Transit Maps

As a small business owner, I'm starting to wonder why I even bother with Priority Mail. It used to be a guaranteed delivery within two days, now it just gets there... whenever. I've currently got "priority" prints going to Denver from Portland that have been in the postal network for 10 days.

Looking back through my records, in 2021 I could send a 27" long tube with a print in it to Denver by guaranteed Priority Mail for $8.85. It now costs $17.57 for the same tube (including a $4.50 surcharge because tubes are inherently long) and it takes forever to get there. JFC.

I'm not sure I'm getting the current hype for using superelliptical curves or "smooth corners" in transit map design. They seem like an awful lot of work for an incredibly small improvement that most average people wouldn't even notice to me. Interested to hear the thoughts of other on this.

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Lastly, here's a comparison between the three superellipse presets (solid magenta) and a standard curve (dotted cyan). The default preset, which produced the most pleasing result in my tests, actually sits entirely inside the standard curve, but probably looks optically correct because of that.

The ellipsoid preset actually goes outside the standard curve, which results in a squarer look that's not great for transit maps. The big preset actually aligns with the standard curve at the 45-degree tangent, just with smoother transitions to get there.

And here's a version with a bit of white space between the parallel paths – the top row introduces all sorts of "wobbliness" because the gaps are not consistent. The offset bottom row looks better overall to my eye, but enough to justify the extra work involved? I'm not sure.

(Also, the "ellipsoid" preset produces terrible results and should definitely not be used.)

I'm currently running my experiments in Illustrator with a script that approximates smooth curves (because Illustrator can't make them natively) and I am not convinced they're an improvement. Yes, the curves may be smoother to the eye, but getting parallel paths to look good is very problematic.

Here's some samples. In the top row, I applied three presets in the script to the curve: you can see where the paths now overlap or leave a gap between them. UGLY. In the bottom row, I applied the script to the middle path, and then offset the other two paths from it. Better but cheating?

22 Sept

New station signage is rolling out in Washington, DC: first at L'Enfant Plaza, then system-wide in 5 years. Here's hoping that this mock-up isn't final as the line bullets are all too small: they should slightly overshoot the baseline and ascender of the adjacent type to look optically correct.

22 Sept

Here's the WMATA press release about the signage for full context. www.wmata.com/initiatives/...

@decopunk1927.bsky.social

20 Sept

Apologies if the site or the store were acting strangely for anyone today. Out-of-control cache files (over 12GB of them!) caused my storage to briefly exceed the maximum allowed by my hosting plan. Everything has been fixed now and normal service has been resumed.

Transit Maps reposted

Decopunk 1927

15 July

Behold, the smallest MBTA subway map I could make, a whopping 275 by 177 pixels including the border! The only way it could possibly be smaller is using a four-point font instead of a five-point font, or if they close some Green Line stations. I am challenging anyone else to make such a compact map.

Transit Maps reposted

transitmap.netNew Official Map: İzmir Metro, Türkiye by Evgeny KatyshevSubmitted by Evgeny, who simply says: The new map of Izmir rapid transit I designed has been adopted as official one. Transit Maps says: Congratulations on this lovely little diagram becoming "official," Evgeny! There's a lot to like about it, especially the intelligent use of a 30-degree grid to match the real-world geography of İzmir nicely, which also helps in setting all the labels horizontally without them running into each other.

New on the blog! A lovely unofficial diagram that's been made official of transit in İzmir, Türkiye by Evgeny Katyshev.

Transit Maps reposted

Still one of my favourite prints in the Transit Maps store – Travel Time by Rail, France, 1882. transitmap.net/store/produc...

New on the blog! A lovely unofficial diagram that's been made official of transit in İzmir, Türkiye by Evgeny Katyshev.

Portland Streetcar History

Still one of my favourite prints in the Transit Maps store – Travel Time by Rail, France, 1882. transitmap.net/store/produc...

Transit Maps reposted

@pdx-streetcars.bsky.social

27 June

Thoughts on a trend I'm seeing a lot on streetcar-related Facebook groups: someone posts an old photo of a streetcar, and then someone else uses AI to add color to it. It seems harmless, until you realize some wider implications. (A thread)

@mikeyashworth.bsky.social

27 June

Another in a long line of "highly implausible subway network layouts" when it comes to movie props. It'll look good in the background of shots and that's all it's really designed to do.

Superman Homepage@supermanhomepage.bsky.social

New #ManofTomorrow Set Photos Reveal #Metropolis Coming to Life: www.supermanhomepage.com/new-man-of-t...

Transit Maps reposted

Mike

27 June

As yesterday saw the very last scheduled in service run of an original Tyne & Wear Metrocar - some earlier publicity. The March 1983 Metro Pocket service guide; lines still terminating at Heworth prior to the Metro extension to South Shields. This is the classic Metro diagram @transitmap.net

11 June

While at first glance this looks like spec work disguised as a competition (which I am not in favour of), there are two very good clauses in the rules: 1) The winner gets paid to transfer their rights to NS 2) The contest will not replace commercial work from design agencies Good work, NS!

Simon@simon514.bsky.social

@transitmap.net NS is organising a competition to find the best map of their system with newly introduced route numbers!! Unfortunately you have to live in the Netherlands 😭😭

Transit Maps reposted

11 June

A beautiful new print in the Transit Maps store – Chicago Rapid Transit Lines, c. 1936. The colors in this are just gorgeous: check out the Loop! transitmap.net/store/produc...

