Submission – Chicago Metra Line Rebranding

March 11, 2025
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Submitted by Nick, who says:

Hi Cameron. I live in Chicago and our commuter rail Metra is considering rebranding its lines and recently released two proposals. I thought you and your readers might enjoy reviewing them. The announcement, proposed designs, and link to a survey are here. The proposed designs are available in a PDF here [I’ve also reproduced these below – Cam].

I’ve been riding Metra for more than 20 years and I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the current line names have their faults but the proposed designs are “interesting” to say the least.

Transit Maps says:

The obtuse naming conventions of Metra’s commuter lines are like the names of lines on the London Underground – they have a certain old world charm about them, but they’re absolutely terrible for anyone but the most seasoned of commuters. Hey, let’s have some lines with “Milwaukee” in their name that don’t actually go there! To be honest, I thought that these line names would never be changed in a million years, so I’m kind of ecstatic that this discussion is even happening.

I do think it’s important that these rough little diagrams are almost certainly just tools to illustrate the status quo and the two new concepts, so I don’t think we need to get too hung up on the design right now – once the surveys have been done and some data compiled, then more complete (and better) maps will be generated.

That said, I think the concepts do have some problems.

The “cardinal direction” concept perhaps gets in its own way by having both directional prefixes and colour-coding by downtown terminus. This leads to all of the directions being denoted by multiple colours (two for north, two for west – both of which are the same two colours, yellow and green – and three for south). Maybe there could be two separate colours for the two “halves” of Union Station to prevent that station’s yellow routes from spreading out and dominating the map? The order the lines are named in also seems haphazard – the bullets for the northern lines count down when read from left to right, which goes against our natural reading order, while the southern lines don’t seem to have any natural order to their numbers – c’mon, the Millennium Station lines are just crying out to be S5, S6 and S7 at their outer termini from left to right, instead of S6, S5 and S7!

This problem carries across to the “M Numbers” diagram – there’s no discernable pattern to the numbering of the lines. A hub-and-spoke network like this should really be numbered in sequential order from the outer end of each line. Normally, this would start at the twelve o’clock position and go clockwise (we’re familiar with how a clock works, so this is can be a very intuitive design shorthand), but Lake Michigan forms a natural barrier to this system – you’d start at “M1” then have to jump halfway around the diagram to get to “M2”! Perhaps starting with “M1” to the west of the map would work better in this instance?

Our final word: These are very early concept diagrams with a lot of work still to done, but making things as easy as possible for commuters to understand has to be the end goal, and I’m not sure either of these are quite doing that right now. Still, it’s going to be interesting to see where this goes! If you use Metra, I definitely encourage you to go and do the survey.

Source: Metra website

Submission – Official Map: Metro Rapid Map, Madison, Wisconsin

February 28, 2025
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Submitted by Matthew, who says:

Madison, WI just opened the first phase of our new BRT system, with new stations, new electric buses, and a new diagrams. I’d love to know what you think about the design, especially how the city handled differentiating the two types of station platform set ups. (I haven’t seen many diagrams with this feature!)

Transit Maps says:

This diagram is fairly simple and workmanlike: there’s nothing extraordinary about it, but it gets the job done. The canvas does feel a little empty to me and there’s some design language inconsistencies that could be looked at – why do some 90-degree corners get soft curves while others are sharp, for example – but it’s nothing too egregious.

The distinction between the rapid busway section versus the local, street-running sections is nicely done and very clear, and the addition of street names along the routes is helpful. I’d probably have liked to see the information that’s specific to the Segoe and Milwaukie Street stations as call-outs linked directly to those stations rather than as unrelated asterisked notes off to the side. As someone who’s not from Madison, it took me way too long to find these stations on the diagram to work out what these notes even referred to and why I should even care.

As for the distinction between center-running and side-running stations being shown graphically on the diagram… it’s nice, I guess? I don’t see it as totally critical information to show on a diagram, especially on a bus where the doors are only ever on one side of the vehicle – unlike a train where passengers could exit on either side so knowing where the platforms will be is actually advantageous. The depictions of the two station types are visually distinct and the legend explains them well, so why not – though I feel like it’s a problem that didn’t necessarily need to be solved at all!

