Finally I got back into Cities Skylines and work on Valhalla City. I even managed to lay my first bus lines to while the tram lines are still being built.
So how did it go?
Check out my most recent video:
As for the full stream:
Some pictures as well:
As you can see I have started the farming industry as well.
Next stream should be tomorrow 7:30pm at: https://www.twitch.tv/palpatine001
A Tweet about Melbourne failing Transit Orientated Developments annoyed me as I know Auckland is just as bad in doing such developments as well. This is why Japan it is normal and not a second thought is given in doing TOD’s as standard.
Given I have one mature City and another just starting out I cranked open Cities Skylines and did a four part stream into Transit Orientated Developments and how they are done in the game.
Always fun in first person mode and I will stream some of the game in first person mode!
Even with game limitations around multi-use zoning and developments Transit Orientated Developments can still be done and demonstrated in game as seen above.
Full stream on Monday as I build an Ore industry site and watch the residential building finally get underway (darn weekends).
In the meantime: BUS SAFE!
Since Cities Skylines came out in 2015 I have been honing in my Urban Geography and Urban Design skills. That is trying out different spatial developments, different urban design techniques and most of all working the transport system in so your City does not lock up.
As a side note this is why I am using roundabouts more in my newer Cities as they do a better job in keeping traffic moving.
Below are two sets of slide shows both covering the City Centre and Garnet Hills. The first will be of Bus Line 16 doing its trip from City Centre to the Garnet Hills subdivision via a stop outside the newly opened San Layton Nature Reserve. The second is of aerial shots of a new extension of the City Centre and Garnet Hills itself.
One of my favourite editions to the game are the Pedestrian Mall and Shared Path assets. The Pedestrian Mall says as it does – a mall for pedestrians although it does not stop emergency service and service vehicles from using it. On a rare occasion a bus might traverse the mall but the speed limit is reduced to 20km/h. The Shared Path allows all traffic on it at a reduced speed of 20km/h and is good for when commercial is in the area and you need the goods trucks to come through. At the moment Urbanist (the creator of the Shared Path asset) only has the one-way shared path with parking available but more variations are coming.
Without further-ado let’s get the show on the road:
Bus Line 16 and some wet weather
Some aerials of Garnet Hills and the City Centre (AND first look from the Nature Reserve):
Finally where San Layton City is at as of 31 May 2018:
Next up – a rocket launch!
Just a quick update with San Layton City while I put together the San Layton Reserve post. Today we follow Bus Line 16 from the City Centre to new nature reserve at Garnet Hills.
As the title said it was a bleak day (well night) but no matter as busses and monorail move you around safely. Also a good chance to check out some urban design up close so here we go:
Yesterday a paper was released by MRCageny on accessibility to transit and basically how Auckland’s accessibility let alone equity to transit sucked.
The paper can be found in the Tweet below and I’ll write on this more extensively next month after the Summer Series concludes:
And yes Auckland pretty much sucks at accessibility:
I have also written on accessibility in the past over at Talking Southern Auckland when the Manukau South Link was a topical issue:
Having to redo your entire transit network becomes a must as your City matures and approaches larger sizes. Bus lines end up a mess as the City expands while trams don’t operate efficiently due to expanded roads and lack of priority measures. As much as you can forward plan it some days a reformat is required.
San Solaria’s bus and trams will need a reformat as they are not tying in well with the subway network and central bus stations throughout the City. Patronage use to exceed total vehicles on the road but recently it is struggling to match one-third of its previous peaks.
Route accessibility has become the problem with routes going everywhere BUT where people wanted and this has a double knock on effect. The first being less people on the transit network means more cars on the road. More cars on the road means roads and intersections are more jammed up blocking busses and trams. Given the tram and bus network was designed around San Solaria being a mono-core City but in reality it has matured into a two Core city accessibility fast becomes a problem. Also as industry expands into new complexes the population becomes more diverse in its travel patterns.
Sounds a lot like Auckland right?
So time to delete about 10 tram lines and 75 bus lines (some more recent ones will stay) and reformat the surface transit network!
Fun times ahead!
