Sound Transit’s network will expand rapidly in the near future – with new Link light rail lines, extensions to the Tacoma Link streetcar and Sounder commuter rail, as well as the new Stride BRT lines along SR 523/SR 522 and I-405. With all these new services, Sound Transit has to come up with a way to identify all of them on future maps. Originally, the current Link light rail spine was going to be renamed […]
Submitted by Fern, who says: A few weeks ago, i made a fairly rough strip map of almost all Bay Area passenger rail services using some pens and graph paper. I was wondering if you’d like to review it? Transit Maps says: A nice effort at a Bay Area-wide topological diagram, Fern! It certainly fits into the long, narrow proportions of your average strip map nicely. I particularly like the use of a “half-grid” for […]
The Melbourne suburban train network just after the City Loop opened in 1981. This is probably my favourite map of this particular network: it’s clean and graphically simple — black dots are all that are used to indicate parking, not a graphical vehicle icon or even a “P” in a circle. The colours are nice and bright and group the lines into operational groups quite neatly… an approach I prefer far more than the zone-based […]
Submitted by Bernie, who says: It’s been a while! I’m wondering whether you would be interested in taking a look at a diagram I have completed recently, showing all railway lines (except local or in-park people movers, such as the Disneyland monorail) around the Tokyo conurbation. I welcome any and all feedback! Transit Maps says: What an undertaking, Bernie! Mapping Tokyo’s subway lines alone is a huge challenge, let alone every darn rail in the […]
Transit maps for Naples have been decidedly average and piecemeal in the past (see here and here for past reviews), so it’s lovely to see this new official map presenting a fully integrated view of rapid transit in and around the city. Designed by Andrea Spinosa of CityRailways — whose Atlas of Italian Rail Transit poster we reviewed back in 2014 — this is definitely a huge step in the right direction, being much better […]
Having just reviewed Kristoffer Bæk and Pasha Omelekhin’s superb new rail map for Copenhagen (October 2019, 4.5 stars), let’s take a look at what the official map looks like with the addition of the new ring Metro line. It’s very obviously an evolution of the existing and distinctive DSB design style (last reviewed on Transit Maps back in 2014, 4 stars), and may even use the exact same base map underneath the route lines. Apart […]
Sometime after I reviewed Kristoffer’s original unified Copenhagen-area transit map (January 2019, 4 stars), he began to collaborate with Pasha Omelekhin, a designer probably most well-known for his alternative Berlin map. They’ve just released their revised map, and it’s really quite wonderful. Designwise, it’s definitely an evolution of Kristoffer’s original map, but I can see where the collaboration has resulted in marked improvements to the map. The interchanges have a more consistent design now, one […]
Submitted by Harry, who says: Hi Cam – I’m a big fan of your blog, been reading for years. I’ve always wanted to try designing a transit map, but hadn’t found a good system to start with (I live in NYC, which is both daunting and already done well)… until recently! I visited Sorrento in June, and had the chance to ride the Circumvesuviana from Naples to Sorrento and round-trip from Sorrento to Pompeii. Something […]
A map presented as part of an overview of future rapid transit prepared by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. See the whole document here. It’s a pretty basic thing, designed in that chunky 1970s style, but it’s interesting to compare it to what Pittsburgh has ended up building. Solid orange lines are proposed express commuter bus services, while dashed orange lines represent fixed guideway lines. If the lines are cased in black, then they […]
Here’s a beautiful map from 1954, showing the lines of the Compañía General de Ferrocarriles Catalanes (CGFC), the predecessor of today’s Llobregat–Anoia commuter rail line. The map is mainly notable for its restrained use of the four colours available to it: black line work with blue, red and yellow all performing precisely one function each. I also enjoy the economical depiction of Barcelona, which is represented solely by Montjuic, the port area and the towering […]
