Highway fully utilized

[Indra02 30]

hi there,

I’m having a problem with highways being at top capacity. If I zone any more residents, they can’t find work due to the bottleneck. I also use only the highway to connect cities to promote controlled commute preventing commute loops and providing a chance for work.

I am using the same map San Francisco regarding my last post “cross-city commute question”

Im going to state that I have commuter shuttle and carpooling as ordinances always ticked. Bus stops are full utilized, it’s about a 1:1 ratio for car to bus ratio on the highway. subways are also being used for commute as well as 1 elevated rail station for each city also being used by thousands. 

-I do have NAM

-I can provide pictures 4 hours from now if needed

Cheers!

[Matrim Cauthon 344]

Are you certain the highways are actually being used? Like checked with the route query tool?

For me, most of the time something like that happens to me it's because I've forgotten to set up the neighbor connector piece that lets RHW actually work cross region.

<looks at your other thread>

Okay, maybe that won't help if you're using the maxis highways. 

How long are you letting the simulator run for after the no job zots show up? Sometimes it can takes a few months running at mid speed or lower for their routes to update.

Just to double check, what road type are you zoning the residentials with the no job zots on? If it's highway it's not going to work(Except maybe on RHW-2? but that's more a rsc question).

 

[Indra02 30]

1 hour ago, Matrim Cauthon said:

Are you certain the highways are actually being used? Like checked with the route query tool?

For me, most of the time something like that happens to me it's because I've forgotten to set up the neighbor connector piece that lets RHW actually work cross region.

<looks at your other thread>

Okay, maybe that won't help if you're using the maxis highways. 

How long are you letting the simulator run for after the no job zots show up? Sometimes it can takes a few months running at mid speed or lower for their routes to update.

Just to double check, what road type are you zoning the residentials with the no job zots on? If it's highway it's not going to work(Except maybe on RHW-2? but that's more a rsc question).

 

Here is a photo with the route query tool. thanks!

[Indra02 30]

I added some parking lots adjacent to some transit stations and I think it's helping so far...

[rsc204 21,865]

I think your initial thoughts are quite correct, this route is simply over capacity. There are really only two solutions to this, either provide more capacity by adding new connections or routing sims to alternative routes. Otherwise, you might want to consider a Capacity boost; using a higher version of the Traffic Controller. There is a folder for the TSCT, located in the NAM download (zip), this tool can be used to upgrade things. Included is a readme that explains what all the options do and their in-game effects. 

[Kiwiwriter47 472]

15 hours ago, Indra02 said:

I added some parking lots adjacent to some transit stations and I think it's helping so far...

The synergy will help...."Park'N'Rides." 

 

16 hours ago, Indra02 said:

Here is a photo with the route query tool. thanks!

Impressive...but what's with that dead-end road on the left? Why not make a right turn and connect to your neighbor?

[Naomi57 2,985]

On 13/12/2020 at 2:47 PM, Indra02 said:

hi there,

I’m having a problem with highways being at top capacity. If I zone any more residents, they can’t find work due to the bottleneck. I also use only the highway to connect cities to promote controlled commute preventing commute loops and providing a chance for work.

On 13/12/2020 at 6:18 PM, Indra02 said:

Here is a photo with the route query tool. thanks!

That's an impressive amount of highway traffic!  

Here's many possible options for you:

1. Set up Monorail neighbour connections.  The 1x3 Modern Monorail and Bullet Train Station in the NAM has built in bus stop and subway capabilities, too, which can be used as a powerful draw for intercity commuters.  Make the monorail track a more direct route from home to the edge of the map, to make it even more attractive.  You can also transition light rail passengers to a Monorail station using the built-in subway feature.  Light rail is amazingly good at handling short-to-medium journeys — monorail is better for long journeys.
2. Set up a carefully balanced network of many Subway neighbour connections.
3. Transition highway bus users to Subway near the highway bend where the power lines are, using the 1x2 Elevated Road Bus Stop and Subway Station in the NAM, and use the subway for the shortest possible route to a subway neighbour connection, so that bus passengers prefer the direct subway route over the longer highway route.
4. Set up additional highway neighbour connections, possibly using a sunken highway with tunnels to minimise use of surface real-estate for the new highway.  It still requires bulldozing along the tunnel route, and then rezoning the city back in place afterward.  This works especially well with highway buses, and uses a relatively tiny surface highway footprint.  Let me know if you want to try this approach, and I'll post some screenshots and links for you.
5. Gradually restructure your city zoning to have sims live close to many suitable workplaces, with a very short commute.  This encourages them to live and work in the same city.
6. Move neighbour connections further away from residential zones.    A sim that lives near a neighbour connection is highly likely to take it, even using an indirect route to get onto the highway, rather than looking for work in the city they live in.
7. Restructure your cities to have many attractive workplaces en route from home to the city edge, or from one city edge to the next city edge, in the hope that the sim will go work there, instead of travelling to the next city.
8. Use TSCT to change your "Base Network Capacity" to High or Ultra.
9. Use TSCT to turn off "Buses contribute to Traffic" so that buses don't take up any road/highway capacity.
10. Use TSCT to turn off "Buses contribute to Traffic" AND turn on ""Highway Bus Lanes", to also encourage more buses on the highways.

