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 this map very soon as Light Blue. One thing this map tries desperately hard to hide is how difficult it is to travel between LAX and downtown using Metro: the LAX Shuttle takes you to the Green Line, from which you have to transfer to the Blue Line to reach the city, while the enticingly-named LAX FlyAway bus can take up to 50 minutes to reach its destination, depending on traffic.

Have we been there? Yes, but I haven’t ridden Metro yet.

What we like: Very clean design featuring a distinctive sans serif font (looks like DIN). Makes the important distinction between free and paid parking, as well as noting stations with bike parking. Resists the temptation to put a geographically accurate shoreline around a very diagrammatic representation of the system. Three different versions of this map exist – this one, lines under construction, and Metro plus Metrolink commuter rail – and all work together seamlessly: a job well done.

What we don’t like: Big squares for the BRT stations look a bit heavy-handed. Circle-to-square interchanges are also a bit awkward. While the type is only angled in one direction, some awkward shapes are made where angled type meets horizontal – especially Pico and Grand stations on the Blue Line.

Our rating: Nice clean design that ties in well with Metro’s corporate identity and website – one of the nicer-looking transit identities around at the moment. Four stars.

Source: Official LA Metro website