Placement of bus stations

[clif9710 1]

How critical is the placement of bus stations? Given a four way intersection with a single bus route already passing straight through, should I be careful to place the station on the corner along the route already in being, assuming that if I place it on the cross street it will not be integrated into the route in being?

If I do place it 90 degrees off the existing route, will the game try to create a new route that will take in the new station?

I've noticed that bus routes can be very popular only to become little used very quickly as neighborhoods change. Should I leave the stations I have in place for potential use in the future?

[Mister Giggles 310]

There are no bus routes as such. Bus stations are merely a way to turn pedestrian traffic into bus traffic. Or in other words, game dun care what you do as long as there's another bus station where the jobs are, so traffic can be converted back into pedestrian traffic.

Each residential wealth group has a preference. Low wealth sims will primarily use alternative transit when given a choice, while rich sims will cling to their cars desperately.

Are you using the NAM? If not, you might consider installing at least the "Traffic Simulator Only" option, as it greatly intellgencizes the game's pathfinder. The result is that your sims are vastly more likely to use alternative transit when it's available. The RTMT addon, which can be used without NAM (Not recommended), allows you an almost sinister amount of freedom in how you design your transit system.

  Edited September 16, 2015 by Mister Giggles  

[T Wrecks 10,210]

^ This.

Off the top of my head, the only situation I can think of where it matters where exactly you place the bus station would be alongside a long avenue without intersections. If you place it on the right-hand side (assuming you have right-hand traffic), the Sims "getting off the bus" (i.e., being converted from bus commuters to pedestrians) won't be able to reach any building on the opposite side of an avenue. They need some kind of crossing.

The same applies to car commuters, really. Without an intersection or a possibility to turn around, they will only be able to reach buildings on their side of the avenue.

If you want to see how your Sims interact with bus stations, use the Route Query tool, the lower half of the Query button with the question mark on it. Seeing the paths that your commuters take may be helpful for you.

I strongly recommend using the Route Query tool anyway. It gives great insight into the actual commute paths, and it shows clearly which buildings with jobs (industry, commerce) are actually reached by your Sims and which ones your commuters don't reach within the allowed commute time. This, in turn, shows you where you need to improve your transportation system.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

There is a set of bus stations that fit into intersections by uroncha that you might like.  While I have RTMT loaded, I find I use these more often.

[rsc204 21,866]

Off the top of my head, the only situation I can think of where it matters where exactly you place the bus station would be alongside a long avenue without intersections. If you place it on the right-hand side (assuming you have right-hand traffic), the Sims "getting off the bus" (i.e., being converted from bus commuters to pedestrians) won't be able to reach any building on the opposite side of an avenue. They need some kind of crossing.

In such a scenario, you can use a bridge included in the NAM under the PedMalls item for crossing the avenue. It works with the pedmall system which would need to be connected next to the bus stop.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I generally cut avenues with police turn arounds about every five to eight tiles.

[clif9710 1]

I generally cut avenues with police turn arounds about every five to eight tiles.

that sounds good, I'll go digging for the turnaround...

If you want to see how your Sims interact with bus stations, use the Route Query tool, the lower half of the Query button with the question mark on it. Seeing the paths that your commuters take may be helpful for you.

I strongly recommend using the Route Query tool anyway. It gives great insight into the actual commute paths, and it shows clearly which buildings with jobs (industry, commerce) are actually reached by your Sims and which ones your commuters don't reach within the allowed commute time. This, in turn, shows you where you need to improve your transportation system.

This brings up another issue. I notice that the mansions can show an unemployed zot indicating that the commute time is too long. That tells me I need to study the path taken to work to see where the problem is so I can address it. However, when the zot appears, the Route Query tool tells me that nobody is traveling from that mansion. Without being able to examine the route that has become too long, I'm at a loss what to do to correct the travel time. BTW, my traffic volume is less than 40% everywhere, much less in most places, so congestion couldn't be a problem (methinks).

[jmababa01 36]

Commute time: Long is ok as long there is a neighbor city accepting them for work. If you don't have neighbor city accepting them Long could be a problem. Me my sims have no problem with Long cause almost Everyone in my farming city of haz has low education only no high schools, university and collage leaving it with need for bosses of farms I-Ag$$$ so now my main city New Haven provides that and commute time: long is not a problem for my sims. Bus stations not that good if you have large cities subway is better in reducing traffic and pedestrians. bus station only adds to traffic problem of large cities especially hilly cities which can't support avenues.

  Edited September 17, 2015 by jmababa01  

[rsc204 21,866]

I generally cut avenues with police turn arounds about every five to eight tiles.

Only slight problem with this approach is that each one is a junction and therefore has a small cost in terms of commute time to go through. This could cause problems on long stretches of avenue, you'd be better off using the TLA-5 from the NWM (Network Widening Mod) in such cases. 

[T Wrecks 10,210]

@clif9710: The problem with mansions and R§§§ in general is often that they come too easily. The desirability requirements are very low, so they often settle in areas that are not suitable for them, and sometimes there are just not enough jobs for wealthy Sims, so the houses would get abandoned even if its inhabitants could teleport to any spot on the map in no time. IIRC, a user called Bones1 has written a mod called "Less abandonment mod" that should alleviate the problem somewhat. I also like to raise taxes for R§§§ by a few digits to keep R§§§ demand low until I have a very far developed city with abundant CO and I-HT jobs so that I'm confident my city will be able to sustain those R§§§ buildings.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

@clif9710: No custom lot needed.  Just use the road tiles.

@rsc204: I only do it when there is a point, like office buildings on both sides and no nearby intersections.  Remember that I use uroncha's intersection bus stops.

[clif9710 1]

@clif9710: The problem with mansions and R§§§ in general is often that they come too easily. The desirability requirements are very low, so they often settle in areas that are not suitable for them, and sometimes there are just not enough jobs for wealthy Sims, so the houses would get abandoned even if its inhabitants could teleport to any spot on the map in no time. IIRC, a user called Bones1 has written a mod called "Less abandonment mod" that should alleviate the problem somewhat. I also like to raise taxes for R§§§ by a few digits to keep R§§§ demand low until I have a very far developed city with abundant CO and I-HT jobs so that I'm confident my city will be able to sustain those R§§§ buildings.

I know what you mean - those mansions spring up everywhere. Taxes to the rescue.  The real-life rich have escaped taxes but, darn it, not in my virtual city!

[jmababa01 36]

@clif9710: The problem with mansions and R§§§ in general is often that they come too easily. The desirability requirements are very low, so they often settle in areas that are not suitable for them, and sometimes there are just not enough jobs for wealthy Sims, so the houses would get abandoned even if its inhabitants could teleport to any spot on the map in no time. IIRC, a user called Bones1 has written a mod called "Less abandonment mod" that should alleviate the problem somewhat. I also like to raise taxes for R§§§ by a few digits to keep R§§§ demand low until I have a very far developed city with abundant CO and I-HT jobs so that I'm confident my city will be able to sustain those R§§§ buildings.

I know what you mean - those mansions spring up everywhere. Taxes to the rescue.  The real-life rich have escaped taxes but, darn it, not in my virtual city!

another solution to this is have a neighbor give them jobs it'll solve the problem of them springing up.