《Transit Core》 Line 1 Tod looked at the map. A projection from an overhead projector, it showed parts of the city, segregated into a 10-by-10 blocks. And where the lines were. This was his home. There¡¯s a bed on the right side of the room, a small pantry with a fridge, a small table for food, a bin filled with finished takeouts. Tod focused on the map, again. It showed a small yellow line from a spot marked in I-3 to J-4, a short track, with three stations in total. He chose that yesterday, and today the line was built.
A B C D E F G H I J
1
2
3 Y Y
4 Y
5
6
7
8
9
10
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. There was a $ sign on top. Cash in hand - $40m. The first 3 stations, costs him $60m, at $20m each, the surface-lines another $90m, at $30m for one box of double standard gauge track. Another $60m for 6 units of grade 1 rolling stock. So, total capital outlay, $210m. Tod then opened up the menu, and the screen changed. Alright. Things look good.
YELLOW LINE
Sector Daily Ridership Fares ($) Daily Revenue ($) Annual (300 days)
I-3 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
J-3 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
J-4 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
Total (Daily) 15,000 $15,000
Total (Annual (300 days)) 4,500,000 $4,500,000
Operating costs
Employees Number Cost per year Annual Cost Variable
Station 12 $40,000 $480,000 2 per station
Train 18 $40,000 $720,000 3 per train
Maintenance 12 $40,000 $480,000 2 per train
Other costs Number Cost per year Annual Cost Variable
Utilities 3 $200,000 $600,000 Stations
Train repair costs 6 $200,000 $1,200,000 Trains
Station upkeep costs 3 $200,000 $600,000 Stations
Total cost per annum $4,080,000
Net profit $420,000
Tod smiled. A small profit, but profit nonetheless. Great, now he had to wait. He¡¯ll need another $10m or so to expand the network to another block, and he would have to wait 25 years. Wait. 25 years? He calculated and punched buttons on the spreadsheet, reconfirming it. 25 years? He couldn¡¯t wait that long just to expand the line by 1 stop! He needed more money! Line 2 - Beginner Upgrades Tod frowned. He immediately opened the upgrades menu. He needed a solution for his problems, and he needed the money, quickly. So... the menu of upgrades made him sag. All of them cost so much, and may not really payoff.
Beginner Core Upgrades
Upgrades Effects Costs
Wider trains Level 1 Increase capacity by 20%. May not improve ridership. $3,000,000 per train
Station Retail Outlets Level 1 Generates $0.20 per ridership $200,000 per outlet
Maintenance Machinery Level 1 Replaces 1 employee $400,000 per machine (max 5 on one line)
Automated ticketing system Level 1 Increases ridership by 5%. Only applies once per line. Interchanges with another line without automated ticketing will increase that interchange station''s staff requirement by 3If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. $2,000,000 per line
Onsite Parking Charges & Structures Level 1 Creates 500 parking lots. Charges $5 per parking, per day. Occupancy depends on ridership numbers. Requires 1 employee, and utility costs of $40,000 per annum $10,000,000 per parking structure.
Bus connection Level 1 Builds bus stop at station. Increase coverage area, and increases ridership by 5%. Bus company takes a fixed payment of $10,000 for every 30 days. ($100,000 annual cost) $500,000 per station
Covered walkpaths Level 1 Builds covered walkpaths in the station vicinity. Increases coverage area, and increase ridership by 5%. Increases utility bill for that station by 10% $1,000,000 per station
Station Advertising Rights Level 1 Earns $0.20 per ridership, per day. Increases utility by $10,000 per annum $100,000 per station
Are there other options? Or are they locked because he¡¯s still in the ¡°Honeymoon¡± zone where he just gets access to the beginner level stuff?