EDIT: I’ve been corrected – the Madison BRT buses do in fact have boarding doors on both sides (I tried to research this before posting, but I apparently didn’t do a very good job!), so the distinction on the diagram is more useful than it seems at first glance.

Our final word: Nothing too exciting here, but works well enough. Perhaps feels a little unfinished.

Source: Madison Metro Transit website

Submission – Official Map: Transit Map of Denpasar, Bali, 2025

February 21, 2025
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Submitted by Ida Bagus Nararya Adityananda, who says:

This is the new transit network map of Denpasar, Bali metro per January 1st 2025. After the closure of Trans Metro Dewata buses that connects 4 regencies and city in Bali. Now, only Trans Sarbagita operates with its 2 corridor from GOR Ngurah Rai to GWK and GOR Ngurah Rai to Batubulan, Gianyar.

Transit Maps says:

On first glance, this looks like a rather nice diagram of bus services in and around Denpasar in Bali. It’s only on closer examination that the reader realises that a large portion of the service shown aren’t currently operating. All of the route lines for the Trans Metro Dewata (TMD) are at a lower opacity, all the stop names are crossed out and the legend at the bottom of the map has been replaced with bold red text explaining the situation.

Apparently, the ownership of the TMD has recently passed from the central government to the Balinese provincial government, who seem to have no interest at all in actually running the buses. The legend even has a QR code link to a petition to get the service running. Leaving all the non-operational routes on the diagram seems like a very deliberate choice to me, especially considering how important tourism is to Bali. It’s almost as if the map is saying, “look at all the fun places you could go by bus if they were actually running,” hoping that people will be annoyed enough to sign the petition.

This strangeness does overshadow the fact that this a more than competent diagram, with some lovely design touches. I particularly like the little bus illustrations that show their livery in the legend, and the disclaimer that this diagram is really meant to be viewed digitally – but if you are going to try printing it, then it should be printed on an A3 sheet or larger.

Our final word: It’s a bold choice to deliberately show services that aren’t actually running on a transit map: outside of short-term service disruptions, it’s not something I’ve seen before. It’s definitely driving a point home, and not really very subtly!

Submission – Historical Map: Suburban Tramways of Bordeaux, 1954

February 19, 2025
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Submitted by Florian, who says:

I submit this map because first of all, I live there and I was thrilled to learn there is a blog about transit maps design. And I love old maps, which I was also thrilled to see they are welcome here.

This map dates from 1954, merely 4 years before the end of the first Bordeaux’s tramway. The network was quite extensive, much more than today. However, these lines were integrated within the traffic and were not given priority. It means that as cars became more common (and the 60s were THE decade where cars became big in France), the tramway was seen as quaint, outdated.

One interesting part is that in this period, some maps of Bordeaux were oriented with the North to the right. One can compare it with the current map. As the right-bank of the river was not developed as today, it was not considered useful to put in on the map as there was nothing relevant – well, except the people living there obviously. Hence, it is quite logical to put it at the bottom and make the network “flows” from the inner city to the suburbs.

I find amusing that some, but not all, lines are named by the city they go to (P for Pessac, Br for Bruges etc.) and also that the stops are numbered – which is actually quite useful to know the length of a line and gauge the position of a stop. However it is a bit busy in some places and I am also confused as to how some lines worked, especially the P line and its 5 (?) terminus.

Transit Maps says:

What a lovely map (and it really is one, as there’s a detailed scale in the bottom right-hand corner underneath the awesome “CTB” monogram)! This is what makes things a bit cramped in parts, as the map is trying to be geographically faithful, even though everything is very simplified.

It’s important to note that the map only shows the suburban tram routes – what in the U.S. would have been called “interurbans.” There were another twenty-odd city tramways in addition to these routes: a few of them can be seen on this map as thin numbered lines leaving the Commune de Bordeaux denoting “urban lines penetrating into the suburbs.” Tram lines contained wholly within the commune are not shown at all on this map. And if I’m reading things right, the numbers along the lines aren’t exactly numbering stops, but fare sections: I would imagine that tram lines of this length would have many more actual stops than could be shown on an overview map like this.

