Submitted by the prolific Peter, who says:

Like you, I was disappointed with the official MARC system map, but recently I stumbled on a concept while working on another project, so I had a go at turning it into a standalone map. Apologies for spamming your submissions box, but I really like how it turned out and I’d be curious to hear your thoughts!

Transit Maps says:

Peter, you can spam my submissions box all day long if you keep sending me work this good. Basically, this is everything that the official map (June 2014, 1 star) is not – clear, easy to understand and nice to look at. I particularly like the grey toned-back treatment of the Washington and Baltimore Metro/light rail systems: it looks great and works fantastically in terms of the informational hierarchy, and interchanges between MARC and those other systems are highlighted in an understated but firm way.

About the only major issue I have with this map is that Peter doesn’t show which stations offer parking, which is important information with commuter rail systems. A quick look at the official map seems to indicate that all stations have parking lots, so words to that effect in the legend might suffice. Or maybe some differentiation between free and paid lots could be made: the map is clean and spacious enough to add this little bit of extra useful information.

Minor point: The white label for Chesapeake Bay is almost illegible on the light blue background, and many of my cartographically-minded colleagues would insist in that label being set in italics.

Our rating: Should really replace the official one with immediate effect. Yummy. Four stars.