Author: Cameron Booth

Advertisement: “Eldrivet Sedan 1902”, Västtrafik, Gothenburg, Sweden

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Advertising, Official Maps

This is an advertisement produced by Gothenburg’s Västtrafik transit agency (see their press release here, in Swedish). The tag line translates to “Electrically powered since 1902”, with the image showing Gothenburg’s tram network in the form of an electrical circuit board. In their own words, the ad “reminds [us] that climate-smart electric vehicles are old news.” The map is a very close facsimile of the official tram/ferry map (August 2018, 3 stars), though with the […]

Official Map: Copenhagen Railways Map, 2019

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Official Maps

Having just reviewed Kristoffer Bæk and Pasha Omelekhin’s superb new rail map for Copenhagen (October 2019, 4.5 stars), let’s take a look at what the official map looks like with the addition of the new ring Metro line. It’s very obviously an evolution of the existing and distinctive DSB design style (last reviewed on Transit Maps back in 2014, 4 stars), and may even use the exact same base map underneath the route lines. Apart […]

Historical Map: Denver RTD Bus Network, 1977

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Historical Maps

A great example of late 1970s American transit map design from Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) with thick, chunky route lines, minimalist design sensibilities and tightly letter-spaced sans serif headings. The map has the potential to get messy really quickly, but it’s actually all handled rather deftly and cleanly. Colour-coding differentiates between different service types (local, express, circulator and regional), and route numbers and road names are placed inside the thick route lines, which generally […]

Revised Unofficial Map: Copenhagen Rapid Transit Map by Kristoffer Bæk and Pasha Omelekhin

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Unofficial Maps

Sometime after I reviewed Kristoffer’s original unified Copenhagen-area transit map (January 2019, 4 stars), he began to collaborate with Pasha Omelekhin, a designer probably most well-known for his alternative Berlin map. They’ve just released their revised map, and it’s really quite wonderful. Designwise, it’s definitely an evolution of Kristoffer’s original map, but I can see where the collaboration has resulted in marked improvements to the map. The interchanges have a more consistent design now, one […]

Historical Map: Tourist’s Trolley Map of St. Louis and Environs, 1915

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Historical Maps

A fairly crudely-drawn map of St. Louis’ extensive streetcar network, reaching far past the city limits to the cities of Florissant and St. Charles, as well as to the pleasures of the Meramec Highlands and Lake Park. Like many maps of St. Louis from this period, the map is oriented with north to the right so that “downtown” is literally at the bottom of the map. Of particular note is the message at the bottom […]

Submission – Fantasy Map: North East Overground (neo) Bus Network, Newcastle upon Tyne by Owain

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Fantasy Maps

Submitted by Owain, who says: Love your blog. I’d really like to get your thoughts and, of course, a rating on a transit map I have created using Adobe Photoshop. It is for a fictional brand I have created called ‘neo’ (North East Overground) which ties together real express bus routes which radiate from Newcastle opon Tyne. The bus routes I have tied together under the ‘neo’ banner are a hotchpotch of different operators, ticketing […]

Submission – Unofficial Future Map: San Diego Trolley by Ted Rosenbaum

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Future Maps, Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Ted, who says: When the Mid-Coast extension opens in a couple years, San Diego’s going to need a new trolley map. Their current map has some odd angles and no references to the city’s geography, so I took a shot at a new diagram that fixes those issues. I used big looping curves to fit San Diego’s more languid style, and make the connecting services more explicit. Would love to get your thoughts […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: Circumvesuviana Lines by Harry

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Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Harry, who says: Hi Cam – I’m a big fan of your blog, been reading for years. I’ve always wanted to try designing a transit map, but hadn’t found a good system to start with (I live in NYC, which is both daunting and already done well)… until recently! I visited Sorrento in June, and had the chance to ride the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento and round-trip from Sorrento to Pompeii. Something […]

Historical Map: Proposal for Rapid Transit in Pittsburgh, October 1973

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Historical Maps

A map presented as part of an overview of future rapid transit prepared by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. See the whole document here. It’s a pretty basic thing, designed in that chunky 1970s style, but it’s interesting to compare it to what Pittsburgh has ended up building. Solid orange lines are proposed express commuter bus services, while dashed orange lines represent fixed guideway lines. If the lines are cased in black, then they […]

Official Map: Addis Ababa Light Rail, Ethiopia, 2019

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Official Maps

A fairly bare bones effort, probably located at the Lem Hotel station as it gets called out with a “You Are Here” red dot and is also named on the map itself. Strangely, the map makes the somewhat odd decision to not show the blue Line 2 where it runs concurrently with the green Line 1, which makes it look like Line 1 has two separate unconnected parts. The “rotating arrows” transfer station markers at […]