A little city organization brain working

[SuperBeber 0]

'lo everybody,

i've just started again a new city (one more, but this time, it will be the good one !!), and i just want to have some advices, in particular with the transit system : i've always used road, roads, roads, with bus everywhere... (classic, isn't it ?)

But i would like to put in my city others means of transport, like train, tram or el. train

Here is my city (just the center) :

(there have been some changes since this screenshot, but only minors changes)

 

For now, it is built like that : around all blvds, there are only commercial (med density), and inside, only res med density. (like that, the city is a mix of res and commercials, to reduce commute times...)

As you can see, there is a big bldv surrounding all the area, a big ring road.  This is where it begins :

 

The question i'm asking me is to know if it would be useful to put a train all along this ring road, useful especially in terms of commute time : would the sims use it if they have to go to the other side of the city's center ? (from one side of the picture to the other side).

OR, if you think it will not be useful, does someone have ideas to settle the traffic problems (i have already been obligated to upgrade some streets to roads due to the traffic, whereas my city is less than 10.000 inhabitants), and especially settle this problem before my city grows, where it can become awful ?...

 

Another question : would it be useful to let the train (or tram, or el. train, or something like that) enter in this center ? I mean : if i reorganize all this area, with adding a train even across the area, is it going to be used by the inhabitants ?

I think you have understood : i don't use often trams and trains, and I don't really know when it could be useful... so, if you could help me a little, i would be very grateful to you...

 

 

 

I must say i'm very proud of my city : it's the first time I succed to build a city without any industry in it !! It's almost 10.000 pop and there is only commercial in it (and since it's the only city in the region, there is no industry at all !!!) ! Lol i was only happy, that's all... thanks !!

[soldyne 111]

I have been experimenting with mass transit for many months now and I must say that subway is by far the best option.  it is expensive to lay down a decent network, but once it is up and running it will be most highly used form of transit (perhaps second to car) in your city.

 

I have built cities with rail, monorail, subway, bus, highway and everything else I can find and subway always beats them all, even monorail, for useage.

 

what makes subway the best IMHO is that all the subway line is underground on its own system.  It so great that it does not even compete with the water pipes for space.  with rail and monorail you need to use up valuable realestate on the surface and that can cause lots of planning problems.  also, subway lines can make 90 degree turns (although this does not happen in real life, the game says its ok, so its ok with me).  monorail and rail need more space to make turns which makes intersections take more space.

 

I dont want to say that rail is not good.  I use it extensively in my industrial areas and those residential neighbors which feed the industrial demand.  when working with industry rail serves two goals; moving commuters and moving freight which makes it more useful than subway (it is also really cheap).

 

I have never had much luck with monorail.  so many people use subway in city that monorail simply gets neglected.  It could be my monorail design but, like rail, it is hard to work with sometimes as it is all above ground.

 

If you want to use rail then I sugest learing how to make tunnels with hole digging lots (or do it by hand either way).  making tunnels will save space but can be a pain in the neck when you need to come above ground to service a station.

 

if you have little experience wth mass transit then start with bus as it will use your already placed road system and then add in subway.

 

and thats my 2 cents!

[XpirAment 0]

Part of the unrealism in this game is how we can just add and subtract to a city, like it was nothing. Consider Boston's Bug Dig. That sucks in real life. But drop a couple of hole digging lots, drag a avenue, and boom! a tunnel.

Subways in SC4 are the mass transit life-saver. All other mass transit takes up too many precious tiles above ground and require planning. The subway can just be dropped in (even easier if you have a road-side subway stop).

Considering the only thing I know of this city you've presented to us here, Soldyne, is the city center, I wouldn't recommend any mass transit. Mass transit is a region thing, if you ask me.

Outside of the subway, I hardly use mass transit. I do have a habit of running ground train lines through my low-density outer suburbs.

[soldyne 111]

I always use mass transit in any city which has medium or high density zoning.  I also like to use buses in my suburbs.  if people want to commute out of the city with mass transit thats ok too.  both ideas are good though as both seem to work.

 

I was just responding to SuperBeber's request for a mass transit suggestion.  if he wants mass transit then I simply suggest using subway.

 

I do fully agree with you on how unreal the game is (I even started a topic a while ago about what if simcity4 were real? and it was quite fun for a while actually).  but the thing to remember is that it is a game and that is what makes it fun.  I dont think it would be much fun at all to run a real city.  everything would take too long, cost loads of tax payer money and be covered in red tape.  too many head aches.

 

<edit:  btw nice sig.  do you want to add my Show us your Farmlands topic to the list?>

[SuperBeber 0]

Firsto of all, thanks to you both. The only thing I was wondering its if i'd better add mass transif now, to be foresight when my city will have grow more, to avoid destructing areas to put train or something else... It was just in prevention... but if you say that subway was the best, then maybe i'll use subway... (and you know, you can make it have turns, to be more realistic, even if its hard to make)

 

So... thanks to you Soldyne and XpirAment... i was just asking for advices befor my city get worse...... but i'll wait before putting something else than buses...

Thanks again

[Aramus 1]

Nice layout there... I really need to DL those ponds and other greenery.

Can't add much to the subway suggestion before. You may want to limit yourself and not allow it in your city - or only within self-imposed limits (one station per year, or only along certain major roads, etc..)

What gets me though is the irrational route selection of the sims (even worse than real life people). Your avenue ring around town with the one-way roads next to it... do they use it sensibly? I constantly have to goad (ie. destroy connections to force their choices) the sims to make use of faster ways to get to work. They'd hog a street instead of taking an avenue, just because it seems more direct to them. *growl* ,O)

Back to subways: what I found useful is to have the subways connect differently from roads. So while I have neighbourhoods that are connected with one main road carrying most of the traffic, I'll let the subway connect directly between the centers of neighbourhoods... does that make sense without an image? In other words: the cars have to drive to the neighbourhood 'exit', take the main road and enter the target neighbourhood, while the subway may go directly.

bla bla bla.. I shouldn't do this from work without pics to illustrate my point.

[XpirAment 0]

Not that I want to tell you how to run your city, but if this city were on my computer, and I was considering an above ground mass transit at this point, I would put an elevated or monorail along these red lines. That's just me.

If you are going to spread out your suberbs from here, I'd make the transit lines all end up downtown.



(Sorry Soldyne, I knew who I meant to say, but mentioned the wrong name. And check my sig for the show me your farmland plug.)

[Highway 0]

Hello.  Some advice i would give is that in the future your city spreading will cause bad ass traffic in that downtown area, but its a good thing, because skyscrapper commercial high rises like traffic, that means customers and so on.  If that were my city i would develop a Monorail system and once it reaches the downtown to make a transition, there are monorail stations that have subways in them, i would recomend using those, so once you reach downtown you dont have to destroy anything and sims will go underground.  Another thing is to a highway tunnel system that would end up at your downtown.  Let me try to explain.  The Downtown area is circled (sort of) If the 222 represent tunnel dug highways, and 00, the exits of tunnels, thats what i would do.  Ofcourse going north, south, west, and east.  Do u get it??

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   22222200222222220022222220022222220[Downtown  ]0022222222222002222222200222222222200

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