Official Map: Integrated Transit of Südtirol (Alto Adige), Italy

March 1, 2014
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Sent my way by a reader known only as “mmmaps”, here’s a map of the transit system of the northern autonomous Italian province of Südtirol (South Tyrol in English, or Alto Adige in Italian). The system is mainly made up of buses (dark blue), but there’s also a backbone of rail services between the major cities (shown in light blue) and aerial cable-cars as well.

While the restrained colour palette (just blues and greys) looks quite nifty, the map’s usability is seriously hampered by this simplistic approach. Without coloured route lines, the map designers have had to denote separate routes by putting numbered boxes across each line to indicate where they go. And that makes actually using the map to work out how to get places a lot of really, really hard work.

For starters, the termini of routes aren’t indicated at all. A reader has to follow a desired route number along, checking at every bifurcation which way it goes (sometimes it goes more than one direction!). Eventually, there’s no more numbers to follow – so you have to assume that the service ended at the last town? Maybe. You have to work it out by yourself, hopefully with the aid of the individual route timetables and schedules that are available. However, this map gives a rotten overview of destinations, interchanges and routes for someone unfamiliar with the network. A user should always be able to trace any given route from one end to the other without having to make guesses!

If you think I’m being hard on the map, answer this simple question: which two cities does the 314 bus run between?

Our rating: Using a transit map really shouldn’t be this hard. One-and-a-half stars, and that’s because I like the Südtirol logo at the bottom left.

Source: Official SII website

Unofficial Map: Transit of Riga, Latvia by Viteks Bariševs

February 28, 2014
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Transit Maps has been keeping an eye on this project for quite some time now: I reviewed an earlier version of this map way back in January 2012, noting that it held a lot of promise for the future.

At the time, Viteks was hopeful that he could get his map adopted as Riga’s official transit map. While that hasn’t quite happened yet, he’s definitely set himself up as an excellent alternative to the (pretty terrible) official maps. That’s right, the official website has to use three maps – one for each mode (bus, trolleybus, tram) – to show what Viteks has expertly put into one.

Having just had his map professionally printed, Viteks was kind enough to send me some samples for review. First off, this map reminds me why I will always love a map on paper… there’s just something about the way you can pore over it and absorb all the details fully that you just can’t replicate on a computer screen. A PDF of a complex network like this is all well and good, but you either have to view the whole map at a size which makes reading text hard, or you have to zoom in and lose the ability to relate the section you’re looking at to the system as a whole.

The print quality of the map is excellent, with good colour fidelity and registration throughout. The map folds down to a very compact size of just 8.5 x 17.5cm (3.3 x 6.9 inches) – a pocket map which can actually fit in a pocket without having to be folded over again! It unfolds to be around 51 x 35 cm (20 x 13.8 inches), which is big without being too big or unwieldy. The folds for the map also concertina nicely, so you could easily unfold it to just the portion that you need without opening it entirely.

The map itself has made great strides in legibility and information hierarchy since the 2012 version: the three transit modes are differentiated much better than before, and terminus stations are now clearly shown in white text in a black box (rather than with underlined text as before). While obviously a diagram, I think Viteks has done a good job of retaining spatial relationships between the different parts of the city, which an be helpful for orientation. The map also has an excellent city centre inset on the reverse of the main map (with some nifty little illustrations of the main points of interest), and a night bus map as well. Truly useful, well-considered information for all travellers!

A few thoughts for improvement: the map is probably at the absolute smallest size that it can be reproduced. While I can read the labels on it just fine, others with poorer eyesight may not fare so well.

Because the route lines are all so thin, the system that Viteks uses to distinguish between the three transportation modes – a solid coloured line for buses, a coloured line overlaid with a thinner white line for trolleybuses, and a coloured line overlaid with a thinner black line for trams – can be a little difficult to make out. The trolleybus lines effectively become two very thin coloured lines separated by an equally thin white one: depending on the colour of the line, this can be very difficult to discern. Similarly, if the route line colour for a tram service is relatively dark, the overlaid black line can be quite difficult to see. In the end, this doesn’t matter a huge amount, because Viteks has cleverly added a letter to the beginning of each route number that corresponds to the mode: A for autobus, E for trolleybus, and T for tram. The legend does point out that these prefixes aren’t actually shown on the vehicles, but perhaps this information could be made a little more prominent to prevent some poor tourist from standing around all day waiting for an “E15” to come.

In short, this is a fantastic effort to create something better than what’s officially available. This is obviously a labour of love and it shows in the attention to detail and quality of the work.

Historical Map: “Future Growth and Improvement” Map for Lansing, Michigan, 1921

February 27, 2014
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Here’s a simply beautiful map from the 1920s, showing a comprehensive proposed future plan for the city. Along with the extensive and fastidious plans for the extension of the city’s street grid (the web of red extending outwards from the core), the map also shows existing and proposed streetcars with solid and dashed thicker red lines, respectively.

