Do I HAVE to run Passenger Services?

[DaveA1963]

I much prefer freight to passenger services, so I'm wondering what sort of reputation "hit" I'll take in company mode?
If I could automate the passenger trains, that would help, but as it stands, they just get in the way of my freight trains!

[thebear05]

Passengers are available all day long. Your freight commitments last only a few hours of the game day. Once you have delivered and collected all your freight cars your contract obligations are finished for that day and there is no further freight income. However passengers are still available for transport. Furthermore most players will run their passenger trains by AI as all you have to do is click on the cars for the destination and have fusees placed to tell the locomotive where to stop. If you do not want to run any passenger service then I sorry but you have bought the wrong game. A passenger service was in the game time frame a integral part of its operation. Your in game reputation is dependent on transporting the available passengers, if this is not performed your reputation will sink, thereby losing your discount and being unable to gain higher tier contracts.

[killakanz]

Originalmente postado por antmccaf:

Could you quote or give a link to the source which shows that most people use AI to do a passenger service ?

Well, I'm not the one who said it, and I wont speak for absolutely everyone, I'm sure there are some people out there who enjoy driving the passenger trains...
But on my save I have 2 passenger trains and they're only ever driven by AI except for when the engines are being swapped for turnarounds/refuelling. When I host my save in my multiplayer group, nobody drives them. Everyone wants to do the shunting.
Again, not speaking for absolutely everyone, but from personal experience in multiplayer groups, most people prefer to leave passenger runs to the AI...

[DorniNerd]

Originalmente postado por Imperial Strikeforce:

Originalmente postado por bfcmik:

Seems to me you don't like this this game seeing as you moan about almost every part of it on the different threads!

I love this game. Just don't care for passenger service, in any train sim game I've played. I enjoy more interaction than just running the map and stopping at stations. Being forced to do it turns me off to it even more. So, hoping the devs beef up the AI so I can set it and forget it.

Maybe if there was more to it, like having to get off the locomotive and go into the station and grab some mail for the mail car, people's luggage for the luggage car, food for the dining car, open/close the carriage doors in order to let passengers on/off, I might actually enjoy passenger service, because I'd be doing things and interacting with things like freight service. Maybe this paragraph is my suggestion to enhance passenger service.

There are mods out that stopgap the AI till we do our own solutions.

[richardbolito]

During Day 7/8 my income from passenger was higher than from freight .

[avgwarhawk]

Originalmente postado por antmccaf:

There's a reason why most people use AI to do passenger service for them because it is this boring.

Could you quote or give a link to the source which shows that most people use AI to do a passenger service ?

I use the AI for passenger service. It makes sense. The train can sit a station for an hour or more as more passengers board. In the meantime I work freight cars. After the passenger cars are close to full I send the train with AI at the throttle. I go back to working freight that is much more difficult to use AI in most cases.

[NeoPyro]

No, but by not doing so, your reputation will drop 40% or so.

Have you considered combining freight and passenger operations? That is what I do. Just toss a coach or two on the rear of a freight train, and as you're picking up and dropping off cars, pick up and drop off passengers along the way. I believe there's a railroad in Pennsylvania that does something similar to this IRL.

EDIT: It's the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad FYI.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Originalmente postado por Tactical Testicle:

No, but by not doing so, your reputation will drop 40% or so.

Have you considered combining freight and passenger operations? That is what I do. Just toss a coach or two on the rear of a freight train, and as you're picking up and dropping off cars, pick up and drop off passengers along the way. I believe there's a railroad in Pennsylvania that does something similar to this IRL.

EDIT: It's the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad FYI.

This can be a solution, however I speak from experience saying that some stations make this a PITA. Ela, for example, can only really be serviced this way (unless you're willing to shove your passengers around) going westbound, with the freight cars in front of the coaches, and then your coaches get in the way of the east-side turnout for the siding and that makes running around the freight cars (which you'll HAVE to do as traveling westbound makes all the delivery sidings effectively facing-point) a pain.

