This is from Emerald City - Player's Guide, page 10-11.
quote:
Emerald City covers a broad area, although not as large as some urban sprawls. As with any expanding and developing city, transportation is a regular concern, and Emerald City has a number of ways in which residents, commuters, and visitors get from place to place.
Bridges & Highways
As in most cities in the United States, most people in Emerald City get around by car, and the city faces the usual traffic congestion problems of modern urban areas, although not nearly as severe as some.
Major highways run north-south, cutting across the Albian River and heading westerly towards the Outer Peninsula, across the Red River as well. The main east-west highway runs along the southern shore of the Albian River. Once the main arteries leave the greater metropolitan area, the landscape quickly gives away to forest and some open farmland.
Emerald City has been a successful site for the AutoTemp car-rental service. Unlike conventional car-rental agencies, AutoTemp provides rental cars located in dedicated parking spots throughout the city. Members can reserve a car online (often using an Internet-enabled smartphone) and return the vehicle to any open AutoTemp parking spot when they are done using it. Charges are accumulated per hour, or portion of an hour. The service is popular with urban residents who primarily use public transport, but occasionally need a car, and prefer it to the expense of owning one.
Taxis
Emerald City has several active taxi companies providing service throughout the greater metro area. Emerald City Cabs are noted for their distinctive green-painted vehicles. The fleet of Pacific Taxi is slightly newer, while the reliable Gold Cab service fields more traditional yellow-painted taxis. Various private limousine services also operate in E.C., from sleek sedans to massive stretch models (up to and including the stretch SUV).
Buses
Public transport in Emerald City is dominated by the city bus lines which, together with the newer light rail service, forms the Greater Emerald City Commuter Organization, or “GECCO” as it is locally known, complete with cartoon lizard mascot. Buses run most hours of the day and night on a regular schedule, with less downtime in the central urban areas, and a lighter schedule the further out one gets from Downtown.
The central ten-block area of downtown is a “Free Ride Zone” for the city bus system: anyone can get on or off the buses at stops here without paying, but taking a bus outside of the Free Ride Zone requires a transfer to a paying bus, and taking a bus anywhere else in the city likewise requires a fare. The Free Ride Zone has been an effective tool for combating traffic congestion in the heart of the city, encouraging more public transport use by locals and visitors alike.
Bus companies also move passengers in and out of the Emerald City area, following the northsouth and eastward highways. Given the city’s relative isolation, many visitors arrive and depart via bus, especially if they live only a few hours away and a flight would be prohibitively expensive. Nighttime bus trips through the Arcadian Forest area or the highway passes through the Atlas Mountains have some adventure potential, should a bus full of innocent people run into something unusual.
Rail
Although it lacks a subway system, Emerald City boasts a substantial amount of surface light rail. The major project of the GECCO for the past decade, the light rail system connects the Outer and Inner Peninsulas, bringing passengers to and from the airport and business and suburban areas on both sides of the Red and Bronze Rivers. It also allows passengers to circumnavigate the three hills area of the Inner Peninsula, more easily reaching the outskirts of the city.
Waterways
Located at the mouth of the Albian River where it flows into Malory Bay and the Pacific Ocean, Emerald City has always been a port city with an active waterfront.
Cargo ships from all across the Pacific Rim make their way into Malory Bay on a regular basis. Much of the shipping that once came into the city’s downtown waterfront has shifted westward to the Outer Peninsula. There, the shore is lined with commercial docks and broad holding areas for stacks of rectangular, colorful shipping containers. Massive cranes capable of loading and off-loading these containers dominate the docks and this part of the shoreline.
Further upriver, the waterfront is more given to tourist and commuter traffic, with ferries taking passengers across the river and bay and north and eastward to the islands. Many of the downtown docks have converted over to pedestrian malls and similar attractions, although some still serve as tie-ups for pleasure craft and private boats. More of the same is found along the Southern Shore, where there are marinas and even some homes with private waterfront access and their own docks. Tour boats sail the length of the city along the Albian and back, and nighttime cruises are popular in the warmer months of the year.
Air Travel
Emerald City’s main airport is Benjamin Jacobs International (code: BJI), also known locally as simply “Jacobs” or, more affectionately, as “Benjy.” It’s located on the northern point of the Outer Peninsula and sees daily flights from points across the United States, Canada, and the Pacific Rim, particularly China and Japan.
Nolan Aircraft also operates its own private airfield—Nolan Field—to the south of Jacobs. Nolan uses the field for test flights and corporate air travel, as well as leasing facilities to other companies. Nolan Field is limited primarily to cargo transport and some private business flights, rather than commercial passenger air travel, although it has served as an emergency landing field for troubled passenger craft in the past.
Small helicopter and seaplane services fly out of Emerald City. They are primarily aimed at tourists looking to see the sights of the area from the sky, campers and outdoor adventurers making their way along the coast or inland, and business travelers able to afford a private chopper ride to or from the airports. Some buildings downtown have helipads, mainly hospitals for patient evacuations and some corporate facilities. News agencies also make use of helicopters for reporting.
