All posts tagged: Australia

Submission – Official Map: Transperth Rail Diagram, 2026

January 12, 2026
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Submitted by Noah, who says: I would appreciate a review of the updated system map for Transperth. Transit Maps says: This dates from October 2025, when the Armadale line was extended one station to Byford. Again, this is one of those diagrams that gets the job done, but absolutely lacks any finesse and craft. There’s a whole litany of problems here — angled labels when there’s plenty of room for them to be horizontal, inconsistent […]

Quick Project: Queensland Rail Network Diagram

July 2, 2025
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My Transit Maps, Unofficial Maps
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Okay, as promised in the previous post, here’s my version of the Queensland passenger rail network as a diagram. As is usual for these redesigns, I’ve only spent a few hours on this – just to show that better design doesn’t necessarily need to take a lot of time. Everything is meant to be simple but clear. The rules – the same canvas size as the official map, and all of the information on the […]

Submission – Official Map: Queensland Rail Network

July 1, 2025
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Submitted by Bushland Maps, who says: I have noticed that no one has submitted the Queensland Rail network map, so here it is! Sort of… I have attached the link to the web page rather than the image because the legend isn’t on the map, its actually below it on the webpage… That will be fun to format! I find this map peculiar for a few reasons, namely the fact that corners, station dot locations, […]

Submission – Unofficial Diagram of Victorian Ferry Routes, 2024 by Bushland Maps

November 21, 2024
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Submitted by Bushland Maps, who say: Ferries are a bit of a forgotten mode of transport in Melbourne. With no integration into the fare system or journey planners, and with overarching public transport body PTV only “overseeing” three of the routes (which doesn’t have any practical effect on the service), they are mostly either seen as a tourist attraction (which fairly some are) or not seen at all. Since there is no official map or […]

Submission – Official Map: Rail and Bus Map of Southeast Queensland, Australia, 2024

October 10, 2024
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Submitted by Lachlan, who says: Brisbane dropped a new transit map and it is EXTREMELY pretty. I’m a big fan. Definitely the best-designed official transit map in Australia in my opinion. It even acknowledges the rapid bus routes and the G-Link light rail! I wish it could have acknowledged the existence of the ferries but that would probably require that the city centre become even more distorted… … and also submitted by Michael, who says: […]

Historical Map: Diagram of Passenger Stations in the Sydney Metropolitan Area, 1928

July 29, 2024
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There’s a lot to like about this simple little track diagram of Sydney’s rail system from 1928. There’s a lot of different angles – both with route lines and station labels – but it still manages to hang together as a coherent whole. A big part of that is the dead straight Western line running all the way across the canvas from Central to Penrith, which provides that vital design axis that good diagrams almost […]

Historical Map: Sydney Railway Layout, 1953

September 29, 2023
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Unearthed on Twitter (It’ll always be Twitter to me, no matter what Elon says) by @crossing_lights, this is quite an extraordinary find. Long-time readers may have seen the 1939 version of this diagram (and the digital recreation that I made). Here’s the thing: the general consensus has always been that this was a one-off attempt at something in the style of H.C. Beck’s newfangled London Underground diagram. I seem to recall that one theory even […]

Historical Map: Trams of Brisbane, Queensland, 1957

May 9, 2023
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A simple but nicely drawn map of tram services in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1957. The lack of any sort of key for the routes means that users need to have some familiarity with the city to decipher where trams might go. The pamphlet that the map is part of includes information about the route names and first and last cars for the day along with some sight-seeing tours that can be made by tram, […]

Official Map: Sydney Trains Bankstown Line Closure Bus Services Map… and a Better Unofficial Alternative

June 7, 2021
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Official Maps, Unofficial Maps
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Sydney’s Bankstown Line is closing for two weeks at the end of June as part of its conversion from standard heavy rail to a new and fancy high-frequency Metro line. Sydney Trains has produced the following map to help people navigate the many train replacement bus services needed to get riders around, and it’s… not great. While I understand that producing this type of map often involves a rapid turnaround with very little budget, this […]

Official Map: Melbourne Tram Network, 2021

May 26, 2021
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Here’s a review that’s definitely very overdue: the official Melbourne tram network diagram. Overall, it’s a very pleasantly stylised depiction of the network using 30-degree angles, though it probably takes diagrammatic expansion of the downtown area to extremes. The distance from Harbour Esplanade to Spring Street is just 2.5km (or 1.5 miles), but it takes up a huge portion of the map, shrinking Melbourne’s expansive suburbs substantially. I will say that the extra room for […]