El Rail Station spacing

[robdragon 167]

Hey folks,

I'm laying out an El Rail System in a metro city, I was wondering what would be a good spacing between stations?

TIA

Robdragon

[twalsh102 1,601]

I don't think there will be any one correct (or incorrect) answer to your question.

The only real guidance to follow for any transportation network is that your stations (rail, bus, subway) need to be between where your residents live and where they work.  Sims are always looking for the shortest way to a destination.  They will not travel out of there way to get on public transportation.  In other words, to increase the chances of Sims taking public transportation, the distance from the departure station to a Sim's job must always be shorter than the distance from the Sim's residence to the job.

Likewise, Sims will not backtrack (towards home) to get to their jobs from their destination station, even if it's only a matter of a block or two.  In other words, the distance from the departure station to the destination station must be shorter than the distance from the departure station to the Sim's job.

So, the following situations prevail:

Scenario 1)  home >-------> station >-----------> station >----> job will always attract commuters that want to use public transportation;

Scenario 2)  station >--> home >-------------> station >---> job  will not attract commuters; neither will

Scenario 3)  home >--> station >--------------> job >> station

Note that these scenarios apply to each specific household.  So you need to spread your stations throughout your residential areas as well as the areas you want your Sims to commute to for work. 

Hope this makes sense.

[matias93 7,535]

From what I've observed, in urban areas, the optimal distance for light rail (GLR, tram, el-rail, subway) is between 300 and 500 metres, which is close to 20 to 30 tiles (as 1 tile = 16 metres)

This is generally a somewhat short distance for light rail in real life, but all the game lots are much denser than their real counterparts, so you need to make denser networks too.

For heavy rail, double those distances, and for monorail (high speed rail), multiply it by four.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

19 hours ago, twalsh102 said:

your stations (rail, bus, subway) need to be between where your residents live and where they work.

...Unless you install the NAM, which has perfect pathing (fastest, not shortest).

Even without the NAM, some residents (esp low-wealth ones) have no cars. If there's no work within walking distance, then they must find mass-transit, so they will walk away from work if that's what they need to do to catch a bus.

[robdragon 167]

OK guys GREAT!

I got the idea!

Thanks @jeffryfisher, @matias93, @twalsh102!

[matias93 7,535]

we want screenshots now

[robdragon 167]

6 minutes ago, matias93 said:

we want screenshots now

When I get it laid out I'll upload screenshots!