In my ALL ABOARD. Light Rail Moving You Around. Lessons for Auckland post I had mentioned the two types of tram systems I run:
Four new tram lines were built with two connecting to the wider city and two travelling within the area forming a City Link type circuit. The photos below are of City Boulevard Lines 1 and two that run as a loop down the new Boulevard and through Forrest Road (one of the two east-west parallel roads). The other two lines that were later built are:
Do not be afraid of Light Rail and also Light Rail is good for small intra suburb running as well as big trans-city running like Airport Lines.
Two of the four new tram lines are intra-suburb running – meaning the line runs within a single district rather than multiple districts. I can control individual line budgets meaning I can select capacity ranges from 75 to 210 passengers. As a comparison a bio-fuel bus holds 40 passengers while the bendy busses hold 130 and let off a pile of diesel fumes along the way. So rather clogging my nice new urban area up with smelly busses I can use smaller trams to move passengers around while stepping up capacity as demand increases.
Manukau City Centre and Manukau/Wiri would be a perfect example of such a Light Rail scheme that connects into a larger LRT scheme like the Southern Airport Line (Manukau to the Airport via Puhinui Station) or in Cities Skylines the two City Boulevard Lines connecting into the bigger trans-city lines.
The two bigger lines being the Thorton Interchange to City Centre Line and the Airport to City Centre LRT Line both which run through part of the City Boulevard Lines.
In this case these two bigger lines run through multiple districts and centres so using the big E-class tram that holds 210 passengers will be more viable (remember my biggest bus is only 130 passengers).
……..
Source: ALL ABOARD. Light Rail Moving You Around. #CitiesSkylines Lessons for Auckland
The rule of thumb I usually follow with transit is this:
In Cities Skylines I usually follow the above rules with a couple of exceptions. From time to time I will build a busway to allow busses to do medium distance running while light rail can be used for short distance running.
But it is the LRT system I have set up that is of more interest as it gives lessons to Auckland as we try to set up an LRT system of our own.
This map shows the transit system in San Solarian City. The dash lines are the ferries, thick lines the Metro Lines and the thin lines are the trams:
TLM_MAP_San Solarian City_2055.01.31
As noted before I run both trans-city tram lines and tram lines that run within a single district (local loop running). Both classes of lines connect to each other either at a common station/stop or a slight over lap of the lines in some areas (two tram lines sharing the same bit of road/track) to allow transfers.
The question is why am I using trams for shot distance running? Answer One is capacity while answer two is ambience.
Busses are smelly, noisy and hold fewer passengers compared to the trams. Don’t get me wrong busses have their place including the biofuel bus but in a large City they just don’t cut the mustard when wanting to move people between areas (and between Metro Stations).
In high ambience areas like City Boulevard, the City Centre and Laytonville having lots of busses running around isn’t my idea of fostering ambience. This is why the trams are used in local loop running like City Boulevard Lines 1 and 2.
I can control budgets of individual lines so I can determine the capacity required:
So for the City Boulevard Lines trams that hold 75 passengers (still more than the biofuel bus (40)) are adequate while the Trans City Lines get the big 210 passenger trams.
The Northern Airport Line will be Light Rail while I am pushing the Manukau to Airport section of the Southern Airport Line to be Light Rail (Manukau to Botany will be bus).
The first is about capacity to meet demand (The Southern Airport Line intersects Manukau Bus Station and Puhihui Train Station that have heavily patronised transit lines running through them) and the second is about ambience especially in a major Metropolitan Centre like Manukau.
Manukau or rather Transform Manukau is 600 hectares in size compared to the main City Centre being around 385ha (this does NOT include Port of Auckland but does include Wynyard Quarter). Manukau is also in the middle of a large regeneration program that includes intensification and upgrades of public spaces. Manukau is also forecast to house 20,000 new residents (I say it can hold double) over the next decade or so.
Simply put given its large size busses are not going to quite cut it moving people around Manukau nor to and from it to another major employment area like the Airport. Ambience is also in play and like the City Centre having a high amount busses inside Manukau doesn’t exactly work either.
Running higher capacity trams along the Northern Airport Line through the Airport and down to Manukau via the Southern Airport Line would be Auckland’s example of my Airport to City Centre LRT via William Boulevard Line coupled with the Airport to Laytonville Metro Line.
