Problem with passengers waiting

[unmerged(273357)]

Hi!

I love Cities in Motion, very addictive game, and ofcourse time consuming.
I'm playing it on my brother's PC, he bought the game few days ago, that's why I didn't registered the game here, he said he will register it if he come to the forum.

I'm started sandbox in Helsinki, and I'm determined to succed in first years with tram lines. My line is not short, starting 2 stops before main railway station, ending 2 stops after hospital.
On some stops there are, for example, 30 passengers waiting, and when the tram with no more than 5 passengers onboard stops, maybe 2 or 3 passengers boards the tram! After 10 seconds the next tram is stopping on the same stop with 25 remained passengers, no one boards! Why?
Do my trams smells bad? I mean, maybe white collar workers or bussiness people don't want to board my trams, but in the other hand what ther are waiting for, if they knows what trams I have? I thought alos "maybe they want to go on some locations that I didn't covered?". Nope, they all going to completely covered locations, ofcourse, how stupid they would be if they don't know where the trams are going. I'm clueless, why so many passengers don't want to board the trams?
It is strange, sometimes all 20 passengers on stop boards, sometimes only 3 or 4.
Why?

Thanks in advance!

 

[douglasrac]

They don't wait in the stop if they want to go in a place that is not covered.

Probably you have 2 or more lines passing through this same stop. So, 20 people are waiting for line 2 and the tram that stopped was from line 1, so of course, none of the 20 will enter that tram. That's the only reason I can think off.

 

[unmerged(273357)]

omg, you are probably right! I made 2 lines on the same route, Line 1 goes from railway station to hospital, Line 2 vice versa, from hospital to railway station. I thought that is the good way to cover the whole route.
Anyway, it's very stupid reason, because both lines are exactly the same.

 

[unmerged(272862)]

Hello, i have the same problem, take a look:

This line goes from the hospital at Amsterdam - Down town - Railroad station and back to hospital.

Here you can see the "train" leaving the station whit 9 Passengers and 32 people waiting at the station. All those people was there when the train docked but they did not get onto the train intime. Same was happening on all my 4 stations. Only one of em was connected to 2 lines.

This is game breaking for me, it might be something i do wrong, but i cant see it my self. To have all my trains running whit 10-20 passengers when they can have 60 is realy bad for buisness.

Was there a mod for this? And please fix this asap if its a bug.

Thanks for any advice / answer.

 

[douglasrac]

omg, you are probably right! I made 2 lines on the same route, Line 1 goes from railway station to hospital, Line 2 vice versa, from hospital to railway station. I thought that is the good way to cover the whole route.
Anyway, it's very stupid reason, because both lines are exactly the same.

I think that is a good thing. I'm not sure, but I will start to use in my lines. One goes from A to B and the other from B to A. It's good because not everybody that uses your line will go from A to B and vice-versa. In the middle there are places that people want to go, so it's easier if he/she can choose the way to save time.

Imagine: A----My house ----------- B.
If I want to go to A and the line only goes from A to B I will need to get a long route until B and then back. But if you also build a line from B to A, I can get a shorter route.

 

[unmerged(273357)]

I agree, but then I must build two stops, each for one line (direction). At the moment is is like this:

O (stop)
===== (road)
O (stop)

And I think it must be like this to make this system A-B, B-A to work properly without waiting passengers:

O O (stop 1 for line 1 and stop 2 for line 2)
=========
O O

What do you think?

 

[unmerged(273151)]

If you have one stop with 2 lines or more that is extremely busy I would suggest splitting it between stops that are next to each other. Not only will it reduce the number of people waiting at each stop, but it may help to reduce wait times as you won't have 2-3 buses all waiting for each other to pick up/drop off.

Personally I try to avoid having more than 2 bus lines using the same stop.

 

[douglasrac]

I think it's not good at all to have two bus stops side by side. Really unnecessary. People get angry because they are waiting for too long time, not because there are too many people waiting at the same time.
This way you will double your maintenance costs. Also is much better to have the same stop for more lines because makes easier for people to commute.

