[pierreh]

@Darth-Apple: The ESURE project is described in this thread in SC4D: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=7397.0. The 'ES' letters in the acronym refer to 'Express Subways', a notion that in RL, to my knowledge, has been only implemented in large scale in the New York City subway system. Essentially, 'Express Subways' are subway trains that do not stop at all stations; they run on their own tracks, that have platforms only at selected stations (in principle every 3rd or 4th station of the normal lines). The express trains do not run faster - or only marginally so - than the normal trains, but their commercial speed is faster because they do not have to break to a stop, dwell for passenger exchange and re-accelerate at every station.

In the game, there is only one category of subway, so there is a single 'speed' and a single capacity for any subway, regardless of how many stations it has. ESURE can simulate express subway lines, by having less stations than normal subway lines, but the capacity is the same for both types of lines. It is then a matter of where Sims can enter and exit stations of the 'express subway' lines, in comparison to normal subway stations. It can surely help to carry more Sims, but to what extent, it is difficult to say.

I am not sure to which extent Sims will use a less congested subway line running in parallel to a congested one. Where I have implemented parallel subway lines in my cities, I have noted that there is a tendency to 'even out' the load on those lines as game time passes. All this is managed by the Traffic Simulator; as cities grow, the work of the simulator increases. There is an excellent tutorial about it in the SimCity wiki: http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.ph..._Simulator. I have tried to build my cities while keeping in mind the explanations in that tutorial, not always successfully.