All posts filed under: Official Maps

Update: Washington, DC Metro Map Final Draft Version

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Yes, I post a lot about the DC Metro Map, but it’s not often we get to see the process of developing a transit map as publicly as this, or in such immense detail. I find it fascinating to see the decisions that are made, the different iterations the map goes through, and what is kept and what gets discarded. Pretty much the only thing up for discussion on this final draft is the shape […]

Submission – Official Map: Chicago “L” Map, Dan Ryan Branch Closure, 2013

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Submitted by Ryan, who says: Chicago’s updated CTA map. The Red Line is closed for 5 months between Cermak/Chinatown and 95th so there are now shuttle buses shown along with Red rerouting along green. Green also has a new Rush Hour route around the loop. A new transfer is also shown between Red and Blue at Lake and Washington (although this transfer requires a person to leave the station and walk a couple blocks to […]

Official Map: H.C. Chambers & Son Bury St. Edmunds – Colchester Routes, England

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An attractive and stylish route map on the side of a handsome red double-decker bus. While the service from Bury to Colchester via Bures carries a single route number (753), you actually have to change buses in Sudbury, hence the “double dot” shown there. The timetable on the bus company’s website warns that because of congestion, connections between the two buses at Sudbury may not always be timely.  The second line shown from Sudbury to […]

Clockwise/Counter-Clockwise: the Berlin Ringbahn Map

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That’s enough from Boston for a while… let’s head to Berlin to look at this odd little map.  It shows the S41 and S42 S-Bahn lines, which travel clockwise and counter-clockwise, respectively, along the Ringbahn, a 37km (23 mile) loop around Berlin. While the map is packed with information – interchanges with other S- and U-Bahn services, stations with transfers to Deutsche Bahn trains, and estimated travel times between major stations – it just feels […]

Photo – Official Map: Portland MAX Horizontal Strip Map

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The newest rolling stock used on Portland’s MAX light rail (Siemens S70 cars, known as “Type 4”) has enough room above the doors to display a horizontal version of the system map. Types 1 through 3 don’t have this space, and instead display an unwieldy portrait-oriented version of the map that bears little resemblance to geographical reality. Interestingly, this map is not the same as the official system map found on TriMet’s website or ticket machines (despite sharing […]

University of Virginia University Transit Service (UTS) Map

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Submitted by Justin Tran, who says: This is a redesign I did of the University of Virginia’s University Transit Service (UTS) map. It won’t be live until permanent repairs are done to a certain bridge on Grounds that has vastly detoured more than half of these routes. Transit Maps says: This is pretty nice work here from Justin. It’s definitely been hugely influenced by the London Underground map, but works nicely in this context. I […]

Lessons in how NOT to adapt your map to a different shape, Denver edition

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When I reviewed the new West Line Denver LTD light rail map (April 2013, 2 stars), I wondered how the new landscape format would work on trains and on station fittings. Well, one half of that question has been answered: this is what it looks like on the trains, and it ain’t pretty. Basically, they’ve just taken the map and compressed it vertically to squeeze it into the allocated space. The loop around the city, which […]

Official Map Update: Denver RTD Light Rail West Line, 2013

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Transit Maps reviewed Denver’s light rail map way back in October 2011. We weren’t too impressed with it then, and nothing much has changed with this new edition that marks today’s opening of the new (aqua) West Line out to Golden. The map itself has had to change orientation from portrait to landscape to fit the new route in, which raises the question of how it’s going to fit into existing fittings on trains and […]

Salt Lake City UTA TRAX and FrontRunner: now officially the most embarrassing transit maps in the U.S.

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Seriously. Do they even care at all any more? With the opening of the new TRAX light rail Green Line extension to the airport, the UTA has updated their website with new maps. Well, only partially, which is bad enough in itself. If you go to the System Maps page, you still get a combined pre-extension TRAX/FrontRunner map (reviewed here, Dec 2012, half a star). However, if you click on the TRAX or FrontRunner icons, […]

Official Map: Israel Railways Passenger Services, 2013

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Originally sent to me as a photo by long-time reader and contributor, Sam Gold, I thought this map was interesting enough for a full review. It shows all the passenger rail services in Israel, which are divided into nine operational routes, plus a night route than runs the length of the main north-south trunk line. Have we been there? No. What we like: Clear coding of the routes in attractive colours. The night service is […]