And as for how the lines actually worked. let’s just hope that the trams themselves had headboards or roll signs that told prospective riders where they were actually going to!

Our final word: A great slice of history showing the last days of an extensive tram system. I love it!

Submission – Official Map: Madrid Cercanías Rail Network, December 2024

January 6, 2025
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Submitted by Juan, who says:

I send the new version of the Renfe-Madrid Cercanías network. It seems to me that it has improved quite a lot the previous version. This previous version had crossroads, angles, etc. I would like to know your opinion about this new map.

Transit Maps says:

What a massive improvement this over previous official versions! [See our reviews for the 2022 and 2013 versions – Cam] For once, a diagram has been entirely rethought and redesigned instead of trying to keep using a framework that clearly wasn’t working and the results are definitely worth it, in my opinion.

First and foremost – the fare zones are (and I don’t say this often!) really quite lovely: subdued pastel tones instead of harsh grey and white and simple, almost concentric shapes with an absolute minimum of changes in direction. The names of the zones are also arranged in a very clear, organised and visually appealing manner. Basically, a lot of other transit diagrams around the world that show fare zones could look to this one for some ideas on how to do it right.

The routes the lines take across the diagram definitely benefit from the redesign as well: C-5, in particular, has a much smoother trajectory and many other lines have been straightened out and simplified for the better as well. Strangely, the odd little “bump” for Sol station remains, even though it seems like there’s no real need for it anymore.

It’s not all perfect, though: some of the station labelling is a bit carelessly placed or cramped for room and the stations on the southeast leg of line C-3 are very unevenly arranged due to the need to fit them within the proper zone boundaries. It seems to me that the zone boundaries down here were designed to work best for line C-5, and C-3 suffers a bit as a result. The 90-degree turn that line C-7 takes before heading northeast isn’t nested properly with the other lines at that corner (the radius is too large). Finally, the pecked grey route line for the “bike line” – which I presume represents Madrid’s Anillo Verde Ciclista – has pretty poor contrast with the background and can be pretty hard to see at times.

Our final word: So much better than previous official maps, with a quite dreamy representation of fare zones. Not perfect, but a massive step in the right direction!

Source: Renfe Madrid Cercanías website

Submission – Unofficial Map: Tramways in Gdańsk, Poland by Arsen Mosiichuk, 2024

December 18, 2024
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Submitted by Arsen, who says:

Hello, this summer I with Sergey Steblina as art-director designed a transit map of Gdańsk trams. I am very interested what Transit Maps think about this.

Transit Maps says:

Overall, this is very solid and clean work – very much in the style of diagram popularised by Ilya Birman, with straight segments connected by wide, sweeping curves. For the most part, this looks rather lovely, though the tight obtuse angle that Line 12 takes to head down to the bottom left looks a little unconvincing, as does the squiggly routing that Line 10 takes around the Nowy Port loop at the top right. The routing of Line 5 around this loop looks like it might have an error as well: if it enters the loop going from Kasztanowa to Na Zaspę and then travels counter-clockwise around the loop, it would exit at Rybołowców back to Kasztanowa – meaning that there’s no need to show Line 5 running directly between Rybołowców and Na Zaspę, a segment that’s only served by Line 7.

The colour palette of the map is nice and bright, and the parks, water and city centre are nicely indicated, but I do feel that the very light green chosen for Line 2 is just too light when compared to the other lines. It almost disappears completely when running alongside the dark purple Line 11, for example. The bright yellow of Line 6 poses some more contrast problems when its station tick is adjacent to the map’s white background at the top left of the map.

Speaking of the station ticks: I love the modern design of them with a slight inwards tapering, but it does create something of an optical illusion where the last tick at a station – the one leading to the station label – looks a tiny bit smaller than the others. This is one of these things that probably just needs to be tweaked a bit by perhaps making that last tick just a tiny bit wider so that it looks visually right rather than being mathematically correct.

