Bus Gates in the UK? What were they as I found them on Twitter? Well I went to find out then though rather than do an “upgrade” of a road to a full blown bus mall in my current Cities Skylines’ city I would try this very simple Bus Gate instead.
Here is the video around me using bus malls then discovering the Bus Gate:
Why should I sit in traffic being the traffic when I can take reliable transit from A to B to C and back again quick and cheaply? The answer is I would not. This is why in my Mixed Reality cities built in Cities Skylines there are extensive transit systems following a strict hierarchy. A strict hierarchy as each mode has its optimal efficiency point before diseconomies of scale kick on from inefficiencies.
In Part Two of Touring Neo South Auckland we jump on some more transit to tour the City
Yes the City Centre is mainly car free apart from the main arterial roads taking people and goods in and out of the City Centre area.
The TL:DR answer on can City Centres go Car-Free? See the video below
You need to get from the Airport to the City Centre or even out the Papatoetoe, the first urban area established in Neo South Auckland. So how will you do this? Avoid the masses and go with 19 other passengers in a helicopter? Or travel with 810 others in a Metro train that goes under and above ground. Heck if you don’t mind a couple of transfers and a bit of a scenic route you could even take the tram. Either way in Neo South Auckland, and Cities Skylines there will be a way no matter the transit option
Buzz Buzz or Choo choo. Travel your way
One thing I think I like to pride myself on in my 6 years building Mixed Reality cities in Cities Skylines is the diverse and comprehensive transit systems that support the spatial form of any given city.
From first house going in to fully mature large cities the transit system is always there for residents and businesses bot new and established alike. Even with the Rush Hour mod that simulates the 24 hour day including weekends, events, rush hours, and even shift working congestion is more localised than say wide spread as would be seen in the IRL Auckland.
But enough from me. Let’s take our first tour of the city using just the transit system.
Part Two we continue with Neo South Auckland having various transit modes from Bus Rapid Transit, metro rail, trams and even helicopters.
Time to put the money where my mouth is and develop my own Rapid Transit Network for Manukau in Cities Skylines.
As of this post I have 13 Rapid Transit Lines, two ferries and a high capacity shuttle bus that are the backbone of the transit system in Auckland (there are also the feeder and regular buses as well). The Rapid Transit Network:
As for the RTN itself (note: ferries not included)
As for the full network:
In most cases you can uses the buses and Rapid Transit Network to get around the City car free. There is also a growing cycling network as well if Active Transport is on the go for you!
With RTN frequencies between every 3-10 minutes all day and the buses ranging from every 5-20 mins all day what better time to leave the car to get around Manukau.
I have been a bit busy on the Urban Geography in real life side of the ledger meaning not much time with Cities Skylines at the moment.
However, I have managed to squeeze a few hours in there and there and have continued to work on the Downtown District.
The two cruise ship terminals have also finally started attracting cruise ships into the City now meaning more tourists and more revenue.
I also had to replace all my substations after an asset swap in the STEAM Workshop caused the deletion of the old model that I was using. No matter all the substations are replaced and power is flowing back into the City from Nuclear City!
With Downtown established and maturing I will turn my attention to Sheffield Square as well as connecting the City Centre up to the International Airport with heavy rail (it already has a monorail line running through it.
In the meantime some pictures:
Auckland Transport Executives and the Chair again prove that they are talk and no action when it comes to the livability of a City especially its City Centre. The latest from AT in regards to Customs Street having busses removed to improve the flow of cars through a core City Centre area made me shake my head at the minimum. Greater Auckland were not impressed either:
To turn Customs Street into a 6 lane car sewer will sever Britomart and the Ferry Terminal from Queen Street and the core of the City Centre that follows Queen Street to uptown. Thoroughfare traffic should be using the motorway network and Grafton Gully if people need to get from east Auckland to the Harbour Bridge and vice versa. Customs Street would become an excellent transit mall for busses and maybe Light Rail linking Britomart to Symonds Street, Fanshawe Street and the Light Rail Lines heading to Wynyard Quarter and the North Shore. Speaking of which where is 6 lanes of Customs Street cars meant to go when part of it and Fanshawe Street will reduce those lanes to make way for Light Rail.
Again Auckland Transport Executives not exactly thinking nor seeing the value of Integrated Planning.
While marco-level planning is what I usually do it does not mean I am going to skimp out in creating quality public spaces for my Cims and the tourists. And of course the City Centre is the prime public space.
Large roads will still be seen but they will not be running through the guts of the City Centre but rather forming the border with smaller 4 lane roads feeding into the guts of the City Centre from the 6-lane roads and then the 2-lane roads, shared streets, lane-ways, transit malls and pedestrians malls forming the interior network.
You will see 4-lane roads running through the City Centre but these roads will often contain one or more of the following:
This allows transit and service vehicles to have continued access to core of the City Centre as people, goods and even the trash have to be moved around (and out of) the City Centre.
But I am not going to put large 6-lane road or the huge 12 lane road right through the middle of my City Centre as it would split it in half causing severance (and a tonne load of noise)
If you are wondering about this 6-laner that has two bus lanes with that runs right by the Central Station there is a reason why I have done this. First of all a large 12-platform heavy rail (with subway underneath) station to place it in the middle of the City Centre would sever the place even worse than the 6 or even 12 lane roads. So in this instance the station sits on the southern border of San Layton City Centre to which (and keeping consistent with above) a large road forms that norther border of said City Centre. Remember heavy rail is bringing in commuters from longer distances so to travel within the City Centre itself you have:
All which are less space intensive!
In any case this is the urban geographic layout of San Layton City – to which I will be focusing on the City Centre:
San Layton City is a dual-core City with multiple satellites all connected by either road or some form of transit (usually rail).
If you are wondering what the following picture and subsequent pictures like it are this is the closest I get to a Shared Space:
While these are pedestrian or transit malls:
Monorail does look quite Gotham:
Street Trees do wonders:
And now for Central Station and some big roads – oh and a sky cafe. You can also see the monorail running through the City Centre as well:
And now the main road that connects the City Centre up to the Satellites further east. Centre Bank is the main leisure area on the other side of the rail station:
Finally the second bit minor City Centre – Washington Heights and how that is built around a bus station. Again the larger roads form the boundaries with smaller roads often transit malls or shared spaces forming the interior network :
This is how you outlay your City Centre. Not with big 6 lane car sewers but with public spaces and extensions of living rooms using shared spaces, pedestrian and transit malls and of course transit lanes!!!
Even 9am on a Sunday the City Centre is teeming with Cims!
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 (ANDÂ 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:
Ben's Cities 