Tram Tactics

[NCarlson]

I'm wondering what people suggest for the most effective use of trams. Mainly interested in effective routing options that don't make larger networks get completly clogged.

[babs]

I'm wondering what people suggest for the most effective use of trams. Mainly interested in effective routing options that don't make larger networks get completly clogged.

I just lay down a single line cornering trhough a city. Then I put several trams on it and because there is just 1 way to go I dont have to give the tram any orders. There are local so they stop at every stop they meet.

[spaceman-spiff]

Tip: even 3 trams can make your towns explode

[NCarlson]

I try to make as much of the town iwthin a service area as possible, but that usually ends up with too many trams.

[Excaliber1975]

This is my first post here on the forum. I like to share my strategy for trams here. Usually it rockets the population numbers skyhigh in very short time.

#- First build a straight track of 10 blocks and a corner on one end and ad 2 more track pieces (it looks like a big letter L), try to pick it as easy as possible so you should not delete any houses. (read the rest of my strategy to learn how to find the right place for the first pieces of track)
#- Build 2 Tram-stops, place them next to the corner on the short piece of track and one before the u turn.
It looks like this:
c=small corner : o=track : s=track with stop : u=U-turn

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 c o o o o o o o s u
 s
 u

#- buy one tram and place it on the track. it should now serve both stops with no problems and a very large area. each stop covers an area of 9x9=81 blocks

#- Next step is to make it into a 10x10 square with 4 stops just before each corner to make the area the stops cover as big as possible. make sure you replace the U-turns for a corner piece or the trams wil turn arround on that U-turn
It looks like this :

Code: Select all

 c o o o o o o o s c
 s                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 s
 c s o o o o o o o c

#- Now buy another tram and place in the opposite direction the other tram is moving and you have a 2-way tram system with 4 stops that covers an area of 288 blocks. This should make your citizens happy.

#- The next step is to look in what direction your city is expanding
On that side of the city i now build another straight line with a stop that is the start of another 10x10 square block. Make sure you have 6 squares space between the big 10x10 blocks.
#- Make sure you change the corner piece for a crossing and a U-turn on it and buy another tram.
It looks like this : (or mirror it o turn the map if your city expands the other way) +=Crossing

Code: Select all

                   u
 c o o o o o o o s + o o o o o o c
 s                 o             s
 o                 o             u
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 o
 o                 s
 c s o o o o o o o c

#- After a while the city expands further. and you can build the second block complete. also ad another 6x6 block so it is possible for the trams to ride the whole track without interferance with each other.

Also buy another tram. my experience is to use 2 trams per 10x10 block.
#- it looks now like this:

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                   c o o o o o o c
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
 c o o o o o o o s + o o o o o o + o o o o o o o s c
 s                 o             s                 o 
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 s             o                 s
 c s o o o o o o o c             c s o o o o o o o c

#- If you have the money and place you can ad then more blocks and trams. It is maybe hard to find the right place to start this system and you may have to demolish some houses but in the end it will pay you back.

#- In the end with 8 trams (4 in each direction) that doesn´t require a route setup (only the local setting (no Express)) and only 8 stops it will cover an area of about 1200 !!! squares it will look like this :

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 c o o o o o o o s c             c o o o o o o o s c
 s                 o             s                 o 
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 s             o                 s
 c s o o o o o o o + o o o o o o + s o o o o o o o c
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
                   o             o
 c o o o o o o o s + o o o o o o + o o o o o o o s c
 s                 o             s                 o 
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 o             o                 o
 o                 s             o                 s
 c s o o o o o o o c             c s o o o o o o o c

If you are really into building modus it is possible to ad even more 10x10 blocks on the outhermost corners of this "clover" look-a-like system.

Good luck with building and let me know what you think of the system i use for my trams and citys/metropoles.

[Patchman]

It's better to put tram stops on all four corners of an intersection, that way the tram waits in front of the intersection instead of blocking it.

So instead of

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    o
    s
o o + o o
    o
    o

make it

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    o
    s
o s + s o
    s
    o

where all "s" stops belong to the same station.

The same applies to both sides of a curve. When leaving the stop the tram is slow anyway so it doesn't have to slow down for the curve, it only doesn't speed up as much.

[RangaKoo]

NEVER EVER have a U turn in the middle of a stretch of track.

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US=========SU========SU
 A         B         C

Say for example, you originally set up a simple straight line track, then you decided to extend one end, make sure you remove the un turn where the track used to end.

If you try to run a service from A to B and another from A to C you will inevitably end up with a jam - especially if you have a stop with a u turn on eavch side *shudder*.

If you need your tram to turn around, you are better off running a loop around a block.

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US=======C=S=C=======SU
         H   H
         H   H
         C===C
 A         B         C

This is much better at avoiding traffic clogging (because the trams can go around corners faster than Us) and is much more realistic too. (There is no way in hell that any tram I've ever seen could switch track in the way the game shows! (But I appreciate that switches are impractial for the game.))

