A tiny little map of Chicago with streetcar lines and the underlying street grid printed on the obverse of a transfer ticket. It seems to be mainly used for indicating the time and place that the transfer was issued, rather than for any attempt at navigation of the system.
If I’m reading the clock face at the top of the ticket correctly, this transfer was issued at 3:35 (or 7:15) on July 2nd by a conductor on the Archer Avenue line. Note that this line is highlighted in red, and the zone that the transfer was issued in is also punched out on the map.
I’m presuming here that the road grid is the basis of the “zones” that the rather stern directions on the reverse of the ticket refer to. My favourite part is “Reverse riding will be subject to the questioning of the conductor.” Busted! I’m also thinking that the red “NE” and “SW” at the top right of the ticket indicate the initial direction of travel to make the conductor’s task easier in this regard. This makes sense, because then all the information that’s related to the Archer Avenue line itself is printed in red on top of the standard green ink… a clever cost-saving printing method.
I don’t have a date for this ticket, but it can’t be later than 1948, as that’s when the Archer Avenue line was abandoned. It certainly has a late 1930s-early 1940s feel to it.
Source: Metropolitan Planning Council (who erroneously label it as an “old CTA map”).
I think the clock shows 3:35, as there’s a punch to show the short/hour hand of a clock, and another to show the long/minute hand.
I think the clock is 7:15. Hour hands on watches and clocks are longer, hence the outer ring, showing hour digits. Also, the punch is on top of the ‘7’, which would not make sense if you were indicating minutes.
Someone has had to make 5 separate punches to this transfer, and there has to be a separate transfer for each line. The transfer pads are only good for one day when overstamped with the route info. What a waste of energy and time.