Finally, a quick Wikipedia search seems to indicate that Lines 4 and 7 only run on weekdays, and Line 11 only runs during weekday peak hours – all of which would be useful information to include in the diagram’s legend.

Our final word: Clean and modern, though I’ve seen a few maps previously with a very similar design style. Some of the curves could be cleaned up a bit, and a couple of colour choices could perhaps be revisited. Otherwise, this is great work.

Book Review: “Iconic Transit Maps” by Mark Ovenden, 2024

December 16, 2024
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After 2003’s Metro Maps of the World and 2015’s Transit Maps of the World (our review here), this is Mark Ovenden’s third offering on the subject of global transit maps and diagrams. The question to be asked, then, is simply – is a new book on the same subject worth it?

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Submission – Unofficial Diagram of Victorian Ferry Routes, 2024 by Bushland Maps

November 21, 2024
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Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say:

Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in Melbourne. With no integration into the fare system or journey planners, and with overarching public transport body PTV only “overseeing” three of the routes (which doesn’t have any practical effect on the service), they are mostly either seen as a tourist attraction (which fairly some are) or not seen at all.

Since there is no official map or central source of information, I figured I’d make a map that acts as both. It takes design style inspiration from the current series of PTV network maps, and incorporates modal connection symbols from the previous generation of rail map, modified for better visual accessibility.

Given the sheer amount of variation in operating styles and frequencies, along with the fact many tourist-oriented services only operate certain days or seasons, I have included rough descriptions of service to help people plan their journeys at a glance, with links to ferry operator websites for bookings and further information.

I hope that this map will help raise awareness of our ferries and hopefully one day contribute to filling in the gaps of this rather sparse network! Looking forward to feedback to further improve and refine the map.

Transit Maps says:

I love maps that draw attention to lesser-known or used modes of transportation, and this a great example, packed full of useful information. Piggybacking off the familiar Public Transport Victoria (PTV) design style works well and lends some authenticity to the project.

I find the simple geometric shapes used for the informational icons to be reminiscent of nautical flags – and thus appropriate for a maritime map like this – though it does mean the reader always has to refer to the legend to understand that an orange square means a bus connection, for example. The alternative approach would be to use pictorial icons that depict what the icon represents – a bus, in this case. However, on a map like this that is filled with lots of detailed information and is meant to be studied carefully, I certainly don’t mind the approach that’s been taken.

A few minor points for potential improvement – first, I’d like it if the silhouette of the Melbourne inset matched the shape of the actual Melbourne-area map a bit more, as it seems to indicate a much larger area than what’s actually shown. Second, some thought into how the legend is organised: by service frequency? By operator? Alphabetically by route name? What’s going to help the reader find what they’re after the most? Having the very limited Melbourne Cup Carnival-only ferry listed above other services that run more frequently and are far more useful seems particularly strange to me. At the very least, I feel it should be grouped with its parent Williamstown ferry.

Our final word: A solid diagram showcasing ferry services in and around Melbourne, packed with useful information. Nice work!

Submission – Historical Map: Duluth Transit Authority, 1982

November 15, 2024
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Submitted by Darryl, who says:

Going through old boxes in my basement, I came across this 1982 opus from the Duluth Transit Authority. I may be biased because it’s the first transit map I ever saw, but I think it’s amazing, capturing the way the city nestles into the topography, and showing most points of interest, and showing how transit ties everything together. This is a scan, but the copyright and source info is at the bottom of the map.

Due to file size limitations, I couldn’t attach their current map but it can be found here [PDF]. It looks like it’s probably GIS based, and it lacks all the charm and pride of place of the older one. It could be anywhere. And the color coding of the routes leaves a lot to be desired, although if you like shades of teal, I guess you have many options.

Transit Maps says:

I’m loving this, Darryl! The late 1970s/early 1980s were a high point for illustrated maps like this, and the company that made this one – Archar – was responsible for quite a few of them in this time period. The Geographicus Rare Antique Maps website offers a short biography of the firm, stating that they were best known for their “City Character Prints” – cartoonish maps intended to showcase the “character” of a city.