A LRT Line doing a circuit of Manukau and Manukau City Centre linking up the main commercial area, main residential area to the south, the events centre to the south-east and AUT to the north-east would be an example of my City Boulevard Lines.
Remember via budget control you can use smaller trams (that can be coupled up to make larger units as I can in Cities Skylines (75, 150, 210 (same as the single unit E-class)) to start with and up the capacity as the demand allows.
I believe in the dig once, get it right policy that New Zealand struggles with (due to our often lack of foresight). While building LRT instead of a busway for the Southern Airport Line between Manukau and the Airport is more expensive those costs are paid off pretty quickly from the demand and ambience side.
Remember the Southern Airport Line intersects the Southern and Eastern (heavy rail) Lines widening the catchment of that particular Airport Line. You also have the Manukau Bus Station that is THE PRIMARY bus and inter-city bus station for South Auckland (like Britomart is for wider Auckland). So the demand for trams will be there straight off the bat (even if we use smaller single car trams to start with that can be later connected up like our current electric trains). As for bus congestion not applying in Manukau? Well I do not want to get to that point unlike the City Centre and as I try to avoid in Cities Skylines (and when I don’t it is a mess to untangle).
Remember ambience is the name of the game and having busses trundle through Manukau is not my idea of ambience. Again LRT like my City Boulevard Lines are great for localised loop running to move people around an area – especially are large area that has many focal points like Manukau does inside its 600ha area.
Don’t forget that budget control measure for capacity.
Finally and again yes placing LRT down in Manukau is more expensive than bus rapid transit but once LRT is down you will not have to dig up the area again because the busses went over capacity (often too quickly).
Let’s get it right the first time every time!
San Solaria City has offered quite a few lessons for Auckland. I hope you have enjoyed this cross over with Talking Southern Auckland. I might do another cross over next year as San Solaria continues to evolve or when I start a new city on a new map.
In Lessons for Auckland Ctd – Proof is in the Pudding: From Motorway to a Place People Love. #CitiesSkylines we see how the urban form established itself from what was a motorway to a new urban area mixed with residential and commerce.
The question is how to move everyone around this new area and how do we connect it to the existing urban area and its transit networks.
It would be a waste to fill the area up with cars and have those cars ruin the ambience of the area. Grade separated cycling lanes are available for shorter distance and I didn’t exactly wanted to put smelly diesel busses down the area either. Enter the trams or light rail system.
Four new tram lines were built with two connecting to the wider city and two travelling within the area forming a City Link type circuit. The photos below are of City Boulevard Lines 1 and two that run as a loop down the new Boulevard and through Forrest Road (one of the two east-west parallel roads). The other two lines that were later built are:
Do not be afraid of Light Rail and also Light Rail is good for small intra suburb running as well as big trans-city running like Airport Lines.
Two of the four new tram lines are intra-suburb running – meaning the line runs within a single district rather than multiple districts. I can control individual line budgets meaning I can select capacity ranges from 75 to 210 passengers. As a comparison a bio-fuel bus holds 40 passengers while the bendy busses hold 130 and let off a pile of diesel fumes along the way. So rather clogging my nice new urban area up with smelly busses I can use smaller trams to move passengers around while stepping up capacity as demand increases.
Manukau City Centre and Manukau/Wiri would be a perfect example of such a Light Rail scheme that connects into a larger LRT scheme like the Southern Airport Line (Manukau to the Airport via Puhinui Station) or in Cities Skylines the two City Boulevard Lines connecting into the bigger trans-city lines.
The two bigger lines being the Thorton Interchange to City Centre Line and the Airport to City Centre LRT Line both which run through part of the City Boulevard Lines.
In this case these two bigger lines run through multiple districts and centres so using the big E-class tram that holds 210 passengers will be more viable (remember my biggest bus is only 130 passengers).
In the end there is no point building a nice new urban area for it only to be throttled by busses and cars. Local and inter-district routes need careful mapping out and in this case the trams were the ones that cut the mustard rather than the bus.
Also who would want their new government, shopping and residential district backed up with cars? No thanks!
The latest DLC for Cities Skylines came out earlier this week with the theme about being Green.
