Re: Santa Barbara County - Update: The End.

[supremec]

Another time, fabulous moment I spend to see that excellent pictures   

[io_bg]

Looks so... American Great update!

[packersfan]

I just checked out your last update!  The first time looking at your journal...yeah, I'm bad, I should really look at people's diaries if I want my own viewed!  Great job.  Love the feel and love that terrain mod!

[Skimbo]

I like your new update =)

[carlfatal]

I´ve looked inside Your MD a few times before, but the last four days i´ve read it from beginning on and it´s time to say a word or two. Your work is impressing, especially i love how You handle the RHW. Also i´ve learned a lot about realistic developement, cause i´m beginning a new region laying near Detroit and i´ve never tried to build some american style before. It´s only wonderful, what You do, and from now on i´ll look in here regulary.
Greetz, Carl

[apeguy]

Very nice realistic suburbs, and good use of MAVE-4 and MAVE-6. It must be noisy in the Retail Traders building with the railway just behind it. Nice job with the parkland though.


Looking forward to more.

[noahclem]

As always I really enjoyed your work with transit networks and the faithfully American feel you give your cities 

[RickD]

Over the past years the City Counsil and the Public Works Department have undertaken numerous measures to improve public transport in the County. Now, the efforts are finally starting to pay off. Ridership on Santa Barbara busses and trains is rising every year. More and more citizens are accepting public transit as a fast and comfortable means of getting around in the region.

One of them is Glen Matthews. He is 47 years old and works as a janitor in the hospital in downtown Santa Barbara.

39.1

Glen lives in an apartment in the eastern suburbs of Goleta.

He used to drive all the way to work by car. He would take I-5 to downtown Santa Barbara. During Rush Hour this is a drive of 60-90 minutes. Now he is using SBlink.

39.2

Here is a comparison of the two routes.
Yellow = old route by car
Orange = new route by car
Black = new route by train
Red = new route by subway

39.3

Glen now only uses his car to drive to the train station. Of course he could also take the bus but Glen can't yet let go of all old habits.

39.4

In the past he would have made a right here on I-5. Now he goes straight through the intersection.

39.5

The road takes him through an industrial area

39.6

and some suburbs.

39.7

He can park is car at the Park+Ride facility near the "Montecito East" SBLink station. The train is already arriving.

39.8

Glen has made his train. He is making himself comfortable and sips on his coffee while the train passes through the railyards.

39.9

From here he can see his apartment. Glen is looking at the long line of waiting cars while his train rushes over the level crossing.

39.10

The first stop in the far outskirts of Santa Barbara. The landscape is still rural here. This station has not yet been modernized.

39.11

There once was a larger cargo facility here. When there were still many fruit plantations, the produce was loaded on trains. The old loading docks and most of the tracks have been removed since. only a short stub has been left. It is used to temporarily store rail cars and maintenance trains.

39.12

The train proceeds through the suburbs.

39.13

Glen is now reading the newspaper. He did not really have time for this when he used to go by car.

39.14


39.15

The tracks split here. The Santa Barbara Bypass Line branches off towards the north. The SBlink train continues on Santa Barbara Local.

39.16

The train is approaching the Santa Barbara North station, ...

39.17

... which is the second stop.

39.18

The train is making its way towards Central Station.

39.19

North of downtown.

39.20

Passing over I-5.

39.21

Glen has arrived at Central Station. Now he is changing to Red Line subway.

39.22

He will soon arrive at his workplace.

39.23

And here he is. The hospital is the building with the parking deck. The travel time was only 47 minutes.

Glen Matthews is only one example of how the improvements in public transport have changed the lives of ten thousands of citizens in Santa Barbara County. With growing support for public transport projects the mayor has recently announced to further improve and extend public transport throughout the region.



Replies:

nedalezz, robercik, wallasey, bat, Ol.S / Benoit, dedgren, ricardomiranda, solsystem, 976, Sciurus, art128, supremec, io_bg, Skimbo, noahclem:
Wow, so many comments. We will reach the 500 mark soon. Keep 'em coming.

packersfan:

I just checked out your last update!  The first time looking at your journal...yeah, I'm bad, I should really look at people's diaries if I want my own viewed!  Great job.  Love the feel and love that terrain mod!

Glad you like it. And don't worry. Your MD is so great, I'd keep on reading anyway.

eufl:

Also i´ve learned a lot about realistic developement, cause i´m beginning a new region laying near Detroit and i´ve never tried to build some american style before. It´s only wonderful, what You do, and from now on i´ll look in here regulary.

Thanks, Carl. Will you start an MD here?

apeguy:

Very nice realistic suburbs, and good use of MAVE-4 and MAVE-6. It must be noisy in the Retail Traders building with the railway just behind it. Nice job with the parkland though.

They recently installed noice cancelling triple glaze windows.

[DerChrischi]

One Word: WoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooW 

[Sciurus]

Excellent update Raphael, I love it!!

Guillaume

[Terring7]

All aboard!!
Very nice pictures . Just an idea. To reduce even more the commute time of the Sims, how about some tram-el lines? Glen will no need anymore to take his car for the train

[sumwonyuno]

Traffic-free commutes are the best.   

[ricardomiranda]

Your traim is fantastic !

[nbvc]

Great work with the trains.

[carlfatal]

Hi Raphael,
great update again! I love this pic with the old abandoned spur and also the next with the bridge, and again and again cause i´m a railway fan: the pics of the trainyard 
It´s a nice detail You show and it´s so obvious: in a train you use the time of traveling for so much interesting things and don´t have to look for the traffic you´re involved by driving a stupid stinking car...
Maybe one day Glen will use a bike for the short distance between home and station, then he´ll need no more time for some workout in a fitness center too.
The other thing: i´m working on a region and maybe some MD, but before i show something here or anywhere must be something worth to see and i´m a quite slow person not an artist like the most other here. Then there is my work with the LE, same slow doing and a couple of people are waiting for a successful result. Running between these things made me immotile for a while: i don´t want to retry this experience  .
Keep on Your fine work and make backups (i´ve lost nearly all sc4 stuff weeks ago),
greetz, Carl

[apeguy]

Nice update once again, you sure have an eye for detail around the railway lines.

[Exla357]

Hmmm, you changed to more modernized trains. It will take a little getting used to, but I think it's for the better.

[threestooges]

Quite nice to be able to do things like read a paper during a trip like that. Even with a commute of 30 minutes each way, that's still an hour of underproductive time each day. Even if you ride in a carpool you don't have the facilities available to you that you would have with rail. However, the rail revolves around proper connections at either end. I'd love to take the train to work personally, but the nearest station is still a significant bus ride away. All told, it's faster to drive. But I suppose that's the case for any system, it's a balance of convenience for everyone.

Great pictures and I enjoyed the ride along the line. It helped show off the city, and showed off the line as an effective system.
-Matt

[Ryan B.]

This is awesome work! 

Just one question for you - where did you get the cross-hatching on the TuLEP pieces - or is that all Photoshopped?

[weeally]

Looks awesome dude, where did you get those rail stations with the elevators up and down?