Historical Map: Perth and Suburban Districts Showing Tramway Routes

October 26, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

The extent of the tramway system in Perth, Australia in the 30s and 40s before it was all ripped up in 1958. Ironically, the State Government wants to build a new tram network over 50 years later.

Transit Maps says: Sweet old school tram map, with routes simply and clearly overprinted in bold red on top of a street map. Perth certainly isn’t alone in rebuilding what once existed: this type of urban renewal through transit is happening all over the place, especially here in the US.

However, is “MAX” really the best name Perth could come up with? Portland, Oregon and Las Vegas already use the same acronym (Metropolitan Area Express), there’s also a Modesto Area Express in California, while Salt Lake City also has its own MAX (which doesn’t seem to stand for anything). Not forgetting Auckland’s MAXX with an extra “X” as well. A little originality, please!

Official Map: Merseyrail Network, Liverpool, England, 2012

October 25, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by ma77design, who says:

I think it’s one of the most unattractive and horribly designed transit maps out there. It hasn’t been redesigned or reworked for a large number of years. Its choice in colours is uninspiring and doesn’t really offer much to people using it.

Transit Maps says:

While certainly not the worst transit map out there by any stretch of the imagination, this map is so bland and generic that it looks like it escaped from the cookie-cutter factory. There’s no major technical defects or horrible mistakes, but it’s just so… meh.

Aesthetically, things could be easily improved by rounding the corners where routes change direction and adopting a more contemporary colour palette (that yellow fare zone is pretty hard on the eyes). The part that needs the most work is definitely the table of station details underneath the actual map, which is pretty terrible. The table alone takes this down from a completely average (meh) score of 2.5 stars to a lowly two.

Source: Official Merseyrail website

Fantasy Map: DC Subway Map from “Leverage”

October 24, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps
Tags:

Just good enough to pass for the real thing when fleetingly seen in the background of a TV show.

The map uses real DC Metro station names, but they’re all in the wrong places. The “corporate identity” uses the colours from the old TriMet livery… which is kind of neat, seeing as the show is filmed in Portland, TriMet’s base of operations.

In the show, I believe that the Washington Park MAX station (the only underground station in the system) stands in for DC Metro stations.

Source: TriMet/Flickr

Official Map: Suggested Bus Network of Wellington, New Zealand

October 23, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

When Brent Palmer submitted his own frequent service map of Wellington, he also sent along a link to a PDF of a diagram that the Greater Wellington Regional Council is using as a discussion piece to promote changes to the bus network.

I think Brent describes it best:

There are plans for a more comprehensive public transport network in Wellington. What a shame that the schematic depicting it is a monstrosity that looks like it was done by the work-experience kid. You’re gonna need eye-bleach.

Transit Maps says:

Wow. This thing is simply terrible. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it had been thrown together in Word or PowerPoint with the limited drawing tools available in those applications. But no-one would ever do that… would they?

Metadata in the PDF reveals a document title of “Wellington Network Diagram for Advertorial”, so appallingly, it would seem that this is a map meant for public consumption, and is not just an internal planning document.

Right now, I finally think that the Buffalo light rail map has some serious competition as the worst map to ever grace this blog. Half a star.

Source: link to PDF file – download at your own risk!

Unofficial Map: Frequent Transport of Wellington, New Zealand by Brent Palmer

October 23, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted and created by Brent Palmer.

This is one I conjured up this weekend, dealing with Wellington, NZ. Only four local bus routes (and the Airport Flyer) turned out to meet any half-reasonable “frequent service” criteria.

Transit Maps says:

A gorgeous looking map from long-time follower, Brent Palmer, that unfortunately serves to highlight the paucity of frequent transit services in New Zealand’s capital. Another striking dark background, and some unusual but highly effective colours for the routes themselves. Brent makes good use of the extra space afforded by the lack of routes, with nice big numbers for the routes, clear type, and a very handy inset diagram of commuter rail services. Top notch work indeed. Four-and-a-half stars!

Unofficial Map: Caltrain Route map by jeflu

October 23, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Created by “jeflu”, who says:

A better Caltrain map: Caltrain’s current route map looks outdated and provides very minimal transfer information. I’ve created a refreshed map which provides more comprehensive transfer info (to other transit systems and airports) as well as a one-way fare chart. Stations served by Baby Bullet express trains are in bold. A current drawback: I left out all weekend-only and south-of-San-Jose stops. Future renditions could include those.

Transit Maps says:

This is nice! Much, much better than the stale old official map.

The bold names for the adorably-named “Baby Bullet” service is simple but effective, and doesn’t clutter the map up with an extra route line for this express service.

Perhaps the BART services out of Millbrae station could point north rather than south to better reflect the direction trains actually travel in, but that’s a very minor quibble.

Lovely colour palette, too. Four stars!

Unofficial Map: Thunder Bay Bus Network by faiscequetupeux

October 22, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted and created by faiscequetupeux, who says:

A subway-style map of my city’s bus network. I’ve been making maps like this for 5 years now, this is the most detailed I’ve gotten.

The official system map is here.

I have plans to add downtown-level insets showing how the routes run near the two main terminals, and possibly layouts of each of the minor terminals as well, but that will come later.

Transit Maps says: A fine piece of work that looks visually superior to the official map. Perhaps a little guilty of trying to do a bit too much – the map relies heavily on a comprehensive (and slightly overwhelming) legend as well as a bewildering and sometimes less than intuitive array of dashed and stroked route lines to denote different frequencies and service patterns. There seems to be quite a bit of crossover between service icons and service strokes: are both needed, or can they be streamlined into one system or the other? On a more positive note, the icons for off-peak services and summer services are gorgeous, and the directional arrows for bus stops works really well.

Our rating: I’m giving this map four stars despite its flaws, because it looks great and is ambitious in its desire to be better than the existing map, and that sort of thinking should be rewarded.

Transit Maps Turns One!

October 21, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Miscellany

From this humble post about the Barcelona Metro map on the 20th of October last year, Transit Maps has continue to grow and thrive, with a staggering 1,800 followers here on Tumblr, more than 480 on Twitter, and 260 on my Facebook page. Thanks to each and every one of you for your interest and support – there’s still so much more to show and share with you!

– Cameron

MetroTable: the Moscow Metro as an Awesome Coffee Table

October 18, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Miscellany
Tags:

Do want.

Source: Vladimir Tomilov’s Behance Portfolio via @Piktograf

Photo: Porto Metro Signage

October 18, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps, Photography
Tags:

Looks quite lovely in location… although perhaps a little small to be seen from far away.

Source: varlamov/Flickr