You can also upgrade your bus stop, put the luxury one. But I also think it's unnecessary, because better bus stops means more customers are attracted to it and the waiting time is more tolerable. So, also doesn't affect the amount of people waiting. If you are happy with the number of customer you have and if you pick them up very often, you don't need to change anything. Leave everything in 1 stop and the basic one to save money.

P.S.: today I experience what you mention in your first post. I have a tram stop with only 1 line servicing it. And there were 2 people waiting, and many trams went there to pick them up and they didn't get inside. Other people where waiting and they got inside but those 2 no. And I'm sure the tram wasn't full. After a while they disappear.

 

[unmerged(273151)]

Something else you should check is whether the number of waiting passengers shown on the stop is the same as the number shown when you hover the mouse on the stop.

I just altered a line that had a stop with 80+ people waiting at a stop.
After altering it the stop still says it has 80+ people waiting, but when I hover the mouse over there are only 20 or so, and of course my metro trains are leaving the stop without being completely full.

 

[unmerged(272700)]

I think it's not good at all to have two bus stops side by side. Really unnecessary. People get angry because they are waiting for too long time, not because there are too many people waiting at the same time.
This way you will double your maintenance costs. Also is much better to have the same stop for more lines because makes easier for people to commute.

Leave everything in 1 stop and the basic one to save money.

I am not so sure I agree with this statement. I have found several situations where it is beneficial to have stops terminate with lines in close proximity. It lets the vehicles get through the stops much more quickly... and people don't mind one bit to walk from one stop to another. Heck, in Amsterdam I see throngs of people happily walking down a street a block, walking across the river over a bridge, then down another block, to catch another line to somewhere else. Knowing that, you can design interchanges that optimize speed in loading, unloading, and keeping people happy. Check out this screenshot.

P.S.: today I experience what you mention in your first post. ...there were 2 people waiting, and many trams went there to pick them up and they didn't get inside.

I have seen this more since the patch. I especially noticed at one of my helicopter pads. There were always at least 2-3 unhappy people at the helipad. I saw many helicopters come and go, usually with only half capacity. And these were relatively new helicopters with good appearance (the highest available). It may be something they need to adjust.... but I think more than likely it may be related to ticket prices. I am wondering if they do not have the money to pay my high ticket prices. I haven't tried lowering my ticket prices really low to see if that would encourage them to get on. .... perhaps you could test it.

 

[unmerged(273357)]

This is starting to be very interesting thread. I will try to spice it a bit with next strange thing.
Now, I don't have that problem anymore, all passengers on stop boards the tram or the bus, BUT, now on some stops there are more than 60 or 80 people waiting! Even on one stop I noticed over 110 people! And I have at least 12 trams and buses on each line to ensure that the gap between them is 10 or 15 seconds! I truly can not buy another 12 trams to suit the passenger needs, because I will make a ridiculous situation of many trams forming a loong line, or I will call it a train. It will produce complete lockups in traffic. I have identical situations with "overpopulated" stops also with bus lines. And the main thing is, three trams (buses) are approching that stop, with 10 seconds gaps, and every vehicle is completely full, in my case 30 in tram and 32 in bus (using double capacity). It's scary how would it be without that doubled capacity, lol.
Any suggestions?

 

[azedalis]

I agree with SOH, I am doing a Sandbox of Berlin and what I am doing is making loops for the metros. Each with 4-6 stops. I run a line both ways. Then I also place 1 stop close to another metro loop stop. They will go from one to the next with no problem. Also if you use one stop for more then one loop if a train breaks down at a multiple route stop then BOTH routes gets blocked. Also you will probably get delays due to vehicles arriving at the same time. With upto 6 metros in each loop direction normally allows for alot of passenger capabilities. Also by going both direction passenegers will only be on the vehicle for at the most half the loop before getting off. Its a win-win situation. Ofcoarse its more maintenance, but you normally get more passengers riding the loops so thats really not a problem finacially.