CORE-UPGRADES
Description
REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE Unlocks ability to buy land surrounding station to undertake real estate development projects such as condominiums, retail malls and plazas $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE Ability to participate in stock markets, debt markets, ability to borrow money and sell or dispose or list other non-core assets $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE Ability to participate and influence local area politics, such that the local country provides incentives, grants and other form of legal benefits. Also used to run campaigns, awareness and marketing programmes and also counter negative legislation $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
Oh. Tod frowned. He needed time to think. Maybe he should visit his own three stations for a change. Line 3 - Avatar Walker Tod visited I-3 in his humanoid avatar. It¡¯s a large, medium density mixed residential and industrial district. The city, conveniently divided into 100 ¡®blocks or sectors¡¯ (A - J x 1 - 10) are each home to at least 50,000, the largest of them home to about 300,000. I-3, is home to about 110,000, and the yellow line¡¯s ridership of 5,000 in this sector represented a 1-3% takeup among the population, depending on the assumptions of whether a passenger makes return trips, or more than that. It''s a very low ridership, evidenced by the fact that the yellow line is only connected to two other sectors. I-3, on local maps, is referred to Falltown, thanks to the overwhelming presence of trees that change color every fall. A small stall shouted. "Ice cream, ice cream! We have flavored ice cream!" Tod''s tummy grumbled. He bought one. Vanilla, because he''s vanilla like that. There was an area next to the stall with chairs. He sat and slowly enjoyed his ice cream. He smiled, licking the ice cream slowly. This world was so much like his own world so many other reincarnations ago. Tod was originally human, and then was a god''s plaything where he, through multiple lives, became dungeon cores in different fantasy worlds, constantly killing, fighting, defending his core. And finally, after about... a hundred or so years, that god was finally done abusing him, and let him go free, that he can go do whatever he wanted. But, he will still be a dungeon core. ¡°Treat it like a holiday, a vacation!¡± Tod still remembered the words of that stupid god, yet he agreed that he needed a vacation. He¡¯s tired. Tired of all the fighting and killing, so Tod chose this world. One very much like his own home, earth, but not. One where he... could avoid having to fight and kill monsters. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. "Vanilla." Tasty. So very tasty. Even simple stuff like takeout or pizza delivery was just so good. "Oh man I sure missed how good vanilla ice cream tasted." There was a small bus stop at the corner. He looked at it and noticed a set of data appeared. [Small bus stop. Daily patronage : 1,400. Bus services available : 4] ¡°Huh. Even a bus stop has a quarter of my daily ridership.¡± Tod nodded. He asked for his original world¡¯s memories to be returned to him after one of the dungeon-core worlds, as a reward. He asked that god to ¡®preserve¡¯ that memory, so that he would never forget where he came from. Tod was once a middle-aged office worker, and his daily life involved struggling with commutes. That meant unreliable bus services, trains that broke down, unpleasant public transit passengers. Traffic. Stupid politics. A girl sat on the next bench. She had an ice cream too. Strawberry. She noticed Tod¡¯s eyes. ¡°What are you looking at? Can¡¯t I eat my ice cream?¡± Tod shook his head. ¡°Oh nothing.¡± Here? In this world of Metropolis, he¡¯s a transit-dungeon core, a transportation company in the form of one. This body, is just his ¡®avatar¡¯ so to speak, after all, there must be ¡®free roam¡¯ or ¡®camera view¡¯ options in such types of game. He ate his ice cream. A few kids went on a bus that stopped. He could faintly make out a beep as they pass the driver. A touchcard of some kind? ¡°Anyone tried out the new Yellow line service?¡± There was a queue at the air cream stall, and the mention of Tod¡¯s trains instantly made him turn. He¡¯s got a knack for eavesdropping. ¡°I did. Wasn¡¯t convenient though, there¡¯s only 3 stations, and the trains were way too empty. It felt overbuilt.¡± ¡°Sounds like somebody¡¯s pockets got greased again. Hopefully no taxpayer money was lost.¡± ¡°Heh.¡± The two men sniggered at some kind of political joke that Tod didn¡¯t quite get. But that was valuable information. The services he had was too big? Or did he put too many trains in service? 6 trains for 3 stations, that meant, there¡¯s always one train per station, per direction. Was that too many for such a short trip? Line 4 - Number Crunchers With much to think about, Tod went back to his home, which also served as the main control room of his new train service. The city''s population is mostly centered around the main core, and it gets less dense the further way from the core. But, at-grade tracks (meaning surface level train tracks) are only possible in the outskirts of town, which is why the Tod had to pick carefully. The City''s quite dense, home to some 10m people, distributed over the 94 populated blocks, though there are small populations near the seaports. Each block is equal to a 2.5km by 2.5km block, which gives the entire metro area a density of about 17,600 per square km. The demographics and density of this city lends itself to high-capacity public transport. In short, this was beginner-city.
Population(''000) A B C D E F G H I J
1 60 60 60 SEAPORT SEAPORT SEAPORT 50 50 50 50
2 50 60 60 60 100 110 60 60 60 50
3 50 60 60 200 160 160 160 120 110 90
4 60 120 160 330 330 340 200 160 80 70
5 70 100 160 330 320 330 160 160 100 70
6 70 100 120 200 350 330 200 110 90 70
7 50 60 90 160 160 160 160 80 60 60
8 50 60 70 LAKE 120 120 100 70 60 50
9 50 50 60 LAKE 100 100 80 70 50 50
10 50 50 50 LAKE 70 70 50 50 50 50
TOTAL 10350
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. But, high density areas cost more, because underground and elevated stations are only possible in these sectors. So, with Tod''s starting financial situation, it meant he could only do at-grade train services for now.
