Roads problem

[Michael1 0]

I'm having a problem and see some help. Evwn with the Transport Simulator and NAM,which I downloaded a few days ago,so it's very new to me, I can't for the life of me,get a sucessful public transportation system running in my city,so I'm relying on avenues which I build in strategic places and later upgrade into Ground Highways,which usually does solve most of my problem,at the point I am am anyways,but it also generates a lot of traffic noise,which I'd like to get rid of.. I can't see how I can fit one into my current city,which works,without demolishing the entire thing. Would there be a way I could display my city here,so I can get some help,as the screenshots I can of it take honestly don't look very helpful at all. They seem to miss key bits of information regarding my layout,to my view anyways..

[Fatherted 129]

You can download various soundwall pieces off the STEX to increase desirability to combat this, but there is no way to completely eliminate this problem other than moving residential away from main roads and commercial nearer (commercial needs high traffic).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Ground highways are not a solution for in town.  They are limited access expressways, so cannot be faced with any properties.  The real solution to your problem is to use rapid transit and residential pods away from the main roads.  Generally in cities, the main roads are commercial streets/avenues while the residential areas are in nice little sub-divisions away from the hurly and the burly.

 

You can design very nice residential pods with curvy streets which attach to through roads at points containing transit stops.  You can even create loops with little parkettes in the middle and have a very modern looking residential area.

[Michael1 0]

Yeah I did experiment with a passenger train line,but my sims refused to use it,even though I thought I had it near enough to my most-used areas. My experiments with mass transit have been unsuccessful for the most part,as I usually don't have enough space in the correct spaces to use it,and demolishing half my city is not something I do,as a rule. I usually design my residental/commeriual to be as near the avenues as possible,as my idea was that they'd use them more,and spare my other areas from this,so that's something I'll have to think about. I just don't understand somethings inculded in the NAM which I'm sure could help,to be able to use them effiectly at this point. Would I be able to get a example of "You can design very nice residential pods with curvy streets which attach to through roads at points containing transit stops" so I can get some ideas for my own city,on how to best-integrate them into my design?

[z1 566]

One of the most important keys to mass transit is to be sure it travels where your Sims want to go.  As a corollary to this, use lots of stations - much more than you would in RL.  Also, since access to most rapid transit is most easily accomplished by bus, a comprehensive bus system is extremely helpful.  Since you have the NAM installed, if you follow these principles, you should get good mass transit usage.

 

Also, subways are much more useful in SC4 than in RL.  Good usage of subways with plenty of stops will help keep your city healthy.

[wasso38 10]

One of the most important keys to mass transit is to be sure it travels where your Sims want to go.  As a corollary to this, use lots of stations - much more than you would in RL.  Also, since access to most rapid transit is most easily accomplished by bus, a comprehensive bus system is extremely helpful.  Since you have the NAM installed, if you follow these principles, you should get good mass transit usage.

 

Also, subways are much more useful in SC4 than in RL.  Good usage of subways with plenty of stops will help keep your city healthy.

yeah. z1 is right. if sims want to use elevated rails. so i'm gonna build a elevated rail network.

[Turjan 1,048]

The most important points have been mentioned. Build public transport to connect homes to workplaces etc. The easiest is obviously a bus net, as you only build stations and don't have to decide on lines. Up to a population of about 2 millions, a halfway decent bus system is usually sufficient. One or two train lines help if you see problem areas.

 

Oh, and forget about the noise level, it doesn't matter much, except for agriculture. SC4 pumpkins have sensitive ears.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Any station connecting Elevated rail also needs a bus connection to be truly effective.  They don't have parking.

[Michael1 0]

Ok thanks. I'm not anywhere near 2 million population so far,my biggest city is nearing 40,000 population but my population is starting to get educated enough that some High tech industry demand is starting to be generated,so I thought I'd start a 3rd city and put the HT stuf there,but as I understand it I'll need to get my transit problem sorted as HT industry doesn't like this. I have some ideas now,thanks for all the help. One moe question,if you don't mind. I assume that adding mass Transit at the start will drive me bankrupt very quickly,so what Pop do I need to start adding it in?

[bgn 4]

One mo[r]e question,if you don't mind. I assume that adding mass Transit at the start will drive me bankrupt very quickly,so what Pop do I need to start adding it in?

 

You should get news ticker items urging you to put in a bus system at the 10K-20K stage; that's when I start adding buses.  Trains, if I have them, are generally present from the beginning; rail is cheaper than road, and rail stations are also cheap. Subways, etc., I generally let wait until the population gets near 100K residents.

[Michael1 0]

Ok thanks.i'll have to remember to leave room besides the roads,so I don't have to bulldoze 9/10th of the city,but thanks everyone for the help.As a newer player it all seemed rather daunting to me first-off.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you haven't done it, take your best city, and walk through all the graphs and displays.  The one graph that is truly garbage, unfortunately, is the commute time one, especially if you have the NAM.