 

[unmerged(272700)]

This is starting to be very interesting thread. I will try to spice it a bit with next strange thing.
Now, I don't have that problem anymore, all passengers on stop boards the tram or the bus, BUT, now on some stops there are more than 60 or 80 people waiting! Even on one stop I noticed over 110 people! And I have at least 12 trams and buses on each line to ensure that the gap between them is 10 or 15 seconds! I truly can not buy another 12 trams to suit the passenger needs, because I will make a ridiculous situation of many trams forming a loong line, or I will call it a train. It will produce complete lockups in traffic. I have identical situations with "overpopulated" stops also with bus lines. And the main thing is, three trams (buses) are approching that stop, with 10 seconds gaps, and every vehicle is completely full, in my case 30 in tram and 32 in bus (using double capacity). It's scary how would it be without that doubled capacity, lol.
Any suggestions?

I do have a suggestion. You mention that people are no longer lingering at your stops, they all get on. You also mention that your stops have more people than your system can handle. Its a good problem to have. You can try to converge other lines in the area and hope they take those instead. Or maybe build a metro in the area. Heh, of course this can backfire by generating even MORE interest from your citizens. But actually, I recommend something much simpler. Raise your ticket prices. Less citizens will choose to ride your trams and you will have less backlog. You may make just as much money because you make more money per citizen when they board it. The game usually handles that balance fairly well for you. So, give it a try. Raise your prices a tad and wait a week or two (Or however long it takes for the current queue to clear out). Give it a try. Of course if you make them too high, you may encounter the situation you had earlier where some angry people will never board because they don't like the prices. Just make sure you're paying your employees a good wage so your satisfaction bar doesn't drop too far.

 

[douglasrac]

I am not so sure I agree with this statement. I have found several situations where it is beneficial to have stops terminate with lines in close proximity. [...] Check out this screenshot.

By your screenshot the stops that are close to each other are not from the same line. So maybe I understood you wrong.
For me would be two stops at the same road, on next to the other.
In this way I don't think it's beneficial. You think you can load passengers fast, but what about of the following situation:

Stop 1 attends Line 1
Stop 2 attends Line 2

STOP 1 -- STOP 2
======ROAD======

Stop 1 is empty. A tram comes to loan passengers on Stop 2. While he is loading a tram that service Line 1 comes and can't get to Stop 1, because Stop 2 is busy. So he have to wait for the tram anyway. There is no advantage.

[...] And these were relatively new helicopters with good appearance (the highest available).

I'm not sure if people refuse to get inside a vehicle because of the condition. Maybe, never read about it.
But I read that sometimes vehicle leave the station without being fully loaded and this happens because the driver is angry! Yes, if you pay your driver too little he will do that. Not sure, but I read about it.

I would really appreciate a more detailed manual from Paradox, explaining those things. The current manual mostly explain the interface.

 

[unmerged(272700)]

They aren't from the same line because I chose to break the line and set it up that way. I very easily could have just made that one line and join them together. Those are actually quite short lines. The bottom line is that if I had them sharing the stops, I would have the problem you describe... congestion. But because I break the line up, and strategically place stops, there is no congestion and people get off one tram and onto the other. It is more efficient.

 

[mad-boy]

To solve the problem that the people arent all getting into the train: Simply raise your loans! If the loans smilies are yellow or even orange, your staff won't wait until everybody is in there AND stopping and starting the trains does even take longer!

 

[unmerged(273133)]

To solve the problem that the people arent all getting into the train: Simply raise your loans! If the loans smilies are yellow or even orange, your staff won't wait until everybody is in there AND stopping and starting the trains does even take longer!

raise loans ? lol
You mean wages for drivers, right ? So, if i raise wage for my drivers, they will be happy, and therefore, they will drive quickly ? Is this your point ??