Per sector
Cost of at grade stations $20m
Cost of at grade tracks $30m
Cost of elevated stations $100m
Cost of elevated tracks $90m
Cost of underground stations $200m
Cost of underground tracks $300m
Tod went back to his spreadsheets, and crunched the numbers for the upgrades.
Upgrades Capital ($) Effect on ridership for that station Income per year/Expenses reduced ($) Additional costs per year ($) Payback in years
Station Retail Outlets Level 1 200,000 300,000 0 0.67
Maintenance Machinery Level 1 400,000 40,000 0 10.00
Automated ticketing system Level 1 2,000,000 750 (entire line, 15000 x 5%) 225,000 0 8.89
Onsite Parking Charges & Structures Level 1 10,000,000 375,000 -80,000 33.90
Bus connection Level 1 500,000 250 75,000 -100,000 -20.00
Covered walkpaths Level 1 1,000,000 250 75,000 -20,000 18.18
Station Advertising Rights Level 1 100,000 300,000 -10,000 0.34
The results were clear. He would take the station retail outlets and station advertising rights immediately, since they paid for themselves so quickly. That meant he had to spend $200,000 x 3 stations, and $100,000 x 3 stations, for a total of $900,000 Projected Profit Or Loss Tod looked at the money spent on his bank statement. It hurt a little to see it decrease. In fact, it made him quite sad.
$40,000,000
Station Retail Outlets Level 1 -$200,000
Station Retail Outlets Level 1 -$200,000
Station Retail Outlets Level 1 -$200,000
Station Advertising Rights Level 1 -$100,000
Station Advertising Rights Level 1 -$100,000
Station Advertising Rights Level 1 -$100,000
Total Cash Spent -$900,000
$39,100,000
Ah. And he looked at his projected profit or loss statement for the coming 1 year.
Yellow Line
Sector Daily Ridership Fares ($) Daily Revenue ($) Annual (300 days)
I-3 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
I-3 Retail $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
I-3 Ads $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
J-3 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
J-3 Retail $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
J-3 Ads $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
J-4 5,000 $1 $5,000 $1,500,000
J-4 Retail $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
J-4 Ads $0.2 $1,000 $300,000
Total (Daily) 15,000 19,000
Total (Annual (300 days)) 4,500,000 $6,300,000
Operating costs
Employees Variable Number Cost per year Annual Cost
Station 2 per station 12 $40,000 $480,000
Train 3 per train 18 $40,000 $720,000
Maintenance 2 per train 12 $40,000 $480,000
Other costs Variable Number Cost per year Annual Cost
Utilities Stations 3 $200,000 $600,000
I-3 ads - utility $10,000 $10,000
J-3 ads - utility $10,000 $10,000
J-4 ads - utility $10,000 $10,000
Train repair costs Trains 6 $200,000 $1,200,000
Station upkeep costs Stations 3 $200,000 $600,000
$4,110,000
Net profit $2,190,000
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. $2.19million. That meant he had a loooooooooooong way to go if he ever thought of expanding? But isn''t this whole thing supposed to snowball? Like each expansion earns more money, therefore allowing faster expansion? He checked, and wondered for a moment whether there are things such as disasters or recessions in this world...
Beginner stage
Crisis and disasters are all disabled
Fortune event change increased by 1,000%
What. Okay. There''s no crisis or disasters, so that meant... he could just presume his projections and maths will work out as expected. That''s good. What should he do next? Wait? Or start on any of the ''special experiences''?
Description
REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE Unlocks ability to buy land surrounding station to undertake real estate developmenet projects such as condominiums, retail malls and plazas $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE Ability to participate in stock markets, debt markets, ability to borrow money and sell or dispose or list other non-core assets $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE Ability to participate and influence local area politics, such that the local country provides incentives, grants and other form of legal benefits. Also used to run campaigns, awareness and marketing programmes and also counter negative legislation $10,000,000 to unlock (one off)
Real Estate Starter Kit Tod looked at the list, took a deep breath, and then selected Real Estate Experience. He felt it as his money just... vanished.
