All posts tagged: USA

Submission – Fantasy Map: Pacific Electric, Modern Day by Julian

November 9, 2018
comment 1
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Julian, who says: Although Los Angeles’ Pacific Electric interurban system fell victim to the postwar wave of urban railway closures, systems in other cities were preserved on account of their grade-separated infrastructure. In San Francisco in particular, the only streetcar lines that were preserved were the 5 that were segregated from traffic for part of their length. Since certain segments of the Pacific Electric system were not only segregated from traffic but 4-tracked […]

Submission – Official Map: AppalCART Bus Routes, Boone, North Carolina

October 29, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Jessie Archer (who I note has an “appalcart.com” email address, so possibly had something to do with the creation of this map). Transit Maps says: First off, can we just note how awesome “AppalCART” is as a transit system name for a city in this part of North Carolina? Possibly one of my favourites ever. At first look, this is a reasonably attractive bus system map, especially for a smaller transit agency but it does […]

Project: My Boston Rapid Transit Diagram Update, 2018

October 14, 2018
comments 4
Filed Under:
My Transit Maps, Prints Available, Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Ever since I first designed it way back in 2012, I’ve tried to keep my popular alternative Boston MBTA rapid transit map updated as new stations opened and other changes to the network happened. However, with the opening of the Silver Line route to Chelsea (SL3) earlier this year, certain parts of my design just weren’t going to cut it anymore. Looking at the old version, it was also painfully obvious to me that I […]

Historical Map: Map of Interurban Lines and Trolley Observation Trip, Portland Electric Power Company, c. 1923

September 6, 2018
comment 1
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

Here’s a handsome map of electric rail transportation in and around Portland, Oregon that – somewhat curiously – I hadn’t come across before. For the most part, it correlates with my own research into the network in the 1920s, though there are two little stub lines shown that I haven’t previously seen on any other map. The first of these is a branch on the Oregon City interurban from the Gladstone stop eastwards a short […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: Metra Commuter Rail, Chicago by Rahul Raju

June 22, 2018
comments 2
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Rahul, who says: Hey! Wanted your comment on my redesign of the Metra map. Been a fan of the blog for a while, and I started making maps a few months ago. I would appreciate any feedback and comments. Transit Maps says: I like this a lot, Rahul! Very clean, slick and easy to follow. Pleasingly, the fare zones are clean and subtle – I note with some dismay that the Chicago RTA’s “Train […]

Historical Map – Bus and Streetcar Lines on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, c. 1935

June 7, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps, Prints Available
Tags:

An unusual perspective here – looking down the length of the mile-long diagonal parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (and its famous steps), with bus and streetcar routes highlighted in a lovely shade of apple green. Does a lot of work with just two printed colours – a reminder that limited palettes can sometimes be just as effective as full-colour. Really quite lovely. Prints of this map are now available in the Transit Maps […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: Los Angeles Metro Map Redesign, Showing Lines Operational by 2028

May 11, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Future Maps, Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Julian, who says: I was compelled to redesign my town’s transit map after reading a comment on LA’s map during the World Cup that said a detracting feature was that it looked “empty.” I try to solve this problem by both bringing more balance to the arrangement of the lines and giving a sense of geographical context with regional borders. I tilted north 45 degrees to create the pleasing visual effect of the […]

Historical Map: Map Showing the Great Coal Fields, Natural Gas Fields, Steam and Electric Railroads: and All Important Towns, Villages, and Streams Tributary to Columbus Within a Radius of 70 Miles

May 8, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps, Prints Available
Tags:

Phew – that’s quite the title, but what an amazing map! Using a sort of azimuthal projection, it places Columbus seemingly at the centre of the world, with a “horizon” of 70 miles in all directions. Towns, natural resources and the many and varied railroads of the time all radiate out from this mighty epicentre in great detail, receding into the distance as the scale diminishes on the outer edges. Clever use of a limited colour […]

Submission – Official Map: New BART Extension to Antioch

April 30, 2018
comments 2
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Josh, who says: Hey there! Curious about your thoughts on what looks like BART’s decision to not show its new eBART line as a separate line. If you haven’t been following it – instead of extending BART from its northeast terminus at Pittsburg/Bay Point, it instead built a two-station extension built to standard railroad gauge (BART uses Indian gauge) and running light rail DMUs. There’s a separate transfer platform at Pittsburg/Bay Point where […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: Brown University Shuttle Bus by Michael Kearney

April 9, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Michael, who says: My university redid the branding of their shuttle service recently, officially called the BUS (Brown University Shuttle) but called just “the shuttle” by students. They color-coded the bus lines and put up new signs. The only thing the signs are missing, though, is a map. I took it upon myself to make one. Because distances between stops are fairly short, having some streets and greens was important to help orient […]