Boston seems to rival only Washington, DC for old system maps being left in place at stations and on trains. This photo was taken in August of this year, but the map dates from between 2004 to 2008 (the extension of the Silver Line to City Point is the giveaway). I’d probably lean towards the earlier end of that range, due to the “Silver Line Waterfront” designation. One thing to note is how much cleaner […]
How to sell New Yorkers on a new stadium: point out they don’t have to drive to it. (Source: ad in the 2nd Avenue F train station.) The problem with doing a subway-themed ad that will appear in the actual subway itself is that it’s not allowed to look anything like the official map. So we end up with this weird Vignelli wannabe instead. However, it does get its point across quite effectively, so in […]
The Washington DC Metro two map system at work. Source: claryblaze/Flickr
By all accounts, Grand Theft Auto IV is a pretty awesome game. However, it would seem that the game’s designers are lousy urban planners, as this has to be the most ridiculous subway layout I have ever seen. Seriously, it looks like two racetrack layouts from a 1990s video game have been superimposed on the city with some stations added at random. What is the point of the northern track between Huntington St and the […]
Now that’s some nice icing! Source: smitten/Flickr
Courtesy of the always amazing Big Map Blog (you really should follow them on Twitter), here’s an incredible birds-eye view of Chicago and its elevated railways from 1908. More than anything, I love the minute attention to detail on this – smoke curls from factory chimneys, almost every tree in the city’s parks seems to be present. Of particular note is the spur line out to Union Stock Yards, the self-proclaimed “butchery capital of the […]
I was reminded today of this work — one of my favourite transit map design exercises of all time from the always interesting Burrito Justice website. A ridiculously minimalist “hyperlinear” version of the BART map, it actually holds up surprisingly well as a navigational tool. Of course, something like this only works for a relatively simple system like BART. Source: comments thread of this post on the Burrito Justice site
Released by the MTA just eight days after 9/11, this map shows how radically lower Manhattan service was affected. Source: 2nd Ave Sagas website
“Wait… this isn’t Gotham City!” Source: Bob Kieffer/Flickr
Today is the end of an era in Portland, Oregon. TriMet, under budgetary stress, has done away with the much-loved Free Rail Zone, which allowed free travel by light rail and streetcar within the “Fareless Square” area of downtown Portland and the Lloyd Center. Not too long ago, Fareless Square also applied to buses in the same area, so the writing’s been on the wall for a while. At the same time, TriMet has also […]
