Traffic in this game

[Kenny]

Anyone successfully had a major city with good traffic? Some citizens seems to always prefer cars and the intersections seems awfully ineffecient, I tried with big and small roads but it keeps being the same issue where it all clogs up for a while and the fact that the citizens on foot always seems to have priority doesn't help.

Any suggestions?

[Genshu]

I did not have any problems with traffic in any city. I'm not 100% sure if it's like it was in Transport Fever 1 and some Passengers prefere cheap transportation. You could try to give them alternatives, slower lanes with cheaper vehicles.

Regarding streets you should make sure that no traffic needs to run threw bigger citys. Always build proper highways and force the civs to use them.

[Parkera]

I am currently playing on a Michigan map and have Detroit and Toldeo connect via a 6 lane county rd and also Windsor and Detroit via a 4 lane. I have the main routes thru the cities as either 4 or 6 land city streets and the flow is fine. I remove the majority of traffic light and have 1 or 2 main intersections with them. So far now no issues and im in2010

[a55mu11e7]

IMO they need to get rid of the traffic lights, TF1 didn't have lights...If i can't manage the lanes then the lights have to go, it's ruining all of my saves too because the towns roads auto expand turning my main roads into spaghetti with a barrage of traffic lights and any amount of heavy traffic gridlocks the whole thing.

Rant aside, you might want to check if the car traffic you're getting is thru traffic or if they're actually visiting the city they're in.

I had to build a bybass on one of my bigger towns because car traffic from one town over were trying to get to the next town over but there was no other route except right through my already busiest town.

It did help out the traffic but i'm starting to demolish buildings and putting bus terminals in to block the roads from auto building.

[Kedryn]

Originally posted by a55mu11e7:

IMO they need to get rid of the traffic lights, TF1 didn't have lights...If i can't manage the lanes then the lights have to go, it's ruining all of my saves too because the towns roads auto expand turning my main roads into spaghetti with a barrage of traffic lights and any amount of heavy traffic gridlocks the whole thing.

It did help out the traffic but i'm starting to demolish buildings and putting bus terminals in to block the roads from auto building.

You can 'lock' the roads from changing by clicking the padlock in the traffic overlay; can also remove traffic lights there, I think.

[jhughes]

Originally posted by Kedryn71:

Originally posted by a55mu11e7:

IMO they need to get rid of the traffic lights, TF1 didn't have lights...If i can't manage the lanes then the lights have to go, it's ruining all of my saves too because the towns roads auto expand turning my main roads into spaghetti with a barrage of traffic lights and any amount of heavy traffic gridlocks the whole thing.

It did help out the traffic but i'm starting to demolish buildings and putting bus terminals in to block the roads from auto building.

You can 'lock' the roads from changing by clicking the padlock in the traffic overlay; can also remove traffic lights there, I think.

Exactly. You can turn on or off any light you want. You can also add a road and lock it so it can't be changed.

[Voidheart]

Bus lanes are really good for avoiding the traffic jams. Also, when there are bus lanes and traffic lights your vehicles get to go first. You can even set 2 lane roads as bus lanes and the AI will avoid them if they have other routes.

[starship_trooper]

I am playing mav12222's New York City map right now and boy, what a traffic nightmare! It has seven max or near max-sized cities in close proximity, slowly coalescing into one huge megacity while you grow them.

Gotham is permanently on the verge of traffic collapse and I spend the majority of my playtime with trying to keep the AI road traffic in check. But it's also very satisfying to watch the nicely flowing traffic when you succeed.

I'm still in the 1940s, but so far I found out the following:

• improving public transport in the city
  Of course this helps. But though I created close meshed bus and tram networks in all major cities, the intracity line usage is only between 30 and 50%. Right now I seem to be unable to get it higher. I hope this will change in later eras when the vehicle speeds are better.
  
• traffic lights
  ALWAYS remove them, the flow is much better without. You can do that in the traffic overlay by zooming in and clicking on the traffic light symbol.
  
• bigger roads
  Turning a 2-lane into a 4-lane road helps, turning it into a 6-lane road helps A LOT. Can be expensive and time-consuming (sometimes you have to manually raze stuff first before the game lets you do it) inside a city but well worth it. When it's a road frequented by buses or trams, I always add a bus lane. Though this will cost you a lane in each direction, having your vehicles get through in case of traffic jam more than compensates for that.
  
• the AI's road-building craze
  This ruins your arterial roads by creating too many intersections. It helps a bit if you turn the AI-created side roads into one-way (it will leave them alone then). I have not yet tried Kedryn's suggestion to lock certain roads.
  
• encircling bypass roads around the city
  Helps a bit with intercity traffic. I use 100 km/h country roads for them, in the hope that it will make them more attractive to the sims later when their cars can go faster.
  
• huge road tunnel network below the megacity
  Definitely helps and immune to AI road-building. Totally unrealistic IRL due to cost and safety reasons, but we all know in TpF2 money is never a problem. Also, I view it as kind of a compensation for being unable to build subway / rapid transit lines.
  
• elevated urban freeways right through the city
  Definitely helps and immune to AI road-building. These are difficult to create (due to bridge pier collision), but it can be done (with a lot of razing). I use one-way 2-lane roads as entries and exits, no fancy intersections like in Cities: Skylines (there's not enough space for that).
  
• caution with your bus / tram terminals
  If you place these connecting directly to a road, it creates traffic lights that you cannot remove! At a high-traffic road this can mess up the whole city! Always place them in such a way that you must connect them with some additional short road segment to the main road.

