Transportation difficulties

[don santiago1 9]

Hello everyone ! First of all, I want to apologize for my english.

 

I have been playing in SimCity for years and years, and now, that I think I have a little more experience, I'm trying to make efficient connections using the subway, train, or the bus., but I have A LOT of problems. 

My city, called "Los Santos" has 200.000 unhabitans, a big commercial area, industries in the north and south of the city, and big suburbs. It's not a very buildied city (I mean with building, just houses). Thinking about a good solution to the traffic comming from the east, I decided to make a subway.
In downtown, I made a central station, and, next to it, in the other city, I made stations, but they don't use them! Even If I put a tool in the highway!

The thing is that I need essencial advices using the public transport to make my city, to connect all the unhabitants with downtown. Any advice that you can give me?

The only thing that worked was a suburb zone with a big station, a parking and some bus station around the suburb, that works perfect, but I cant just work with that !

 

Anyhow, I need advices, rules, or suggestions from players with experience in public transportation.

Thanks in advance, I apologize again for my english! 

 

 

[Cyclone Boom 16,829]

Hello there,

 

First of all, if you haven't already, I strongly suggest to install the latest NAM. This is a complex mod which is a major overhaul to the game's transportation systems. The game's traffic simulator is broken in most regards, which causes problems such as with commute times. The NAM fixes this, among many other shortfalls. It also adds lots of new options, all which can be customised upon installation. You'll need to update your game to a minimum of 1.1.638.0 beforehand.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed, provided your game is updated enough to use the NAM.

[michaeldcannaday 42]

With NAM 31.2 my TuLEP is showing as usual but it won't let me use it, along with my customized interchanges   There's gotta be a bug somewhere in there. I did the custom install

[don santiago1 9]

Thanks for the information. I already had the NAM. What I'm looking for are advices or rules to make good subway lines or busses lines. Has everyone know if there's a tutorial or a City Journal showing these? I will really appreciate it ! 

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You'll get better answers at https://community.simtropolis.com/topic/58484-nam-general-support-thread-v2/

[.anonyman 28]

If you have a highway connection between the inhabitants and the jobs, the game will likely make the Sims use the highway because it's faster. There's probably nothing wrong with your subway system, but you could change the NAM's traffic controller to force them to use mass transit. (Install the traffic controller tool, then open it and choose the option near the top, "mass transit, like European cities" or something like that.)

 

Many mayors convert subways into elevated rail (or GLR/trams) when going to the suburbs. Or they use regular rail lines between cities. If you want to build a subway system between your city tiles, and you want the Sims to use it, then your road/highway network can't be faster or more convenient for them.

[z1 566]

If you have a highway connection between the inhabitants and the jobs, the game will likely make the Sims use the highway because it's faster. There's probably nothing wrong with your subway system, but you could change the NAM's traffic controller to force them to use mass transit. (Install the traffic controller tool, then open it and choose the option near the top, "mass transit, like European cities" or something like that.)

 

Sims cannot be forced to use mass transit, either by the Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool or by any other means.  They always take the fastest route.  The transit preferences in the TSCT are just that - preferences.  They work by handicapping the other form of transportation by a small amount of time before calculating the fastest route.  But if one route is much faster than another, the Sims will take it, regardless of the preference.

 

Since subways are about twice the speed of cars when using the NAM, to get more subway usage, simply put in more subway lines and stops.  There are many benefits to using a lot of rapid transit; the traffic simulator really likes it.

[Ltw 401]

I always use a grid-like subway system. The goal is to let your residents walk as less as possible, walking is by far the slowest way to travel so if they have to walk far they will prefer the car. If you have problems with money you could also use elevated rail or GLR. Another option is heavy rail. A big pro of heavy rail is that it is weigh much cheaper, the speed is almost the same as highways, this way it is a very good option for longer distances. If you want to use other transport-types it is important to connect them to each other. This could be done with stations with heavy rail and subway access. Otherwise you could build a subway station next to it. If your CBD is centered or you have enough money to build a very extensive subway-network you could use the rule residential neighborhood to work vice versa. If you don't have that much money or your commercial zones are spread out over the city you could use the route-query tool to discover basic travel patterns. You can also use bus stops to provide coverage for the whole city (linked to other transportation types off course). An important rule is to use the subway in high density and mid density (what you prefer, I've noticed that in my cities it is profitable to use it in high density and mid density zones). If you want subway connections in low density neighborhoods it might be better to use elevated rail or GLR, most of the times I choose for bus stops in these neighborhoods.

[don santiago1 9]

Once again, thank you very much for these essencials advices ! Soon as I can I will start to plan a good transport sistem. I will tell you my progress !

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

And don't forget parking if you want your suburban sub/rail station to collect sims from a wide swath of low-density housing.