[Oneirocrat]

I started reading this thread just as I was finishing USA West 1980. I had big tram loops all over the cities in the south-east corner of the map (Albuquerque, Pueblo etc), and since they'd grown explosively, I added extra trams to the routes to exploit the demand.

The problem is that they inevitably end up in a bunch - the dread 'wait ages for a bus and then three turn up at once' syndrome. If a tram is delayed (by a competitor's bus, or a particularly busy stop), the tram following it catches up a little. Now, the first tram will get to each stop when that stop hasn't been serviced for a while, and spend a comparitively long time unloading and loading. The tram following will reach that stop with slightly fewer people waiting there, and so unload and load slightly quicker, thus catching up a little more. Eventually, it'll be right behind the first tram, and they'll stay together thereafter.

Some of my big tram loops had four trams going round nose to tail in each direction. And obviously, the ones at the back weren't bringing in much money. I'm playing Swiss Alps 1960 now, and fortunately the towns start quite small. So I think I'll try running one tram per track. If I need more trams, I'll build more track.

The ideal solution would be for the services to communicate, to maintain spacing. Without that, it seems to make more sense to cover a large city with multiple small two-tram loops or one-tram lines (with u-turns). Bridge the stops across loops if you want the feeling of through-routes, but avoid the huge, city-spanning loop carrying multiple trams - I think it'll always end up inefficient.

[Jice]

The first times I made long tracks and add a lot of trams when demand grew up. But I think passengers of trams are going from one station to the next so there is no gain with long tracks. Now I create several shorter independants tracks with fewer trams. I can't say if it's really better but that prevents global jam. Does anybody else experiment this method ?

[Severous]

Hi

I favour short games without big cities. So I tend to have tracks like I image Jice. Simple straight tracks back and forth up main street. Stop catchment areas to catch maximum passenger numbers, and maximum distance apart to increase revenue, and a straight line. Usually a 10-12 block route.

For the problem Oneirocrat posted...four buses nose to tail. I would personally hope not to play such busy towns. But might a solution be to build a bus depot rather than bus stop.? Believe buses/trams can stop and wait for a full load at such stops (they cant at simple bus stops). Have some with orders to wait, or all to wait. Wont that space them out ?

I do like the big post above with the trams going in 10x10 blocks - one each way. Has me looking at my own towns in a new way but not set one up. Perhaps when the scenario objective is loads of passenger hauls.

Edit: For simple tram layouts early in the game:
- length ten in a straight line up main street
- stop at each end
- NO turning points
- Single tram.
- It justs runs up and down one track
- Reduces the cost of setting up the route and eliminates turning time
- Faster average speed and more runs = more revenue
- Better station ratings = more passengers = more revenue
- If it gets too busy...rotate map 180 and place a tram on the other track...now have two trams on separate tracks. Tram races !!!

I tried ripping up the local council roads first...made no difference..tram tracks cost the same on land or on top of road.

[d00mh4mm3r]

The only time my trams go into a bunch is when either 1 breaksdown or they are wating to cross over the traintracks (trains have right of way over everything)
Other then that 6 trams is planty 3 on each side of track, + u can influence they way of witch direction the town grows.. hehe

[valthun]

I actually will place a u-turn in the middle of th track and it works very well for me. However, when I do this it is not to extend the tack rather than keep an existing router, and bring another route that is spanning towns. However there is a finesse in how to do so.

Bad: ousuo : this layout will cause the trams to get stuck.

Good: ouosouo : this layout will allow each tram to stop together if they meet up at the stop and allow them to each flip around to return back.

Note: You must set tram waypoints when doing this however.

[GurraJG]

Strategy? I just randomly place the tracks all over the city and place as many trams as I can onto them. Believe it or not, but my trams are making a fortune!

[intercity125]

In my largest city, i take the very central point of town, tear up housing and roads, lower a slope on each side and build a central tram station underground in the middle of 3 blocks, with the track rising onto a road again thereafter. There is a stop also either side of this underground level, and then i build branches here, there, and everywhere - always making sure that each tram stops at the very centre of the city at some point, with routes linking to airports, rail station, and general suburban areas. It seems to help growth rates a lot.

[metalangel]

I tend to run a line connecting to the main railway station down the most developed streets to the other side of the city, where I build an off-road turning loop.

[Steve]

Stickied, as i thought there is some good stuff here.

[d00mh4mm3r]

Steve, why not make 5 other topics and sticky them.. Train, Truck, Bus, Ship, Air... That way all the tactics will stay at the top...

[Metromaster]

In scenarios where there is a lot of competition, putting the tramline in the subway (entirely underground) works very well in avoiding street level traffic jams. So here is a question: If you place a tramline underground and locate the tram stops directly underneath those of a competitor, does the game recognize this and allow you to siphon off passengers from the other station?

[RangaKoo]

I don't believe it will let you do this as you are using the same square as a competitor. Placing right next to one I think is okay.

[Menno]

or do it like this:

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=====s=====
====s=s====

(vertical view)

though this if only if you really want to cover the same area as your opponent