Submitted by Michael Whalen (amongst others), who says:

I just stumbled upon this map showing all CTA/Metra/SouthShore train connections in Chicago. There’s a lot going on, but I like how its much more diagrammatic than the regular map. I see several things that they’ve done with this map that I know you will hate, but I thought I’d leave it here for your critique anyway.

Transit Maps says:

There may be a few small things about this map that I’m not totally wild about, but I do think it’s both more useful and more attractive than the official CTA “L” map, which has barely changed since I first reviewed it (October 2011, 3 stars).

Integrated rail transit maps are awesome – they’re produced with the end user in mind (showing all available services, regardless of the operating transit agency) and give a much better idea of the full extent of rail options in the area than separately produced maps. 

This one does a pretty good job of laying out the complex network in and around Chicago, showing the “L” in its familiar colours, while bringing Metra and South Shore services down in the visual hierarchy by showing them in grey/light brown: effectively implying their less frequent service in a subtle visual way. 

Unlike the standard “L” map, this one manages to show The Loop without an inset, although it has to stretch it horizontally quite a lot to do so. I still prefer this approach, because it eliminates the need to look elsewhere on the map for this commonly used information. I also really appreciate the little walking icons for stations that are located close to each other. Despite the apparent length of some of the dotted walking lines on this (not-to-scale) diagram, they’re all within a quarter-mile or two blocks of each other. The differently shaped interchange symbols for the different systems is also a nice little visual cue – an in-system transfer between two icons of the same shape (circle–circle, square–square); an out-of-system transfer between different symbols (circle–square). Immediately obvious and very useful.

What I don’t like mainly falls down to one element, but it’s a big one: the labelling of the branch lines! The type is enormous, clumsy and intrusive, especially when light colours like pink and yellow are keylined in black. This could all be handled with a much more delicate touch, and I’m not even sure why the Metra lines need to have their labels colour-coded in the context of this map. While we’re at it, the South Shore information box and label would look much better shunted down to the empty bottom right of the map, which would give the Metra Electric South Chicago Branch label a lot more room to breathe. The comprehensive station index isn’t especially attractive, but works well enough given the space limitations of the map. What else are you going to do with Lake Michigan?

Our rating: A comprehensive and useful integrated map of rail transit options in Greater Chicago, let down somewhat by some ham-fisted typography for the branch lines. Three-and-a-half stars.

Source: Chicago RTA website