TransbayEmbarcadero

Here's some pictures of the surface portions of my integrated rapid transit network (my elevated lines, subway lines, and light rail lines are all connected by transitions, so those terms are interchangable in this city's case): A tram departing an interchange station with another tram line at a subway station. A tram heading towards downtown descends into a subway tunnel. Two trams near the South Corner junction. Amazingly enough, in my dense rapid transit network, this is the only tram-in-avenue 4-way junction that I have. Two historic Milan trams on the Waterfront line waiting to depart the northern terminus of the line, the Railway Museum. A tram accelerates on tracks shared with the Waterfront line after turning off of some express tram tracks that complement a subway/tram line.

Personally, being from San Francisco, I think that this is a terrible, terrible idea. Something needs to be done about the obesity crisis, but I think that we should be encouraging people to eat healthy food by rewarding them positively, rather than punishing us for bad choices. After all, I'd say that obesity itself is a bad enough punishment. And, besides, there was a recent study that said San Francisco was the least obese city in America, so it's not really such a major problem. I'd say that San Franciscan families are more health-conscious than most. And, besides, the Board of Supervisors (more commonly known as the Board of Stupidvisors) have more pressing issues, such as cleaning up the city, or improving our public transport system, which is seriously dysfunctional. But ignoring the real issues and focussing on resolutions like "Meatless Mondays" and a ban on the Blue Angels (both of which, thankfully, didn't pass), is the status quo for the Board, sadly. What this does, of course, is reinforce the rest of the world's perception that SF is a liberal city where anything goes. While we are more liberal than most, we're a lot more moderate than you think. It's just that, somehow, out-of-town loonies like Chris Daly (search him up on Wikipedia) whack the city out of balance.

Hong Kong International Airport--Great public transport connections, many signs (therefore, very easy to navigate), bright and airy feel, and very clean. The only downside is that you get a bit nervous when landing in a typhoon. Special mention to San Francisco International Airport's International Terminal--it also has a bright and airy feel (except for the boarding gates, and well, when there's fog), has decent public transport options, and many restaurants serving (expensive) organic food, instead of the usual fast food. Plus, it's an engineering miracle--if I remember correctly, the terminal is the largest building in the world built on "base isolators" to make it earthquake-resistant.

Hi, everyone! I'm Ian, a high school student from San Francisco, and an intern volunteer at the Market Street Railway, which is a non-profit group dedicated to preserving historic transit (mostly streetcars and cable cars) in San Francisco, such as the 2 SF Municipal Railway cars on Simtropolis (cars #130 and #162; done by screamingman12, amazing work). Anyways, I've been playing SC4 since 2004, but I only discovered Simtropolis about 3 years ago. Then, shortly after that, my primary computer (a 7 year old Pentium 4 antique barely capable of SC4) decided to self-destruct, forcing me to go to my backup, an even older computer, which could not run SC4 without me getting frustrated and getting a hammer to smash it into pieces. Thankfully, I've finally gotten a new computer, so I can start enjoying SC4 again