By now, everyone should know that I love a good isochrone map, so I’ve definitely been having fun with the Commutometer. It’s an online map that uses data from nine transit agencies around the San Francisco Bay Area to show you how far you can get from your currently selected point by public transport in a certain amount of time. It defaults to 30 minutes, but you can set it from anywhere from 5 minutes to […]
I’ve often lamented that Sydney’s transit maps each seem to live in a “mode vacuum”, where each individual map steadfastly refuses to acknowledge any other mode of transit, even though they’re all operated by the same agency. So the light rail map won’t show any connections to the main Sydney Train network, and the ferry map ignores the major train station located directly behind Circular Quay… that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, this new attempt at an […]
Here’s some interesting isometric-style maps that crossed my desk the other day. They’re part of a series of maps from the Sound Transit Federal Way Link Extension Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) Summary that outline all the proposed potential alignments from the soon-to-be-completed Angle Lake station south to Federal Way. I believe that the maps were produced by HDR as a consultant to Sound Transit, and they do quite a nice job of comparing and […]
Submitted by Pedro, who says: Rio de Janeiro City Hall made a new transit map! It’s the first official map of the city that shows all the options, including the new LRT line and the Olympic-exclusive lines. What do you think about it? Transit Maps says: Well, it’s certainly an improvement over the old Metro-only map (May 2012, 2 stars), and it’s always nice to see a map that integrates different transportation modes. Here, I […]
Here’s a look at a new system map for Calgary’s CTrain light rail system, as spotted by Natalie Sit when boarding one of the brand new LRVs yesterday. Conceptually and graphically, it’s much better than the previous map (February 2013, 2.5 stars) but there’s also something a little weird about it that I’ll get to later. First things first! The big improvement in this map is the treatment of the downtown area, making it absolutely […]
Here’s a rare example of an illustrated strip map, used above the doors on the Gold Coast’s G:Link light rail vehicles in Australia. Despite my self-professed preference for clean, minimalist, ordered design, I actually love this map to bits. Why? Because “sense of place” and community are the absolute winners here. The two-colour illustration style is charming and whimsical, while the instantly recognisable landmarks link the whole coast together from north to south. Most importantly, people […]
Here at Transit Maps, we see quite a few unified Bay Area maps. It seems that that the fractured nature of all the different transit agencies in the area seems to frustrate quite a few people, which drives them to try and make something better. The latest is this effort by Adam Susaneck, showing what things could look like in 2050 or so in a perfect world. It’s impeccably researched – head on over to […]
Submitted by Bruce Englehardt, who says: It’s been a while since your last review of the St. Louis MetroLink map (Dec. 2011, a generous 3 stars), and it has since been updated. Of note is the new Gateway Arch symbol and redundant labels. The labeling for stations seems more consistent overall and they’ve retained the parking labels (though now with colors that could be confused with connecting lines/services). Transit Maps says: Judging by the PDF’s […]
The LA Metro Twitter account just shared this new map, ready just in time for the opening of the Expo Line’s extension to Santa Monica tomorrow. Overall, it’s a really nice map, continuing the strong, unified branding and design that Metro deploys across everything: maps, signage, vehicles, stations, their website and other communications material. However, there are a few points of interest worth talking about. First, the map no longer shows Metrolink commuter rail lines, […]
Submitted by Kevin, who says: I combined two cool developments I’ve seen in transit maps on the internet, the isometric map from Stuttgart (October 2011, 5 stars) and GIFs of the evolution of a system. I lived in Dallas for school and again as a professional and while the network could be better, I always enjoyed riding the DART. And actually the system really lent itself to the map principles that seemed to work for […]