Opening cash $39,100,000
Real Estate Experience -$10,000,000
Total Cash Spent -$10,000,000
Remaining Cash before ''income'' $29,100,000
But he had to do it. Real estate was essentially the model most large sustainable train operators used. Even Hong Kong had the famous R+P model, which was subsequently replicated everywhere else in the world. That moment, he noticed there¡¯s a new real estate submenu which he could select, and once selected, a menu appeared.
Real Estate Experience Level 1 unlocked
Actions Comments
Buy property or land You may now purchase land or buildings surrounding your stations.
Develop or redevelopment You may develop empty land, or redevelop existing land
Ah. But what could he do once he bought the land anyway? What sort of buildings could he build?
Actions on land Effects
Build Residential Property Residential Properties help to promote population growth in the district, and it''s immediate vicinity to the train station also improves the daily revenues and traffics.
Increases ridership by 2 per day.
Rental income. Income is net, and per annum
Build Commercial Property Commercial Properties help to promote job growth, traffic, and purchases
Increases ridership by 5 per day.
Rental income. Income is net, and per annumThis story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Build Transport Hub ($10million) Increases daily ridership by 500 for each connected station on your rail network. Maximum of 6, and can only be built at rail interchanges
Hmm. That wasn¡¯t much, and it didn¡¯t tell him how much each of the property costs anyway. Increased ridership sounds good, and they even pay rent. But what¡¯s the outlay? Tod only had $29million left, and he needed the best bang for his buck in order to grow quickly!
Development cost (per unit) Yearly income (rental)
Low Density Medium High Density Low Density Medium Density High Density
Land use type Land Cost Per acre <30 units 30-100 units >100 units per acre <30 units 30-100 units >100 units per acre
Residential-only $2m $0.5m $0.4m $0.3m $50k $40k $30k
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $3m $0.6m $0.5m $0.5m $60k $50k $50k
Residential-only $10m $1m $0.9m $0.8m $100k $90k $80k
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $12m $2m $1.8m $1.5m $200k $180k $150k
Residential-only $20m $3m $2.5m $2m $300k $250k $200k
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $30m $5m $4m $3m $500k $400k $300k
Oh. It¡¯s cheaper to buy land in the outlying areas, and cheaper to build too! He looked at the numbers and had a brief headache. He had to calculate what¡¯s the best way to spend is $29m! Walking in I-3 for ideas Overwhelmed with the thoughts of spending his last $29m, Tod decided to take a long walk around his 3 stations. Perhaps there are some things he could learn from walking the ground. Tod, naturally, used one of his own trains to reach the first of his station. Ah. The sunlight shone brightly, and he observed the passengers disembark from the train. There were chatters in the background, and Tod focused his senses on those chatters. Most of them were just idle chats, the usual things that commuters do, like ¡®how are you?¡¯. Or just talking about work. But he wanted to zoom in on something else, like, what do they hate about this area? He did recall in his many many other reincarnations, that it¡¯s entirely common for administrators and rulers to impose a plan that did not match what the denizens wanted. At the same time, he also had to balance the desire for collaborative, bottom-up decision making with the knowledge that quite often, the users don¡¯t actually know what they are missing out on, and there is this ¡®resistance-to-change¡¯ that is entirely common. People take time to adapt to new ways of working, even if they were better! Bottom-up decision making did not always lead to better results! ¡°So how¡¯s your plan to buy a place to stay?¡± Tod¡¯s ears zoomed in on two middle-aged commuters. ¡°That¡¯s the dream, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, but with the town council not approving any new developments, all my choices are all these old flats! Look at them!¡± The other commuter responded, and Tod actually looked at those flats. Well, they looked old. Based on web search results that Tod got instantly, they were built about 30 years ago, and the online reviews from tenants indicated they were old, needed frequent repairs, and there were regular infestation of rats and other domestic pests. Tod, decided to just walk a distance behind the two commuters. The first commuter nodded. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t buy too, and am still renting. Can¡¯t imagine owning these old buildings.¡± ¡°Exactly! No developer wants to build in these far out areas, everyone wants to go to the city center!¡± ¡°Can¡¯t blame them, profits are high there, and demand is strong!¡± ¡°But there¡¯s money to be made in the outskirts too! These days youngsters all want to live in the suburbs and commute! NUMTOTS are a thing, you know. Didn¡¯t you check facepage?¡± ¡°Bah! Youngsters!¡± The two commuters laughed, and Tod changed his target to another group of promising commuters. These two were younger, they looked like a young couple, both freshly out of school and starting out on their careers. Perhaps they¡¯ve worked for 3-4 years. They chatted a bit about work, about careers, and Tod figured they¡¯d probably be doing something like finance work. The girl worked in a bank, while the guy worked in some kind of kitchen as a chef. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°You think we should get a house?¡± The girl asked. ¡°Oh? Where¡¯d that come from?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... if we¡¯re getting married and if we want kids. I thought we should at least, uhm... save for a downpayment?¡± ¡°What, and own these old homes?¡± ¡°I mean... we should still save, right? We got lucky that we both don¡¯t have student loans and stuff.¡± ¡°Yeah. I guess so.¡± Tod nodded, and that revealed a few things. There is pent up demand for property in these regions. He thought about it for a moment, and wondered whether it¡¯s possible to sell his properties outright.
