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

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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