dimension in the largest city tile is 4.sqrt(2)=5.6 Km, how do you plan to place "Regional train stop every 6-7 KM."

Region Play.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Yeah, I know, but what good is a station on the tracks waving in the wilderness?  I place my stations in town where they will be useful.  One should be careful of generalizations, even this one.

[simcity1999 34]

But regional train tracks will be shared with commuter trains and national/international trains. What I mean to be regional train is from the main city to another close, but different city, while commuter train is from the center to the suburbs.

[Ltw 401]

But regional train tracks will be shared with commuter trains and national/international trains. What I mean to be regional train is from the main city to another close, but different city, while commuter train is from the center to the suburbs.

 

In Simcity it doesn't really matter whether you use heave rail for regional traffic or for regional/local traffic. In real-life it is absolutely true that heavy rail doesn't need too many stations. The only difference is that in real life trains have to accelerate and brake for every station, which takes a lot of time. Those rules aren't applied in Simcity, a certain speed is set for every network and there aren't any problems like accelerating/braking. Another phenomenon I'm experiencing is that residents in Simcity are traveling less far than in real life. In real life it is quite normal to travel further than 10km, in Simcity this would mean that people travel through two large city tiles, I haven't seen this kind of commute very much.