SELLING PRICE (no rental income)
Low Density Medium Density High Density
Land Cost per acre Region <30 units 30-100 units >100 units per acre
Residential-only Suburban $1.2m $1m $0.8m
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties Suburban $1.8m $1.5m $1.5m
Residential-only Outer Core $4.5m $4m $3m
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties Outer Core $8m $7m $6m
Residential-only City Center $15m $12m $10m
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties City Center $25m $20m $15m
Oh. The flipside is that there¡¯s absolutely no rental income once the building is sold. Construction would take two years. Did he have to go through the usual stuff like town council approvals and all that? [No Extra Town Council or Local Approval needed for this city. Construction TIme included all necessary planning approvals] Ah. How about other concerns, like reliability of contractors, availability of planning materials, protests by unhappy NIMBY residents? [None expected. This city is easy mode.] Tod relaxed. Seemed like this city was designed for Tod to learn the ropes. At $29m, what could he build, if he went for sale? Sale looked like the best way to earn money quickly, since the payoff of rental income, even if it¡¯s 10% per annum, is way too slow. He sighed. Was he going to be a money-minded property developer? He wanted to be a train core! Are there any optional integrations to the existing train facilities?
Connection and facilities Cost and effect
All-weather walkways $200,000. Improves ridership by 1 per unit of property
Vending machines $5,000. Generates $3,000 per year per vending machine. One Vending Machine for every 300 property units
Parking for bicycle and other personal mobility device $500,000. Improves ridership by 1 for every 5 properties.
Other options require Level 2 or higher experience levels, or are not available for this city. Hmmm... More variables to mess up Tod¡¯s mental calculation. A Developers Math Tod went back and crunched numbers on each of the projects.
Low Density Medium Density High Density
30 units (assumed) 70 Units 150 units
Total Cost of Project (in million)
Residential-only $17.0 $30.0 $47.0
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $21.0 $38.0 $78.0
Total Revenue (in Millions)
Residential-only $36.0 $70.0 $120.0
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $54.0 $105.0 $225.0
Total Profits (in millions)
Residential-only $19.0 $40.0 $73.0This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $33.0 $67.0 $147.0
Return on Capital Employed (Profits / Cost)
Residential-only 111.76% 133.33% 155.32%
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties 157.14% 176.32% 188.46%
He only had $29million left. So theoretically, the mixed use property project would yield the best payoff. For $21million, we would be able to make at least $54million. But would it be better if he modeled a medium density project instead? Since the assumed 70 units can be lowered to maybe about 35 to 50 units. So, focusing just on commercial/mixed use properties, he calculated how much he could generate.
Medium Medium Medium
Number of units 35 units 40 units 50 units
Total Cost of Project (in million)
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $20.5 $23.0 $28.0
Total Revenue (in Millions)
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $52.5 $60.0 $75.0
Total Profits (in millions)
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties $32.0 $37.0 $47.0
Return on Capital Employed (Profits / Cost)
Commercial/Mixed Use Properties 156.10% 160.87% 167.86%
Ah. If he spent $28million, he would be able to get $75million back, increasing his entire cash position by $47million. That¡¯s amazing, but it assumes that he actually does sell all 50 units for $1.5million. Should he do some market survey? Were these 3 cities ready for a 50 unit development project? Surely with their population for 50-70 thousand, they can easily eat up $75million worth of properties! He just needed 50 wealthy citizens! The math checks out! With $75million, he could reinvest it into more properties, and then he could work on new lines! Wait. Is he a property developer, or a rail transit developer? Was he going astray? He thought about it for a moment and remembered that property values and high density properties must work together with public transport. If the property funds more public transport, that¡¯s a good thing overall. Steps that he needed to take to get where he wanted to be!