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Wow, those images are messed up. Here are the direct links:
Splitting one inter-city line into four lines and using a large station on a new game (hard, large map) works better than a short line passenger rail. The four lines makes all four platforms become loading containers, and sims are now using all four without any of them becoming crowded. Frequency is better than a passenger rail, even if the trams are slower than trains, because the loading time for each tram is much less than the full loading time of a train. If all 8 trams were on the same line, I could expect traffic congestion around the station as the trams wait for loading/unloading, but being able to load up to 4 trains at once relieves this. Trams don’t space themselves well on inter-city routes. With 8 trains, one full trip will move 80 passengers, which is about the same as most passenger rail consists. Running costs for the 8 trams are far lower than 1 passenger train. Passengers are using the splits mostly evenly, but I still would like them to figure out that if they are waiting for a D car, but there is room on the A car, they can board the A car. Telling the game these four lines are the same would do that. I can adjust capacity on each of the A, B, C, and D lines without having to stop the entire line. If I wanted to do that with a train, I’d have to buy a new train first, then turn the old one in once it finished it’s route.
I’ll be using passenger rail, just reserving it for trips that run further than 1 city. It should be faster to take a tram 1 city over than a train due to better service frequency of the tram. It should be faster to take passenger rail for a distance of 2 or more cities due to not having to switch trams from inter-city lines to downtown lines and the faster passenger rail speed.
The only thing I am missing is being to able to tell the game these four lines are all the same line, just using four platforms at each station. If I was able to do that, the trains could load and unload without traffic backups at the stations, and the frequency would be lower as a single line than the four split lines.
Multi-platform loading would still be needed due to delays, just like in the real world. Arrivals and departures would both be delayed if any vehicle runs into traffic congestion caused by sim vehicles. That would lead to congestion at stations when multiple vehicles from the same line tried to load and depart. Multi-platform loading would allow a gate change for a vehicle.
The issue with frequency is the way the game calculates it, updating it every so often on schedule. The player cannot control departure times for vehicles, and with how this game presents time, both frequency and a time table for departures would not match the displayed game time.
Full loading is more for cargo than passengers, but there are some branch lines in the real world that do not run unless they are booked for enough seats. The game only gives us the options for:
1. Run with or without load.
2. Run with a full load (all or any)
This should probably be expanded to provide for a greater variety, especially where passengers are concerned. It would also allow greater flexibility on when a vehicle departs. Depart when scheduled OR when full, whichever comes first. That would be ideal, but we don’t have the ability to schedule vehicles and only have a binary option when it comes to choosing a departure based on available load (empty or full).
The current implementation for full loading is a failure, but your statement that it will never be viable assumes no other rules in the game can change.
I think you missed the point of the post. It’s about better handling loading and unloading at stations for vehicles (bus, tram, and train).
Full load is not a viable option because of how the game handles vehicle routing, loading, unloading, and service frequency calculation, but improving those would make it viable, especially when wanting to save money on lines with high running costs.
This would be useful outside of stations with double platforms. Currently, if the station is designed to be a passthrough station for a number of lines, there are two crossovers built just outside of each station so the left track can reach the right station platform, and the right track can reach the left station platform.
Adding this to my Train Fever wish list:
1. Roundtables
2. Waypoint system – Useful for many things, such as selecting specific platforms to load/unload or pass through or having a trian use a wye turnaround.
3. “X” double crossover. Useful with heavy traffic, saves space from the current need to build two separate crossovers.
Pause the game when somebody gets off the train. Click on one of the people walking. It will show you details on that person. The details show which buildings the person uses in life along with which building is the current destination. Check to make sure that building is very near one of your drop off points. If it’s not, the person will not take the bus.
Also check your wait times. If the person has to wait minutes at a station for a bus, they will choose to just walk. The wait time plus the travel time must be less than the time it takes to walk.
The rules for my lines inside a city.
1. |The line should not overlap with another line. If a transfer is required, build two stops as close together as possible or use a bus/tram station. This avoids congestion.
2. Keep frequency under 60 seconds. On some routes, this requires 20 or more horse trams/stagecoaches. Keeping such a low arrival time will ensure that just about everyone will choose public transport over walking.
3. The line should include at least 1 intercity transfer stop. If it does not, then it needs to have 2 or more land use zones within the stops.
Most of my lines start at the center of the city and move to the outskirts. This means most lines have the commercial zone included along with at least 1 more zone. Most of the lines also end at a station that delivers traffic to another city.
My setup is this:
1. Create a bus route between two cities that are short distance from each other. Put bus stations on the outside of the city. Add enough stagecoaches so that the frequency is between 60 and 90 seconds.
2. Create a tram line from the city center to a tram station next to the bus station. Put enough trams on the line so that the frequency is between 60 and 90 seconds.
Expect the first year to have a loss. After that, you should be profitable. I found that 60 second frequencies on mass transit lines are good (at least on easy) in order to get lots of traffic on the line. Residents should only walk to where I don’t have trams running. I found that a 60 second frequency on the trams turned an unprofitable line into one exploding with traffic. It also jump started my bus lines. When I had a 4 minute frequency on a stagecoach line, hardly anyone was using it. When the frequency dropped to 78 seconds, I soon had 50 people waiting at the station.
If I get enough intercity bus routes going (1 short hop between cities, I use railroads for city connections that are farther), I can wind up having four bus stations in a hub city, all on the outside. In those cases, I will extend my tram line from the city center so that the tram starts in one corner, moves through the entire city, and winds up at the other corner station.
I use separate tram and bus stations because I have so many vehicles on the line in the early days that using the same station (even a large station) can cause bottlenecks. Horse trams can have up to 10 trams on one line to keep the frequency as close to 1 minute as possible. As they get upgraded to the electric trams, I can have 2 vehicles on the line while keeping the frequency at 60 seconds.
I’ll take screenshots of my intercity tram routes for you:
This was taken before I started putting each line on its own station. As you can see, all my intercity tram routes are profitable. The only trams not profitable are my shuttles (Tram/Bus Station to Rail Station, not enough traffic). All of my bus routes are wildly profitable save one.