From Paradox:
Please remember that a major patch like this will like render some mods incompatible, this is nothing unusual but can of course be annoying, our modders are usually incredibly fast in updating their mods compability however please do practice some patience as the patch launches. For the safest Cities experience we suggest turning off your mods until they have been updated to match the latest version.
Have a great day building Green Cities!
1.9.0-f5
Paid content Green Cities expansion
Green Cities expansion
Additional Concerts mini-expansion content:
Concerts mini-expansion
Paid content Content Creator Pack: European Suburbia
European Suburbia DLC
Free update for all players and DLCs owners
Cities Skylines base game
……
Source: Steam
Once the mods I used were updated (Rush Hour and Improved Public Transport 2 are still down) I managed to get my City – San Solaria up and running with the new features going.
So far so good with things like an IT cluster establishing, some areas going totally self-sufficient (residential) or “organic” (commerce). Several districts have an E-car policy where residents must have an e-car while only one District has a combustion engine ban in place.
The new recycling centres have caused a boom in the industrial sectors while the new bio-fuel busses are not that great. That is because they only hold 30 passengers and I have big diesels holding 130 so we have congestion issues on Bus Lines 7, 16 and 21 which are the heaviest used routes. That said with the new 6-lane + Tram road asset out by a good modder I might covert some of those heavy used bus lanes to tram lines.
All in all a good DLC.
Some opening pictures of Green Cities below:
Oh we had a bad forest fire too:
We get back in touch with the driver of the Bus Line 17 to see his photo essay of one of busiest lines in San Solaria. Since our last meeting there has been quite a bit of development in San Solaria including Wood Hills.
The Wood Hills development and subsequent ferry pier (see: Ferries! Finally Got Them Working #CitiesSkylines) saw Bus Line 17 extended with the route now ~30 stops (the second biggest line behind Line 7). But it is the new features like blimps going across the sky and the new bus lane boulevards that have made the trip more interesting.
New improvements such as the bus boulevards, new route finding, and new priority measures have helped make transit more desirable to travel on. With new bus-ways also being rolled out getting around San Solaria became that much easier.
Last night I managed to get in a few serious hours of game play on Cities Skylines with the new Mass Transit DLC installed (and core mods updated).
My initial reaction is mixed as the ferries do not yet work (game crashes out) and the transit hubs are clumsy as you can no control the amount of platforms you might need. However, I did manage to get blimps going and have started using the new Routes system to find and manage traffic jams.
While the ferries do not work the blimps certainly do and make quite site to see as they orbit your city. I do warn you though they are pretty useless as commuter services given they are slow and only take 35 passengers (bus takes >40). But when a blimp circuit is connected up between say major commerce or tourist points it gets more interesting. So I created a circuit that travels between these points:
The patronage per blimp is about 25/35 passengers
Here are the blimps on their orbit (the policy setting is for educational so don’t forget about books and broccoli people):
I have only built one small busway connecting a City Centre to its fringe area on the other side of the motorway. Apart from that I have not used the bus-way options available in the Network Extensions mod apart entrances and exits to major pre ‘Mass Transit’ transit hubs (Layton City is an example of this).
With San Solarian City there are several choke points owing to placements of the industrial complexes and the ports meaning industrial traffic can mix with road transit traffic in key places. Bus lanes do not quite work here as they would between a residential and commercial area so you need to try something else. Enter a dedicated busway running parallel to the main road.
At first it was just one way but when busses going the other way were equally as stuck I flipped the busway into a 2-way one:
This is the congestion I am trying to untangle (traffic flow city-wide is 65-67%):
And here are a few other random things including a custom made bus station using Prop Anarchy:
My goal is to slowly get traffic flow up to 75% in San Solarian City. While the City currently has a small death wave (increase funding for death care required) the new Route Priority system as well as tracing individual journey patterns is certainly assisting getting traffic flow back up.
The new transit hubs available in Mass Transit DLC are currently useless due to lack of tram integration and unable to control platform counts. However, the new traffic AI has meant for the first time the transit journey count equals the non transit journey count meaning more people are taking transit. Now to make transit more reliable starting with bus lane untangling.
All while still zoning new residential areas.
Ben's Cities 