[M1Combat]

It's an interesting topic. For me the passenger runs are what add spice to the freight management. I'm running passengers via simple fusee stops back and forth, and they make me mind my p's and q's when diverting and otherwise working the freight cars and making sure I leave the main tracks in a way that makes the passenger cars just kinda do themselves. Managing the passenger cars can easily be done by just popping a freight engine into yard mode and telling it's engineer to just "go couple with a car... I'll be right back..." I really just don't see the point of not wanting the challenge associated with running all of it.

[killakanz]

Originalmente postado por A Fat, Angry Serval:

This can be a solution, however I speak from experience saying that some stations make this a PITA. Ela, for example, can only really be serviced this way (unless you're willing to shove your passengers around) going westbound, with the freight cars in front of the coaches, and then your coaches get in the way of the east-side turnout for the siding and that makes running around the freight cars (which you'll HAVE to do as traveling westbound makes all the delivery sidings effectively facing-point) a pain.

I tend to just take anything for Ela all the way to Bryson and drop them in the yard there. The Ela wagons get put on the front of, then serviced by the first train doing the return trip to the interchange.

[thebear05]

I only have Whittier to Bryson at this time and I run the passenger trains all day. After all the train is run by the AI and the service only costs some coal. I just make sure it is not at Ela when delivering freight.

[♀⛤WitchyWoman⛤♀]

I prefer running freight. Not all railroads run passengers in RL. Its great to have options but I think you should have a choice of what your company does.

I always skipped over passenger trains in other sims. keeping a tight schedule an stopping on a dime at a station just has never been my bag. Its good to know you can hand this over to AI, I have not done that yet though. I do have 2 trains now (the default 2nd is repaired) so I should prolly set up the ai driver to do this.

[thebear05]

The passenger service in the game is tied to your railroads reputation, if you do not service the stations you will lose reputation. The passenger service is a constant money earner, it is only a small income at the beginning. However once you get to Bryson and beyond the income goes up. The passenger volumes are tied to the industry’s in the area and the distance travelled.

[A Fat, Angry Serval]

Originalmente postado por killakanz:

Originalmente postado por A Fat, Angry Serval:

This can be a solution, however I speak from experience saying that some stations make this a PITA. Ela, for example, can only really be serviced this way (unless you're willing to shove your passengers around) going westbound, with the freight cars in front of the coaches, and then your coaches get in the way of the east-side turnout for the siding and that makes running around the freight cars (which you'll HAVE to do as traveling westbound makes all the delivery sidings effectively facing-point) a pain.

I tend to just take anything for Ela all the way to Bryson and drop them in the yard there. The Ela wagons get put on the front of, then serviced by the first train doing the return trip to the interchange.

That, of course, requires you to actually have Bryson unlocked. Granted that's going to be the first milestone most players go for as it's a lot cheaper than Sylvia. That being said, once you get Bryson you'll probably have enough traffic to do dedicated locals and passenger service if you've been upgrading your contracts.

[Pugwash]

I am only at the beginning, running a train between 2 stations, you do not need to use any fuses the train will automatically stop at the station. This in the settings tab I believe, once the train arrives you need to tell the passenger car to accept passengers for the next station and then change direction on the loco. You can set a timer and once that elapses the train will go back to the first station.

[Nikoli Voldkif]

Originalmente postado por Capt_Pugwash:

I am only at the beginning, running a train between 2 stations, you do not need to use any fuses the train will automatically stop at the station. This in the settings tab I believe, once the train arrives you need to tell the passenger car to accept passengers for the next station and then change direction on the loco. You can set a timer and once that elapses the train will go back to the first station.

While you are correct, get in the habit of putting a fusee after the last station. as you get a larger, busier railroad you won't always catch the passenger at the end of the line so having a fusee there stops the train before it goes on down the line.