As Darryl notes, this map has character in spades, with landmark buildings lovingly rendered, neighbourhoods all getting a neat little sign with their name on it, and Duluth’s steep topography is deftly handled with some very obvious cliffs indicating the heights. The two insets provide some needed extra detail for Duluth and Superior’s downtown areas, and all the bus routes are indicated by brightly coloured lines, which also look hand drawn. There’s some sort of visual hierarchy to the routes (perhaps explained on the reverse side of the map), with lines getting different treatments and widths depending on the type of service – beaded lines for express routes, for example – but it’s fairly primitive compared to what we expect from a modern bus map.

Our final word: Very much of its era, but the level of skill and craftsmanship is also evident. Quite glorious!

Submission – Official Map: Rail and Bus Map of Southeast Queensland, Australia, 2024

October 10, 2024
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Submitted by Lachlan, who says:

Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a big fan. Definitely the best-designed official transit map in Australia in my opinion. It even acknowledges the rapid bus routes and the G-Link light rail! I wish it could have acknowledged the existence of the ferries but that would probably require that the city centre become even more distorted…

… and also submitted by Michael, who says:

The new official South East Queensland map feels like a significant improvement on the last one, as low a bar as that may be. The CBD area is a lot less cluttered in spite of the inclusion of the upcoming cross-river-rail and some additional bus routes on the map. The dark-mode map may be an acquired taste but overall I feel it’s much more readable than any of the previous efforts.

(Also suggested as a map to review by numerous other Australian readers – thanks to all of you!)

Transit Maps says:

Yes, this is certainly a massive improvement on the tired and stale old designs for the SEQ rail diagram, last reviewed on the blog way back in 2014. I’d probably stop short of calling it amazing, because there’s a few odd design decisions that hold it back a bit.

But there’s also a lot of things it does well, not the least of which is finding a good balance between the massive sprawling nature of the entire network and the need to expand the central part of the diagram for clarity. Despite the addition of multiple busway routes and the planned Cross River Rail lines, the central section is presented far more clearly than ever before. The “under construction” dashes on the Cross River Rail lines are beautifully executed – these are often an afterthought, so it’s nice to see them get some love here. And overall, the diagram feels nicely balanced, though I feel a more rigorous vertical grid could have been employed to ensure that the vertical distance between station labels was totally consistent across the whole map outside of the expanded central area – there’s just enough variance to be noticeable.

The numbed bullets for the (select few) bus lines are nicely employed and help mitigate the fact that the line colours aren’t really very colour-blind friendly: all the bus lines coming in from the south-east are on the “warm” side of the spectrum and have very little contrast when run through a colour-blindness simulator.

Of course, the use of numbered bullets for the bus lines begs the question why lettered or numbered bullets aren’t used for the rail lines. It’s generally considered best practice to identify rail lines in this manner on a map or diagram for easy reference and more and more networks around the world are doing it – Los Angeles completely reworked its line names and letters recently, for example. The empty coloured rings just seem like a huge missed opportunity to me. Perhaps this is something that could be considered when the Cross River Rail is finished and all the lines take on a more permanent configuration.

While it’s great to see the G-Link tram line on the map, I find the line style for it (thin dashes on either side of a solid stroke, even on the identifying ring symbol!) to be very unconvincing. Perhaps a simpler cased line could have worked better?

The black background is very dramatic and stylish, but it also works against the diagram a bit. The very thin bus route lines have trouble standing out against it, as do most of the station labels, which are fairly lightweight and small. It’s often a good idea to bump small text up to the next available weight when reversing it out of a dark background, and there are even some fonts, like FF Transit, that have “negative” versions that are optically adapted for this use. However, this map uses Arial (yes, seriously) for its labels, so the next weight up is Arial Bold, which is way too BOLD.

Our final word: Not perfect, but a massive, massive improvement on what came before it. Hopefully, this gets tweaked and perfected by the time the Cross River Rail lines open, and then it may very well be “the best-designed official transit map in Australia”, like Lachlan says.