Remember back in August when the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) asked for the public’s input on where future subways in the city might run by means of an interactive “draw a subway map” tool? Well, they’ve just released the collated results of that survey – which had some 2,600 respondents – as a heat map, and the results are certainly definitive. It would seem that almost everyone wants a subway line along the […]
I love it when people take my criticism of a map and use it as inspiration to come up with an alternative solution. Having seen my recent review of the new official map (October 2016, 1.5 stars), Peter took it upon himself to redesign it – and quickly, taking less than a day to come up with his version. Peter obviously agreed with a lot of my concerns about the official map, because he’s addressed […]
Submitted by lukasmaps, who says: I think I’m gonna hurl… Shows buses, but NOT the Metromover? Come on. Transit Maps says: Well, it at least shows the stations that you can transfer to the Metromover at (all two of them), so it’s kind of on par with the buses – no actual bus routes are shown, just a list of numbers at each station. Showing the Metromover on this map is problematic because of the disparate […]
Submitted by nerdwiththehat, who says: Any thoughts on the MBTA map from The Simpsons’ Boston lambast bash last night? Looks like the new design. Transit Maps says: It sure does, although it has a cunningly crafted square “T” logo to prevent confusion with the real thing. The background water layer has also been deleted, probably to make the route lines stand out a little more obviously. Curiously, it’s labelled as a “bus routes map”, but overall, this is […]
One of my longest-running projects is a subway diagram-styled map of Amtrak’s passenger rail network, with the original version dating back to 2010. I always made sure to update it regularly over the years, adding and deleting stations to keep it current. In April last year, I attempted to update the design of the map as well, although I ended up trying a few too many overly-clever things with it – overlaying lines on top of […]
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 […]
Hey, the Cincinnati Streetcar – sorry, the corporate branded “Cincinnati Bell Connector” – opened today! It’ll run for free over the weekend, with fares to be paid from Monday onwards. This is notable because it really looked like this streetcar would never get off the ground, what with anti-streetcar ballot initiatives, opposition from Ohio’s Governor John Kasich, and a mayor in John Cranley who threatened to cancel the project and literally tear up a section of […]
The Los Angeles Metro opened up a new beta version of its website for public review today. The first noticeable thing is that the interactive system map is front and centre on the home page – the very first thing that you see upon entering the site. No having to click through to the deepest depths of the website just to find a map here, something too many agencies still insist on doing. It’s still […]
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 Mike Christensen, who says: The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) recently added strip maps to its FrontRunner commuter rail trains. At first glance, the maps looked adequate to me. But after a few moments of thought, I have the following critique. First off, the N and S denoting north and south at the end of the route is a bit confusing. However, the biggest criticism I have is the lost opportunity to show connecting […]