The map also audaciously proposes that the main line railroads be placed onto an elevated viaduct through downtown, something that never actually happened.

Finally, I absolutely love the graceful hand-drawn typography on this – stunning!

Source: NewCityOne/Flickr

Video: New NYC Transit Touch Screens

February 25, 2014
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Neat little video from Gizmodo giving an overview of the new touch screen maps/informational kiosks at Grand Central. Is it just me, or does it take forever for the map to find and draw a requested route?

Source: Gizmodo/Vimeo

Historical Map: Old Paris Metro Map Uncovered at Les Halles Station

February 25, 2014
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A fantastic photo from Jean-Luc Raymond on Instagram of an old Metro map that’s just been revealed behind multiple layers of billboard advertising at Les Halles station. Definitely looks like it used to have a street grid layer which has faded away with age.

I’m not entirely sure of the vintage, although I’d say it can’t be from before 1979, as that’s when the RER C opened. It’s the thicker yellow line across the top of the photo with stations at Quai d’Orsay and St. Michel. The map’s typographical treatment – with names for interchange stations set in all caps Futura Bold – would also seem to point to that general era. Any further ideas on dating this?

Historical Maps: Surface Trolley Lines and Elevated/Subway Lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, 1913

February 22, 2014
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A superb pair of maps that depict the trolley lines (top) and elevated and subway lines (bottom) of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) Company as they would appear after the work specified in the famous “Dual Contracts” agreement was completed. Much of today’s existing subway system came about because of this contract, as can be seen from the red (proposed) lines on the lower map.

For me, the top map is even more interesting – it shows how incredibly dense the trolley system in Brooklyn was at the time.

Source: University of Texas Library map collection

Historical Map: SEPTA – July, 1983 Station Map

February 20, 2014
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What an amazing trash pile find! Not much more to add – the original post below pretty much says it all:

Via: jukiebot/Tumblr (no longer active):

This map is from the first year that SEPTA had become fully responsible for the operations of the commuter rail system in Philadelphia. I acquired this map a little while ago while wandering around West Philly with a friend where I saw a large pile of trash by the old water tower along the rail line. In that pile, I came upon this map and asked my housemate (he has a car) to swing by and grab it for me later as it was too large, heavy and filled with nails to carry it around with me all day. It has lived outside on our porch until a few weeks ago when my housemate took it upon himself of getting it off the plywood it had been secured to. As of today it was free from the board, after it broke a few drill bits, and I began the cleaning up process. It’s much better looking now but it has a very strange smell to it that I can’t exactly place or get rid of.

Every time I look at this map I’m reminded about how much transportation has changed in Philly since this was made. I think about such things frequently, quite frequently actually as its kind of my thing.

Today after cleaning it I wrote up a list of the stations that have been closed and added since this map was made. With this list I hope to go forward and document what I can (I already have a good start on this) about the stations that have been closed or altered.

Things to note on this map:

Market East Station does not exist at this point in time. All trains that had previously been part of the Reading Railroad System truncated at Reading Terminal Station, service to Reading Terminal ended on November 6, 1984 and shortly thereafter the Market East Station opened and connected the old Reading lines to the rest of the SEPTA system.

The Fox Chase Line that exists now once extended to Newtown and the history of this line in the Conrail and early SEPTA days is kind of storied and riddled with problems (accidents included). Rail buses replaced the aging Budd RDCs and finally operations ceased on September 3, 1985. Conrail did run trains on it until at least 1988 when a speeding motorist at a grade crossing in Newtown, PA hit a switch train.

The current Cynwyd Line once continued on to Ivy Ridge across the Pencoyd Viaduct until operations ceased on October 25,1986. The line was originally part of the Pennsy system as the Schuylkill Branch and went as far north as Wilkes-Barre through trackage rights that the Pennsy had of smaller lines in NE Pennsylvania. At the time of writing this, the Cynwyd Heritage Trail has plans to open the viaduct up as an extension of their path across the Schuylkill River.

The current Media/Elwyn Line at the time this map was made extended further to West Chester. Operations truncated on the line past Elwyn on September 19, 1986 and there is work currently being done to restore operations to Wawa. The Wawa Station originally was part of the West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad that was later absorbed by the Philadelphia & Baltimore Central Railroad, which was controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad (referred to mostly as the Pennsy here).

Finally, the Airport Line that we know and love did not exist until April 28, 1985. This line runs along what was originally part of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.

Please find the stations on this map that have been closed listed below with any information I know or think I know about when they closed. Obviously, there are a lot of things to note about this map that I haven’t included, or in the histories of lines that I summarized above. Railroad history, including our regional rail system history in Philadelphia is quite a full history and I’m currently very tired and hungry.

