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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Q Hi, do you have a map of Los Angeles back from the late 70s? Am looking for any kind of transit map but haven’t found anything yet. Would be a huge help. Thanks in advance! A The LA Metro Archives has some 1970s bus maps available (there was no rail service in the 1970s, though there are some early planning documents). Specifically answering your request, here’s the SCRTD bus map from January 1979. You […]
I’m quite taken by this interesting vision of Boston in an alternative future – one where the elevated rapid transit lines were never torn down, but instead upgraded to be part of a comprehensive and dense transit system. As well as these old lines (and the Watertown “A” branch of the Green line and the full length of the “E” branch!), Amy also adds in other proposed additions to the network like the Green Line […]
