All posts tagged: USA

Submission – Sea-Tac Airport People Mover Diagram, 2021

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Official Maps

Submitted by Chris, who says: Sea-Tac has three inter-terminal people mover systems. They’ve introduced a new system map with color routing designations. Transit Maps says: Boy, this diagram makes really hard work out of something fairly simple. The colour-coding is fine if it helps people find the right train to get to their terminal, though I personally never had a problem with understanding that the North train loop took me to the North satellite terminal. […]

Submission – Official Map: Green Line Route Map at New SLC Airport Station

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Official Maps

Submitted by Mike, who says: The construction of the new terminal at Salt Lake City International Airport necessitated constructing a new light rail station, which opened today. One interesting new thing for UTA at the station is a line map. While these have existed on board UTA’s TRAX light rail and FrontRunner commuter rail trains for a while, this is the first time they have used this kind of map at a station. I do […]

Project: Electric Streetcars and Interurbans of Yakima, Washington, 1920

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Historical Maps, My Transit Maps, Prints Available

The third in my series of maps depicting electric streetcar networks of the Pacific Northwest, one that both builds on my previous maps of Spokane and Portland and adds something new to the mix: geography. The full project description follows, but you can view the map below or click here to view it in a full-screen window. At first sight, the Yakima streetcar and interurban network may not look quite as impressive as the other […]

Submission – Official Map: San Diego Trolley Diagram, 2021

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Official Maps

Submitted by Robert, who says: I’ve always thought that San Diego’s “Trolley” map to be pretty bad, with various clashing angles, line icons and brand names (ugh) that don’t add anything (“Sycuan” is a casino, and the Blue LIne is named UC San Diego because they’re a sponsor, not because the line extension will go there). Only ONE landmark is noted, the baseball park downtown. The only geographical feature indicated is the international border, which […]

Submission – Official Map: Sound Transit Link Northgate Extension Line Map, 2021

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Official Maps

Submitted by Chris Bastian, who says: In anticipation of this month’s service extension to Northgate [Opening day is October 2! – Cam], Sound Transit is rolling out new maps on the Link rail system. Now tagged as the “1 Line” (Green) in anticipation of the future East Link extension. Transit Maps says: I think this our first look at Sound Transit’s new design style in the out in the wild, and it’s a pretty decent […]

Project: A Map of Electric Streetcars in Portland, Oregon, 1915

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Historical Maps, My Transit Maps, Prints Available

Here’s a map that’s been a long time coming, and one that I think has been worth the wait. I’ve wanted to make a transit map of historical streetcar routes in my adopted home town of Portland, Oregon for at least five years now, but it’s always seemed like a very daunting task. The success of my historical Spokane streetcar map from earlier this year finally gave me the tools I needed to get this […]

Video: History of the MBTA’s Rapid Transit Map

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Miscellany, Official Maps

I came across this on YouTube the other day, and thought it was definitely worth sharing. It’s quite long (clocking in at well over an hour if you include the Q&A session at the end), but there’s a lot of great insight into both the history of the MBTA map, and of Ken’s personal journey designing the map over the years. Of particular interest is how the whole redesign via a crowd-sourced contest a few […]

Submission – Historical Map: M6 Bus Route Sign, New York, c. 1975

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Historical Maps

Submitted by Shaul Picker, who says: I have a Flickr and save these images from eBay listings and elsewhere. This is a sign from the former New York City Department of Traffic showing the M6 bus route, which was eliminated in 2010. Transit Maps says: What a great little map! While the M6 may have been eliminated in 2010, this map is much older, as evidenced by both the very 1970s typography, the use of […]

Project: Diagram of Amtrak Rail Services, May 1971

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Historical Maps, My Transit Maps, Prints Available

May 1, 2021 marks Amtrak’s 50th anniversary! On that day in 1971, most regional and long-distance trains in the United States either disappeared or became part of the new national rail carrier’s network (there were some exceptions to this rule, which we’ll get to later). While there are plenty of maps out there that show the general extent of Amtrak’s nascent system — including one that I made myself as part of an historical series […]

Submission – Fantasy Map: West Palm Beach LRT by Adam Susaneck

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Fantasy Maps

Submitted by Adam, who says: Here’s my proposal for a low-floor LRT system in Downtown, West Palm Beach, FL (pop. ~110,000). It’s fun to think about as West Palm actually grew up as a fairly dense railroad town in the 1920s around the Seaboard and FEC stations. Wedged between two large lakes and the intercoastal waterway, the downtown is a fairly dense north-south oriented grid, with a mix of historic homes and apartment towers. The […]