I was reminded today of this work — one of my favourite transit map design exercises of all time from the always interesting Burrito Justice website. A ridiculously minimalist “hyperlinear” version of the BART map, it actually holds up surprisingly well as a navigational tool. Of course, something like this only works for a relatively simple system like BART. Source: comments thread of this post on the Burrito Justice site
transportationnation: From Oaklandish: an ambitious 1956 BART prototype map. Some might say a little overly ambitious!
Apparently, these strip maps are fairly new. I’m all in favour of wayfinding elements that help people plan their journey, but there’s some parts of this that definitely make this feel like a first draft, rather than a finished piece. The overlapping terminus dots at Millbrae and Daly City look a little odd, and the giant silhouette of a BART train indicating direction of travel is almost totally unnecessary. The real problem, though, is the […]
Source: Jean (tarkastad)/Flickr
Source: Oran Viriyincy/Flickr
I really, really don’t know what to think about this map. On one hand, it looks amazing, with a solid and well applied design theme. On the other, it’s so rich with information (with around 200 Metro-run routes plus those of Municipal bus operators!) that’s it’s almost impossible to make anything out clearly. Maybe this is a case of form over function, or maybe it needs to be viewed at it’s actual poster dimensions (which, […]
Requested by Mr. Grafix, among others. Public transportation in LA is making a comeback, decades after the last streetcar line was ripped up. At the heart of this renaissance is the Metro system, an odd combination of light rail (Blue, Green and Yellow lines), heavy rail (Red and Purple lines) and Bus Rapid Transit (Orange and Silver lines). The new Expo Line is also nearing completion of Phase I and will be showing up on […]
A fascinating snapshot in time of the full extent of the great Pacific Electric Railway Company’s operations in Los Angeles and southern California. The famous “Red Cars”, a combination of streetcars and interurban light rail spanned vast distances at a time before the car had truly entered the American way of life. Within 30 years, most of this system – the “largest electric railway system in the world” – had been replaced by motorcoach services […]
An absolutely stunning overhead perspective drawing of San Francisco in this old cable car company map of services. The Golden Gate bridge does not exist yet, and fares to any part of the city (including transfers) are just five cents. Have we been there? Yes, but the remaining cable cars are now just a sad, touristy reminder of what there once was. What we like: Just about everything. The draftsmanship, and detailing is extraordinary – […]
