Amidst all the hoopla surrounding the opening of the new MAX light rail Orange Line, it’s easy to forget that Portland’s streetcar is now also running over the new Tilikum Crossing bridge. They’ve taken this opportunity to rework their system map to bring it more in line with their new branding – check out the rather nice new logo at the top left of the map, which doesn’t look half bad on the streetcars themselves. […]
I’m really liking these fantastic axonometric projections of New York Subway station complexes by architect Candy Chan. This type of view isn’t anything revolutionary or new – see this fabulous diagram of London’s Piccadilly Circus tube station from 1929, for example – but these are all executed very deftly. The cleverly exaggerated vertical scale does a good job of preventing upper platforms and mezzanine levels from obscuring important detail below them, while the street level […]
Portland’s new Orange Line light rail opens tomorrow! And while I’m excited, I’ve long wondered why exactly it’s being called the Orange Line instead of just being an extension of the Yellow Line. I’ve heard mutterings that it allows operational flexibility – with some northbound Orange Line trains becoming Green Line trains if demand requires it – but that’s always seemed like pretty weak reasoning to me. And this promotional map almost entirely abandons that idea […]
Submitted by Michael Whalen (amongst others), who says: I just stumbled upon this map showing all CTA/Metra/SouthShore train connections in Chicago. There’s a lot going on, but I like how its much more diagrammatic than the regular map. I see several things that they’ve done with this map that I know you will hate, but I thought I’d leave it here for your critique anyway. Transit Maps says: There may be a few small things […]
Created by DeviantArt member Maphead354, this is pretty spot-on, right down to the MTA-styled “MUNI” logo and condensed serif font for park names. Of course, the letter designations for lines at every single station starts to look a bit silly with so few lines, but that’s part of the fun of the mash-up, I guess. Amusingly, just like in New York, other rail systems get relegated to thin blue ticked route lines. In NY, it’s […]
Nice work here from Steve, adapting the current Metro strip maps into their future forms – with consistent letter designations for all the lines (starting to roll out now, I believe), the new Pink “L” Line designation for the proposed northern branch of the current Green Line to Aviation/96th, the new configurations of the current Blue and Gold Lines once the Regional Connector opens in 2020, and the first phase Purple “C” Line extension to […]
Submitted by Kara Fischer, who says: I think I may have a new map for your Hall of Shame! Here’s the official map for A-Train service in Texas. That yellow line’s VERY hard to see on the pale background; there’s much more emphasis on the street grid and the lakes. And those station icons! I can’t tell what five of them are, and it’s absolutely ridiculous to only label them in the legend! Why can’t […]
Sent in by Edward Russell, who says: Possible base for new Denver rail map? I spotted this map showing the new rail lines opening in Denver in 2016 on the train. I like the design a lot more than the official rail map. It seems much cleaner and clearer then the other maps that you have shown. What do you think? Could this be a good base – clearly they’d have to add the existing […]
Submitted by Michael, who previously submitted this redesign of the current Pittsburgh rapid transit network. He’s since updated that map and I’ll share that soon, but he also sent along this intriguing fantasy map of Pittsburgh’s future, saying this: I have also created a Pittsburgh fantasy map. I have seen a few other fantasy maps, including this one, on which the red line crosses a river a meager five times, this one, in which most […]
mappingtwincities: Richmond Transit Map I had a pleasure of redesigning the system map for GRTC (Richmond, VA). The schematic-style map helps untangle this often convoluted bus system. The design features bigger, more legible type and highlights more frequent routes over less frequent and express routes in the network. It is now being installed through the city as part of a general information overhaul led by CHK America. See the PDF here Designed at CHK America. […]
