Rail crossings cause road traffic collapse

[zook2]

Not sure if it's a bug or a feature: every car coming from SE and passing the four rail crossings stops for about five seconds on the first crossing tile (you can probably see the red car), regardless of trains. It brings road traffic in Much Hodton (Bridgewater server, 2521/2121) to a standstill. Is that normal? Anything I can do about it?

[zook2]

While looking around a bit on the Bridgewater server, I noticed that road traffic in a lot of places is, for lack of a better word, screwed.

[freddyhayward]

Not sure if it's a bug or a feature: every car coming from SE and passing the four rail crossings stops for about five seconds on the first crossing tile (you can probably see the red car), regardless of trains. It brings road traffic in Much Hodton (Bridgewater server, 2521/2121) to a standstill. Is that normal? Anything I can do about it?

It's a combination of a bug and feature. The bug is that these kinds of diagonal crossings are not intended to exist. The feature is that cars are supposed to stop at the crossing until they can be certain they'll make it to the other side.

While looking around a bit on the Bridgewater server, I noticed that road traffic in a lot of places is, for lack of a better word, screwed.

This happens for two main reasons. First, each car occupies an entire tile length (125m). Second, a large number of cars that have not found a route wander semi-randomly in cities.

[zook2]

Thanks! And a few more questions:

1) Wouldn't it make sense to reduce the number of cars in the game?

2) Looking at the Congestion numbers in the Town Hall, it seems this has happened only recently (a few months). When I started the line, traffic was OK. Why?

3) I'm trying to edit some lines (change line names, add stops or change loading orders) and I know that any change takes a long time to register, but even after hours, nothing has happened. It's quite frustrating. Do I have to keep a particular window open to make sure an order is recognized, or is there any other trick to it?

4) I've never experimented with prices. Is there any good reason to do so, or is it safe to ignore them for the time being?

[freddyhayward]

1) Wouldn't it make sense to reduce the number of cars in the game?

Possibly, in my opinion.

2) Looking at the Congestion numbers in the Town Hall, it seems this has happened only recently (a few months). When I started the line, traffic was OK. Why?

No idea - it could be the traffic lights, or that traffic is worse around buses.

3) I'm trying to edit some lines (change line names, add stops or change loading orders) and I know that any change takes a long time to register, but even after hours, nothing has happened. It's quite frustrating. Do I have to keep a particular window open to make sure an order is recognized, or is there any other trick to it?

What do you mean 'nothing has happened'? All your lines seem to be taking passengers, even if they are affected by severe congestion.

4) I've never experimented with prices. Is there any good reason to do so, or is it safe to ignore them for the time being?

It is usually good to lower prices when you aren't getting many passengers. I do this for trains. Looking at the details window for Much Hodton Premium Dock for example:
Changing your hovercraft's ticket price from 'medium' to 'very low' would mean getting ~1/2 the revenue per passenger, but would provide access to ~3x the existing population catchment. That is a good trade-off on paper, but wouldn't be helpful if it caused you to run out of capacity. So, it's definitely a good idea to experiment with prices.

[zook2]

What do you mean 'nothing has happened'? All your lines seem to be taking passengers, even if they are affected by severe congestion.

For example, I edit a line, changing minimum load or waiting time. I close the window. An hour later the change still hasn't registered. It's as if the orders never reached the server.

[Matthew]

For example, I edit a line, changing minimum load or waiting time. I close the window. An hour later the change still hasn't registered. It's as if the orders never reached the server.

If you edit the minimum load or waiting time for a convoy that is already at a stop, the change will not take effect until the next time a convoy reaches that stop. I

Sometimes you can open the Schedule window of the waiting convoy, manually send it to another stop, then do the same again to send it back to the same stop so the changes work. But it's a hack and normally you won't even be able to open the Schedule window.

It's also possible that you are lagging behind the server. There might be things to improve this, but we would need to know some things about your setup (Linux or Windows, how much RAM, what CPU).

2) Looking at the Congestion numbers in the Town Hall, it seems this has happened only recently (a few months). When I started the line, traffic was OK. Why?

It's probably the effect of your buses and traffic lights.

The most important source of Much Hudton's traffic jams is that the village is divided by a railway line, which is only crossed by a long level crossing (maybe the longest in the whole map!) and a weak (wooden trestle) bridge. I know you don't have much money, but you might want to try to improve the bridge situation or change the bus routes so this does not affect them so much.