Transporting citizens around the town

[destew69]

I understand that the citizens want to go one of 3 places - Work, Shop or to another town.

I'm just starting out and haven't set up any trains between towns yet, but will probably be starting very soon.

I got a couple of my larger towns with bus (stage coach?) routes with a stop in each area going both clockwise and counter-clockwise so the first stop will either be work or shopping depending on the town layout.

If I add a train station with a stop, does it matter where in the route I put it? Better to have it between the work and shop or will the people that want to leave the town ride through one stop to get to the next stop?

Thanks
Stew

[SoftwareSimian]

Passengers are always travelling either:
a) between Home <-> Work
b) between Home <-> Shopping
For each citizen when it's time for either Work or Shopping they will pick essentially any random suitable destination that's accessible to them. In early days with no transport that's basically what's within walking distance, later that includes driving distance (if they have a car) and whatever public transport you provide. So they might go from Home to Work just down the street, or potentially right across the map and take half a dozen tram/bus/train/walk steps to get there.

In general more shorter routes work better than fewer longer routes. Having 3 bus routes with your train station as a hub, one going to each of residential / commercial / industrial, will let people get wherever they're going in a few stops on two busses, potentially with a train in the middle from another town. In contrast to a single monolithic bus route that winds all the way around town which will generally make people take longer to get to their destination. Not to say that direct Home <-> Shopping lines won't get used, but that's probably more useful in the later stages of the game as you try anything to battle traffic.

[TheGreenFellow]

It's expensive to pave over buildings and whatnot, but what I like best so far is to set up a full double-ended station in the middle of town (where all the largest buildings are bound to be), and have that connect to the long-distance services on a 'main' transit line - then run the local bus route connecting the rest of the town from that central bus station. Typically that 'main' transit line is busiest, and I can save money using smaller bus/trams for the local route. Set up right, results in good profit.