Submitted by Robert, who says:

I’ve always thought that San Diego’s “Trolley” map to be pretty bad, with various clashing angles, line icons and brand names (ugh) that don’t add anything (“Sycuan” is a casino, and the Blue LIne is named UC San Diego because they’re a sponsor, not because the line extension will go there). Only ONE landmark is noted, the baseball park downtown. The only geographical feature indicated is the international border, which isn’t necessarily bad, but if they’re going to note the border, they could also indicate that from San Ysidro station it’s a short walk to Mexico. On the other hand, two stations have airport indicators, yet the airport is far from both of them, and there’s no airport shuttle as such. All in all, it’s just a mess of a map.

Anyway, I was hoping that the MTS would take the opportunity to rethink the map when they open the major extension of the Blue Line north to UC San Diego and “UTC”, which is a major center of offices and housing. I just ran across a new map on the MTS website [and] I’d love to hear your comments! To me, it’s moderately better than the old one, but not great, and I think a design professional (which I’m not) could improve it immensely. It really bugs me that the Orange Line takes a short right angle while all other turns are presented as curves… I also think the broad Orange Line curve at City College is distracting, but maybe that’s unavoidable? What bothers me most is the Orange Line angle in Lemon Grove that does not reflect the angle of the “Euclid Avenue” label that’s next to it. Ouch!

Transit Maps says:

This one’s an interesting beast, Robert – there’s some things I like more than in the old version (left), and some that I don’t. It probably comes out as being better in the long run, but only just. Overall, it’s certainly cleaner and easier to read, with the angled labels being slightly less neck-breaking. The placement of Courthouse station is much better now, without the overwrought way it was brought inside the Silver Line loop previously. An understated but very welcome change is the way that the line name icons have all lost their black outlines (which made them look a bit childish) and now have their names set in the same colour instead of black. It unifies the information and links the names directly to the route lines themselves – so much better!

However, I do miss the unique angles of the previous map, which were very distinctive and perhaps even a little more representative of the actual trajectories of the lines in real life (not always important in a diagram, but still nice to have if possible!). It’s especially noticeable with the downtown loop, which had a very distinctive curved section in its southwestern quadrant, but is now just a regular ol’ rectangle.

Speaking of the loop, the Silver Line – a heritage trolley, not full light rail – is still a bit problematic. It only runs in a clockwise loop because the PCC streetcars on the line are only single-ended, and it only runs on weekends – neither of which are indicated on the map. It also doesn’t get any station dots, which perhaps indicates that it was included somewhat grudgingly on the diagram. A directional arrow or two might fix the first problem; and a more comprehensive map legend the second.

The sharp right-angle turn that the Orange Line takes at 12th & Imperial is perhaps a little unfortunate, but seemingly unavoidable if the Green and Orange lines are to create a unified horizontal line across the diagram. There are potential solutions like staggering the station dots at 12th & Imperial, but something like that might come across as over-designed on a simple diagram like this one.

Interestingly, because the rest of the diagram has become strictly rectilinear, the one remaining angled section along the Orange Line looks a bit out of place – I might have just straightened it out to simply form a standard 90-degree angle. The error that Robert points out above – that the angled station labels don’t match the angle of this section of line is impossible to unsee once you’ve noticed it, unfortunately.

Finally, I quite like the hatched treatment of the future extension of the Blue Line – it’s got a very “Washington, DC Metro Map” feel to it, which I think the designers were definitely trying to evoke.

Our final word: Better, but at the cost of an unique and distinctive map design.