Which options do you like best?  Happy to help if you have more questions.  

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

1) See "Mass Transit Usage" percentages above: The percent of sims assigned to mass transit really need mass transit. If any of your sims lack mass transit, then the mass transit fans  will be stuck walking to work (and complain about a lack of jobs, causing you confusion).

2) Track that heavy traffic to see where it ends up. Go into neighbor cities to see where cross-border traffic is going. Trace it all the way to jobs. If you find yourself back in THIS city and on the same highway, then your overload is a symptom of the eternal commuter loop problem.

 

[Naomi57 2,985]

And if you have NAM 39 installed, I just found out it provides an option 11,  FLEX FLUPs URHW Portal , a RHW override of the subway network!  

Quote

https://www.sc4devotion.com/namdoc/feature-guides/flups/flups.html
... the Subway-based override networks can be used to create curving tunnels. The premise for constructing these is the same as with any other override network. Note that the "sharp" bends to diagonal may break the override. Ensure the bend is at the proper angle to prevent reversion to the base Subway network.

Disclaimer:  I haven't used this yet, but it looks so amazing!  

SimCity 4 NAM 39 "Secret Weapon" Reveal | TarkusSC4 (7¼ minutes)

[Indra02 30]

18 hours ago, Naomi57 said:

That's an impressive amount of highway traffic!  

Here's many possible options for you:

1. Set up Monorail neighbour connections.  The 1x3 Modern Monorail and Bullet Train Station in the NAM has built in bus stop and subway capabilities, too, which can be used as a powerful draw for intercity commuters.  Make the monorail track a more direct route from home to the edge of the map, to make it even more attractive.  You can also transition light rail passengers to a Monorail station using the built-in subway feature.  Light rail is amazingly good at handling short-to-medium journeys — monorail is better for long journeys.
2. Set up a carefully balanced network of many Subway neighbour connections.
3. Transition highway bus users to Subway near the highway bend where the power lines are, using the 1x2 Elevated Road Bus Stop and Subway Station in the NAM, and use the subway for the shortest possible route to a subway neighbour connection, so that bus passengers prefer the direct subway route over the longer highway route.
4. Set up additional highway neighbour connections, possibly using a sunken highway with tunnels to minimise use of surface real-estate for the new highway.  It still requires bulldozing along the tunnel route, and then rezoning the city back in place afterward.  This works especially well with highway buses, and uses a relatively tiny surface highway footprint.  Let me know if you want to try this approach, and I'll post some screenshots and links for you.
5. Gradually restructure your city zoning to have sims live close to many suitable workplaces, with a very short commute.  This encourages them to live and work in the same city.
6. Move neighbour connections further away from residential zones.    A sim that lives near a neighbour connection is highly likely to take it, even using an indirect route to get onto the highway, rather than looking for work in the city they live in.
7. Restructure your cities to have many attractive workplaces en route from home to the city edge, or from one city edge to the next city edge, in the hope that the sim will go work there, instead of travelling to the next city.
8. Use TSCT to change your "Base Network Capacity" to High or Ultra.
9. Use TSCT to turn off "Buses contribute to Traffic" so that buses don't take up any road/highway capacity.
10. Use TSCT to turn off "Buses contribute to Traffic" AND turn on ""Highway Bus Lanes", to also encourage more buses on the highways.

Which options do you like best?  Happy to help if you have more questions.  

thanks a lot!