All posts tagged: USA

Submission – Fantasy Map: Harrisburg Area Rapid Transit by James Gibbons

April 13, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Fantasy Maps
Tags:

Submitted by James, who says: This is a dream/concept I have for light rail transit in the Harrisburg, PA region. For a rather small metro area, there is pretty bad traffic, and oddly spaced suburban development of varying densities. I believe light rail transit in the region would spur more responsible developments and relieve traffic on both back roads and expressways, while encouraging walking. The system focuses on connecting suburban communities with the central core […]

Historical Map: Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. Trackage Map, 1910

April 13, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

What appears at first glance to be a street map of Philadelphia in the early 20th century is actually not what it seems. All this map depicts is streetcar track and mainline railroads (in traditional ticked lines), showing how incredibly dense the streetcar network was at the time, especially downtown. Interestingly, a lot of the system appears to be single-track only. Nowadays, only a few vestigial trolley lines recall the days when streetcars reigned supreme […]

Historical Map: Proposed Franklin Street Subway Line, Chicago, 1977

March 30, 2017
comment 1
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

In the late 1960s, Chicago actually seriously considered knocking down the elevated parts of the “L” and replacing it all with a modern subway network. The plan originally called for multiple lines, but these got whittled down over the years for a variety of reasons – lack of funding being one of the major ones. By 1977, all that remained on the table was the Franklin Street Subway, shown in red in the handsome illustrated […]

Submission – Proposed Official Map: BaltimoreLink System Map, 2017

March 28, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Ryan VanSickle and Christian Hurst. Ryan says: I’d like to submit the official proposed BaltimoreLINK system map.  In addition to its frequency mapping and radial design (something I haven’t seen much in official maps from transit agencies), it’s got a few features that indicate a sense of humor – monsters in Chesapeake Bay, and Lil’ Linky the advice bus.  There’s no elaborate compass rose to match the tallship and giant octopus, though. The […]

Submission – Official Map: Tysons Corner, Virginia Bus Transit Options Map

March 7, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Dan Reed, who says: Tysons Corner, Virginia is the archetypal suburban edge city and as traffic becomes unbearable, officials are hustling to get people on transit, particularly the new Silver Line with four local stops. The owners of Tysons Corner Center, one of the nation’s biggest malls and a tourist attraction in its own right, seem to have made this “spider map” showing all of the bus and rail service to and from […]

Submission – “Transit Flow” by Ray Luong

March 1, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Visualizations
Tags:

A visual exploration of BART ridership throughout a typical workday. Watching the video below is fun, but the actual tool – made with HTML/CSS, JS, .d3.js, Sketch and BART ridership data – is even better. Click here to view it.  After you’ve watched it through to about 2pm, some controls will appear down the bottom left to change the speed of the simulation, and also switch between “inbound” and “outbound” trains (which I think should be labeled […]

Submission – New Denver RTD Rail System Strip Map, 2017

February 28, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Dan Malouff, who says: Denver has opened several new rail lines over the past year or so. Apparently, with the most recent one, they launched a new system map. Finally they’re using consistent angles!  Transit Maps says: So far, this new design only seems to be on in-car strip maps: RTD’s website still uses a version of the horrid old “wibbly lines” diagram. Small steps! It’s certainly a vast improvement over what’s come […]

Submission – New Salt Lake City Light Rail Strip Map, 2017

February 28, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Bailey, who says: UTA (Salt Lake City) looks like they’ve been improving maps in the individual cars, as well. While the abysmal deservingly-zero-star maps are still in use at some stations, all cars have these fancy new maps over about half of the doors of the cars. This was taken in an SD-160 car. I like it, but I feel like it could do without the names of the cities on the map. […]

Could a Tweak to the DC Metro Map Fix Overcrowding?

February 22, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Here’s a quick link to an article in the Washington Post by Martine Powers about a study that shows how tinkering with Washington, DC’s Metrorail map influences rider’s perceptions of the system and which path they should take to reach their final destination. In the image above, for example, the Blue Line has been altered to look less desirable than the Yellow Line when coming into DC from the south… and in testing, there was […]

Submission – Future Official Map: Oklahoma City Streetcar, 2017

February 17, 2017
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Future Maps, Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Kara Fischer, who says: I don’t know if you’ve seen this one yet, but here’s the page for the upcoming Oklahoma City Streetcar, featuring probably my favorite official streetcar map that I’ve ever seen. The color scheme is calm yet visible, the map doesn’t feel cluttered despite identifying every street and countless landmarks, walking times are included in relevant places, and the position of the station marker indicates the side of the road […]