All posts filed under: Official Maps

Official Map: Philadelphia SEPTA Network, 2011

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After quite a few stellar maps, it’s time to show what I consider to be one of the least successful transit maps in current use in the US. To put it bluntly, SEPTA’s map is an unappealing, jumbled mess and certainly does not get me excited to use their system (a major plus point in my internal scoring system). Have we been there? No. What we like: Deserves credit for attempting to show so many […]

Official Map: Taipei MRT, Taiwan, 2011

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Taipei’s Metro system only began construction in 1988, but now has almost 90 stations and over 100km of track. All this comes at a price however, with Phase One of the system costing US$18 billion and Phase Two (currently under construction) estimated to cost US$13.8 billion upon completion. Have we been there? No. What we like: Nice diagrammatic representation – the stylised rivers are handled much better on this diagram than on the Tyne & […]

Official Map: Los Angeles Metro, 2011

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Requested by Mr. Grafix, among others. Public transportation in LA is making a comeback, decades after the last streetcar line was ripped up. At the heart of this renaissance is the Metro system, an odd combination of light rail (Blue, Green and Yellow lines), heavy rail (Red and Purple lines) and Bus Rapid Transit (Orange and Silver lines). The new Expo Line is also nearing completion of Phase I and will be showing up on […]

Official Map: Tyne & Wear Metro, England, 2011

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Opened in 1980, the Tyne and Wear Metro is the first of Britain’s modern light rail systems. It also benefits from a very strong corporate identity with the slab serif Calvert typeface (named after its creator and one of the original identity designers in 1977, the famous Margaret Calvert) as a core component. The typeface is used extensively throughout the system, even as wall-sized station names as seen in the photo of Monument Station. Taken […]

Official Map: Rail Transit of Stockholm, Sweden, 2011

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I really appreciate transit maps that combine different modes of transit, and this map does just that – showing Metro, light rail, trams and commuter rail in a very clean, restrained manner. Coloured route lines (blue, orange and green) set the dense and important Metro network apart from the subsidiary light rail, tram and commuter rail routes, which are shown in grey and thin black lines. Zone information is displayed through a chilly looking cyan […]

Official Map: Go Transit System Map, Southern Ontario, Canada

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It must be the season for redesigning transit maps. Hot on the heels of NJ Transit’s disappointing new system map comes a new map for the Go Transit network that serves Toronto and Southern Ontario. And unlike that NJ Transit map, this one takes the opportunity to create something new, contemporary and exciting – and totally runs with it. Especially when it’s compared to their previous map, which was nothing short of terrible. The old […]

Official Map: New Jersey Transit Rail System, 2011

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If you’ve reached this page from a search engine hit, please note that this is not the official NJ Transit page, but an independent review of the map as it stood in 2011. If you want to see the current official map, then follow this link [PDF]. If you love transit maps and diagrams, then please stick around and read the review – and more – on this site! This morning, an interesting tweet came […]

Official Map: Paris Metro/RER/Tram Map, 2011

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If you visit Paris, you need to use the Metro to get around, so it’s a good thing that its map is up to the task. It took Paris a long time to come around to a diagrammatic approach (Harry Beck created two versions on spec, but both were rejected), and earlier diagrams were not as successful as this – one had all vertical lines set at a jaunty 15-degree angle, which made the whole […]

Official Map: Metro, Lisbon, Portugal, 2011

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A beautiful example of an abstracted rectilinear diagram – everything is evenly spaced, with subtle curves and a lovely complementary rounded typeface. The colours in this diagram work wonderfully well, with “traditional” route colours of Blue, Yellow, Green and Red being given a pastel twist and lovely icons that fit in with Lisbon’s maritime history perfectly. An excellent bi-lingual key and icons pack this map with useful information and all type is set horizontally. The […]