What I have yet to try: razing inner-city arterials and rebuilding them as one-way road. I think this has potential.

That's all I can think of right now.

[Starbucaneer]

Originally posted by Kedryn71:

Originally posted by a55mu11e7:

IMO they need to get rid of the traffic lights, TF1 didn't have lights...If i can't manage the lanes then the lights have to go, it's ruining all of my saves too because the towns roads auto expand turning my main roads into spaghetti with a barrage of traffic lights and any amount of heavy traffic gridlocks the whole thing.

It did help out the traffic but i'm starting to demolish buildings and putting bus terminals in to block the roads from auto building.

You can 'lock' the roads from changing by clicking the padlock in the traffic overlay; can also remove traffic lights there, I think.

Agreed. I find this most useful in certain places in big cities. Definitely locking roads is a must. Experimenting with turning traffic lights on and off at different junctions helped immensely and is very useful. Even just turning them off temporarily can sometimes get the traffic flowing again.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by jhughes:

Originally posted by Kedryn71:

You can 'lock' the roads from changing by clicking the padlock in the traffic overlay; can also remove traffic lights there, I think.

Exactly. You can turn on or off any light you want. You can also add a road and lock it so it can't be changed.

When you lock an arterial road, does this prevent the AI from connecting side roads to it?

[jhughes]

Originally posted by starship_trooper:

I am playing mav12222's New York City map right now and boy, what a traffic nightmare! It has seven max or near max-sized cities in close proximity, slowly coalescing into one huge megacity while you grow them.

Gotham is permanently on the verge of traffic collapse and I spend the majority of my playtime with trying to keep the AI road traffic in check. But it's also very satisfying to watch the nicely flowing traffic when you succeed.

I'm still in the 1940s, but so far I found out the following:

• improving public transport in the city
  Of course this helps. But though I created close meshed bus and tram networks in all major cities, the intracity line usage is only between 30 and 50%. Right now I seem to be unable to get it higher. I hope this will change in later eras when the vehicle speeds are better.
  
• traffic lights
  ALWAYS remove them, the flow is much better without. You can do that in the traffic overlay by zooming in and clicking on the traffic light symbol.
  
• bigger roads
  Turning a 2-lane into a 4-lane road helps, turning it into a 6-lane road helps A LOT. Can be expensive and time-consuming (sometimes you have to manually raze stuff first before the game lets you do it) inside a city but well worth it. When it's a road frequented by buses or trams, I always add a bus lane. Though this will cost you a lane in each direction, having your vehicles get through in case of traffic jam more than compensates for that.
  
• the AI's road-building craze
  This ruins your arterial roads by creating too many intersections. It helps a bit if you turn the AI-created side roads into one-way (it will leave them alone then). I have not yet tried Kedryn's suggestion to lock certain roads.
  
• encircling bypass roads around the city
  Helps a bit with intercity traffic. I use 100 km/h country roads for them, in the hope that it will make them more attractive to the sims later when their cars can go faster.
  
• huge road tunnel network below the megacity
  Definitely helps and immune to AI road-building. Totally unrealistic IRL due to cost and safety reasons, but we all know in TpF2 money is never a problem. Also, I view it as kind of a compensation for being unable to build subway / rapid transit lines.
  
• elevated urban freeways right through the city
  Definitely helps and immune to AI road-building. These are difficult to create (due to bridge pier collision), but it can be done (with a lot of razing). I use one-way 2-lane roads as entries and exits, no fancy intersections like in Cities: Skylines (there's not enough space for that).
  
• caution with your bus / tram terminals
  If you place these connecting directly to a road, it creates traffic lights that you cannot remove! At a high-traffic road this can mess up the whole city! Always place them in such a way that you must connect them with some additional short road segment to the main road.

What I have yet to try: razing inner-city arterials and rebuilding them as one-way road. I think this has potential.

That's all I can think of right now.

Have you driven in the real NYC :D .. I dare say traffic in the real one is not very good either :D

[jhughes]

Originally posted by starship_trooper:

Originally posted by jhughes:

Exactly. You can turn on or off any light you want. You can also add a road and lock it so it can't be changed.

When you lock an arterial road, does this prevent the AI from connecting side roads to it?

i actually have not specifically looked for that .. but i will see.

[starship_trooper]

Originally posted by jhughes:

Have you driven in the real NYC :D .. I dare say traffic in the real one is not very good either :D

No, I had the experience only as a passenger in cabs or when friends were driving.

But you are right, of course, it was one huge mess. And no-one gave a damn about emergency vehicles (except firemen). :D

[a55mu11e7]

Originally posted by Kedryn71:

You can 'lock' the roads from changing by clicking the padlock in the traffic overlay; can also remove traffic lights there, I think.

oh ♥♥♥♥, thanks. I found it helps to convert some of the city roads into one ways too.

[philmo]

I have 2 modest size cities of 900 or so people, and even though I had a bus and train system connecting them I found the traffic build up between the 2 horrendous, so build a motorway each way that certainly helped. I am still finding it tricky to force cars away from the cities.

Through my cities I have a cross of the largest size streets - and where I can have tried to avoid 4 way intersections - 3 work much better. Where I reduced a few junctions from 4 to 3 roads the AI would build the 4th road back, so I locked the road so the AI could not build into it.

The main improvement on these intersections has been to remove traffic lights, for me they are a pain. I am sure there is a good way to use them - but I have not found it yet.

I also make the first part off the roads leading off the motorways one way -- this also helps the initial city tailbacks.

I have built tunnels under one of the cities - but people just are not using them.

[3am]

How do you ‘lock’ roads?