Trenton Line
Andalusia -1991
Wissinoming – 2003
Frankford – 1990’s
Frankford Junction – 1990’s

West Trenton Line
Tabor – 1992
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988

Fox Chase (Newtown) Line
Newtown – 1983- 1985
George School – 1983- 1985
Village Shires/Buck Road – 1983- 1985
Holland – 1983- 1985
Churchville – 1983- 1985
Southampton – 1983- 1985
County Line – 1983- 1985
Bryn Athyn – 1983- 1985
Huntingdon Valley – 1983- 1985
Walnut Hill – 1983- 1985
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988

Warminster Line
Fulmor – 1996?
Tabor – 1992
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988

Lansdale/Doylestown Line
Fellwick – 1996
Tabor – 1992
Logan – ?
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988

Chestnut Hill East Line
Fishers – 1992
Nicetown – 1988
Tioga – 1988

Chestnut Hill West Line
Westmoreland – 1994

Manayunk/Norristown Line
Mogees – 1992
Shawmont – 1996

Cynwyd (Ivy Ridge) Line
Barmouth – 1986
Manayunk – Upper Level – 1986
Ivy Ridge – Upper Level – 1986

Media/Elwyn (West Chester) Line
West Chester – 1986
West Chester State College – 1986
Westtown – 1986
Cheyney – 1986
Glen Mills – 1986
Wawa – 1986
Lenni – 1986
Glen Riddle – 1986
Williamson School – 1986

Broad – Ridge Spur
Spring Garden Street – 1991

Sharon Hill Trolley Line
Shisler Avenue – 2010

Submission – Maps of the Limited Accessibility of Public Transport

February 18, 2014
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Hi,

you might find this interesting: we’ve recently released a project about the limited accessibility of public transport (subway + commuter trains) in New York, London and Hamburg. The results are maps with an interactive slider that let you explore how thinned out the transportation network get’s when you’re handicapped e.g.

and here all the information about the project: http://mappable.info/blog/2014/2/8/accessibility

Transit Maps says:

The depiction of physical accessibility on transit maps of is something I’ve touched on before – see this great 2007 map of the London Underground with all the inaccessible stations removed (Nov. 2011, 5 stars) – but this is a fantastic and intuitive way to show the difference between all stations and only the accessible ones.

You should definitely click through to the full blog entry about this project and see the full interactive maps that have been created for New York, Hamburg and London. If you’ve been inspired, they also give ideas and instructions on how to create a similar map for the transit in your city.

Official Map: Bus Network of Brownsville, Texas

February 18, 2014
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A strong entry into the Transit Maps Hall of Shame from Brownsville, Texas, with this map that depicts the Brownsville Urban System (or “BUS” — I see what they did there).

Where to start with this awfulness? Probably with the graduated blue background that causes visual dissonance (that shimmering edge when colours clash horribly) with just about everything else on the map, especially the red street name labels! It also makes the underlying grey road network almost impossible to make out.

How about the myriad different dashes, dots, and line thicknesses used to denote the different routes? Because so many different line types are used, the Brownsville city limits (also depicted with a dashed line) end up looking like another route that encircles the city!

The inset that shows the location of stops at “NSTS” is absolutely impossible to make out. There’s an enormous and ugly compass rose that dominates the entire map and a whole other north pointer, just in case. There’s some absolutely appalling typography across the entire map. There’s a very precise scale (1:19,500) that would only apply if you printed the map out at its full 30” x 36” poster size, but also a warning that the “map is not to scale”. I could go on, but I won’t.

Our rating: If I actually had an icon for negative stars, I’d probably use it. Zero.

Source: Official Brownsville Metro site

Historical Map: Southern Pacific “Red Electric” Tracks in Downtown Portland, c. 1920

February 14, 2014
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Scanned from the book “The Red Electrics: Southern Pacific’s Oregon Interurbans” by Tom Dill and Walter Grande.

This handsome map shows the routing of the Southern Pacific’s electric interurban trains through downtown Portland from their northern terminus at Union Station. These trains, popularly known as the “Red Electrics” after their distinctive carriages, ran from Portland all the way down the Willamette Valley as far as Corvallis, 85 miles distant. Service started in 1914, extended to Corvallis in 1917 and ceased in 1929; just 15 years later.

These big, heavy trains ran right down the middle of Fourth Avenue from Union Station with an intermediate stop at Stark and Fourth. At Fourth and Jefferson, the lines split into two services: the “Westside” route served Beaverton, Hillsboro, Forest Grove and Carlton, while the “Eastside” line served Oswego, Sherwood, Newberg and Lafayette. The two routes connected in Saint Joseph, just north of McMinnville, and then continued to Corvallis.

Of further interest, the map also shows the route of the competing Oregon Electric company, running down 10th Avenue and Salmon Street. Their terminus station was at 10th and Hoyt (the train barns still exist, repurposed as fancy loft apartments on either side of 10th Avenue), with stations at 10th and Stark, 10th and Alder, Salmon and 5th/6th, and Jefferson and Front (modern-day Naito). Also seen is the incredible network of streetcar lines at the time, visible on almost every downtown street!

Source: jackonflickr/Flickr