Basic elevator
| Construction cost | $300,000 |
| Maintenance cost | $3,000/day + $2,000/car/day (before upgrades) |
| Power | Varies with car activity |
| Size | 4 tiles × 1 floor |
| Category | Elevators |
A standard elevator can span 30 floors. It has average acceleration and speed.
You may have up to 8 cars per shaft (the limits may be reduced depending on your map and star rating). Each additional car costs $100,000.
Side note: When you add an additional car to a shaft, you are in fact widening the shaft to accomodate the extra car.
Upgrades
Elevators can be upgraded from the Configuration tab. Upgrades have two stages:
- You can upgrade the elevator system up to 5 levels. An upgraded elevator system allows cars to also be upgraded, up to the elevator system's level. Each system upgrade costs 50% of the system construction price. Each level increases the system maintenance multiplier by 25% of its base amount.
- Upgrade each car separately, up to the elevator system's current level. Each car upgrade costs 25% of the car construction price.
Every car level increases that car's maximum speed and acceleration by 25% of their base values, and increases capacity by the same percentage (rounded to a whole passenger). At level 5, a fully upgraded car has 225% of its base speed, acceleration and capacity.
Strategy
Use Basic Elevators as the general-purpose passenger spine. Add cars or a parallel shaft when queues and commute results show demand beyond the current capacity. Parking cars near demand centers reduces idle response time. Configure express-like stop patterns only while retaining a local route to skipped floors.