One type of map we haven’t covered yet here at Transit Maps is the night services map, often considered a very poor relation to the main map. However, there are some excellent examples out there, especially this black and yellow beauty from the city of Zurich in Switzerland.
Have we been there? No.
What we like: Graphically very striking with its black and yellow colour scheme. Good differentiation between bus and train services accomplished by use of thick and thin route lines, and some subtle work at stations: train stations are white, major bus interchanges are a light tint of yellow, and minor bus stations are a darker tint of yellow. Fits seamlessly into the next map up in the series, showing night services in the Canton of Zurich.
What we don’t like: The way the S-Bahn tracks disappear between the Hauptbahnhof and Bellevue (re-emerging only to cross the river on a bridge) may be logical – the tracks are in a tunnel – but it breaks the flow of the route badly.
Our rating: A great example of the night services map genre. 4 stars!
Here’s a fascinating reworking of Harry Beck’s original 1933 Tube map that I haven’t seen before. Apparently it’s from an article in a journal from November 1933 that details the work required to upgrade the electrical services on the Underground.
Apart from the stark black and white treatment and addition of the power stations and substations, what’s really interesting about this map are the little tweaks and changes that have already occurred since the first edition of the map, produced just months beforehand. The Northern end of the Piccadilly Line has now reached Cockfosters, whereas the original map shows it as under construction. The District Line also no longer reaches Uxbridge, being replaced by Piccadilly Line service. The eastern end of the District Line on the original map just bled off the edge of the page; now it has a (slightly cramped) arrow head indicating that the line continues.
In fact, apart from the use of diamonds for interchange stations instead of circles, this map actually has far more in common with the 1936 edition of the London Underground Map than the 1933… which just goes to show how Beck – ever the perfectionist – was always tinkering with and perfecting his design.
A fantastic old in-car map from London’s old Metropolitan Railway: the world’s first underground railway and the precursor to the modern London Underground. Today, former Metropolitan Railway tracks and stations are used by the London Underground’s Metropolitan, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines.
I’m guessing this map is from around 1930 or so, as the Railway’s lines are substantially complete apart from the Stanmore extension out of Wembley Park, which opened in 1932. Of course, by 1933, all of London’s railways were amalgamated under the auspices of the London Passenger Transport Board and the modern Underground as we know it today was born.
Side note: We really should use the word “shewn” more often.
So every man and his dog is sending me links to the new Toronto TTC/Mario World mash-up map by Dave Delisle (prints for sale here). It’s definitely well executed, but I couldn’t help but think I’d seen something similar before…
A couple of minutes of Googling later: a similarly-themed (although aesthetically a little different) map of the Boston MBTA done last year by Adam Summerville (prints here).
I’d just like to make it clear that I do not think that Dave’s map is in any way derivative of Adam’s – the aesthetics are quite different in both maps. I just thought it would be interesting to compare how two artists approach a similar concept.
Both maps are excellently done, although I slightly prefer the Boston map for its more varied terrain. Which one do you like?
One of the things I love about running this blog is when amateur map designers send me their work for review. The quality of these maps is often amazing, and this one of Istanbul’s rapid transit network by Istanbul native Kerim Bayer is a fantastic example.
Design- and quality-wise, it far surpasses the official map (shown above for comparative purposes), which is a bit of a shambles: weird angles, muddy colours, poorly drawn and a bit old-fashioned. By contrast, Kerim’s map is bright, clear and modern.
Have we been there? No.
What we like: It’s obvious a lot of thought and attention to detail has gone into this map, including what parts of Istanbul’s transit system actually constitute “rapid transit”. As a result, dedicated BRT bus routes are shown, but the city’s two short gondola cable cars are not.
The general layout of the map is very pleasing, with nice even spacing between stations and well thought-out interchanges between lines. I especially like the addition of walking distances between platforms to give an idea of how long a transfer might take.
The colours used throughout the map are bright and modern – the substitution of light blue for water instead of a heavy grey makes a huge difference to the mood of the map.
What we don’t like: Despite looking fantastic, there is one huge drawback with Kerim’s map: everything is just too small in comparison to the finished size of the map. The PDF Kerim sent me is around 41 inches wide, or just over a metre. This seems to me to be a realistic final size for an in-car map, or a map you might find at a train station. However, his station labels at that final size are set at a mere 12 points – far too small to be read at any distance, or on a moving train.
Similarly, I feel that the route lines themselves are a little thin and spindly at the map’s final size – especially for the “under construction” routes, which have a white stroke down the middle of the line, making them very visually weak at any distance. I’d also like to see a little more differentiation between the different modes of transit shown on the map: at the moment it’s a little hard to tell which lines are BRT as opposed to tram or light rail, for example.
Finally, Kerim’s map sacrifices some information shown on the official map, such as the location of park-and-ride stations. While it helps his map look cleaner, this is important information for commuters and should be considered for inclusion.
Our rating: A beautiful-looking map that suffers slightly because of real-world considerations, but still an amazing piece of work that shows great potential. Four stars.
Matt Johnson sends these photos of great ads that use a subway map theme that he saw in the Montreal Metro on a recent trip. The interesting thing here is that these aren’t created by an ad agency riffing off the subway map theme, but are produced by the transit agency (the Société de transport de Montréal or STM) themselves, as informational ads regarding public transport and upcoming popular events.
The ads have a nice consistent design look that ties in well with other elements of the STM’s corporate identity. The four colours of the Metro map are integrated nicely, although the one thing the ads do is make the Metro map itself look a little dowdy and old-fashioned in comparison! While the rest of the STM’s look has moved on, the map is still firmly rooted in the past.
Here’s another interesting planning map from Sydney, Australia, showing a vision for the future that never quite got there.
If you look to the far centre right of the map, you can see the planned Eastern Suburbs line… including a never-built extension from the (now current) end of the line at Bondi Junction to Kingsford. There’s also an extra station at Woollahra in the section that did finally get built.
It’s these details that allow me to date the map fairly accurately: it’s post-1970, as the distances are in kilometres, not miles, but before 1976, which is when the extension to Kingsford was scrapped.
Have we been there? A little early for my time in Sydney (we moved there from Armidale in 1979).
What we like: A fascinating glimpse of what might have been. Although I’m not sure it’s intended, the thickness of the route lines throughout the system seem to act as an indicator of service frequency – something that is being seen more on modern transit maps. The old NSW Rail “arrow of indecision” is a pretty awesome 1970s logo.
What we don’t like: Pretty rough and ready, with distances being pasted on wherever they would fit. Not really for general consumption.
Our rating: Of historical interest for the vision of the Eastern Suburbs line alone, but doesn’t look great. Two-and-a-half stars.
Here’s an interesting map from my hometown of Sydney, Australia from around 1969. Unusually, it doesn’t display different services as separate coloured route lines: everything is shown as one uniform orange line. It also displays the distance from Sydney Central station (in miles), and the elevation (in feet) of each station. Non-electrified lines are shown as dashed lines. These odd features lead me to believe that this is a map for internal NSW Railways use, and was never intended for use by the general public.
Our rating: Of historical interest, but pretty bland and bare-bones. 2 stars.