11 June

A beautiful new print in the Transit Maps store – Chicago Rapid Transit Lines, c. 1936. The colors in this are just gorgeous: check out the Loop! transitmap.net/store/produc...

9 June

If you want to get people excited for your transformative rail project, a dull and boring map that looks like it was designed in 1985 is really NOT the way to do it.

Taras Grescoe 🚇@taras-grescoe.com

Getting serious amateur-hour vibes from #Alberta government's Rail Passenger Master Plan initiative. They're talking about high-speed rail, which will cost tens of billions to build. Yet their investment over the next 3 years is $15 million. The cartography alone... www.alberta.ca/passenger-rail

Transit Maps reposted

transitmap.netHistorical Map: Interurban Railways Around Chicago, c. 1921A lovely map of the electric interurban lines radiating out from Chicago "over hill and valley, by lake and stream," compiled by the Chicago Evening Standard newspaper. The source I obtained this map from tentatively dates it to 1921; perhaps people with more familiarity with the history of the railways represented would be able to verify this better than I can.

8 June

New on the blog! A charming illustrative map showing the vast extent of electric interurbans out of Chicago, c. 1921.

@mikeyashworth.bsky.social

8 June

New on the blog! A charming illustrative map showing the vast extent of electric interurbans out of Chicago, c. 1921.

Transit Maps reposted

Mike

23 May

The cover to the June 1932 PRT Route Guide issued by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company with a modernist view of PRT's elevated, streetcar/tram, bus, taxi & limo services against a soaring cityscape. It is by artist Geo. T. Lloyd. #transportation #philadelphia #1930s ↘️ flic.kr/p/2seBzUz

7 May

It's still not amazing, but this is definitely a much-improved effort compared to the previous mess.

Zander🚈🔰@kohiwonomu.bsky.social

Great news for those of us such as myself and @transitmap.net - DART has a new rail diagram, straightening out some of the kinks (literally) on the Silver, Orange, and Green lines that bugged us so much dartorgcmsblob.dart.org/prod/docs/de...

11 Apr

SAVAGE.

Matt Brown@mattbrown.bsky.social

Okay CTA. This is a good sign.

7 Apr

Oh my word – this is stunning! (And absolutely needs to be preserved properly for future generations)

Patrick Anderson@waveelection.bsky.social

Whether or not you think a PVD subway was a good idea - this map in the city archives is a piece of history and work of art. It needs restoration. When we unrolled it the paper began to crack. @brown.edu @risd1877.bsky.social @risecstate.bsky.social www.providencejournal.com/story/news/p...

Portland Streetcar History

4 Apr

I really wish the Fleet Line name had been kept instead of pandering to royalty – it works on multiple levels (approximating the course of the old river of that name; "fleet" = fast) and it just sounds way cool.

Mike@mikeyashworth.bsky.social

What might have been : The proposed Fleet line 1971 : In the book describing the newly opened Brixton extension of the Victoria line, London Transport was keen to extend the Bakerloo line east; the Fleet line. After much swapping & changing beyond Green Park the Jubilee line opened in 1999.

Transit Maps reposted

@pdx-streetcars.bsky.social

24 Mar

I'm on TV! FOX 12 Oregon asked me to contribute to a story on Portland's streetcar history a while back and it finally aired this morning. They did a great job with their old/new transitions! www.kptv.com/2026/03/24/p...

kptv.comPortland Streetcar expansion echoes city’s transit historyIn 2028, the Portland Bureau of Transportation will begin a project to expand the Portland Streetcar system.

15 Mar

Today’s multimodal SF adventure - early morning cable car ride to avoid the hordes, 10 mile walk over the Golden Gate Bridge and back, 28 bus back to Fisherman’s Wharf, F line to Market & Church, J line to Mission Dolores Park (so sunny!) and then back to the start at Powell. What a day!

14 Mar

Riding in to San Francisco on BART for the first time in a long time. The new cars are nice, the robot voice announcing stops is weird, and the warning chime for the doors is to the point but not very memorable.

14 Mar

I do like the system map customized for the line the train is on, though!

Transit Maps reposted

22 Feb

New additions to the print store – four amazing new maps in @pinakographos.bsky.social's "Rivers of North America" series – the Mississippi and Colorado watersheds, and Northern California and Southern New England. transitmap.net/store/produc...

@colleenonthescene.bsky.social

22 Feb

Transit Maps reposted

Colleen Wilson

6 Feb

Where are my transit people - anyone know more about this old subway/train map on the floor of Grand Central? It looks so cool but the full thing didn’t appear to withstand updates to flooring over the years. I saw it out of the corner of my eye in a tucked away corner near the food concourse.

Transit Maps reposted

Susana Polo

@susanapolo.bsky.social

13 Jan

It took two years (with other projects in between) but I've finished 44,703 stitches of DMC 162 — Very Light Blue that make up all the waterways on my 20-inch wide cross stitch map of the NYC subway system. If I never touch another skein of 162 again it'll be too soon

14 Jan

Yep, that's better already. One thought: there's perhaps an argument to be made that something this diagrammatic doesn't need the dog-leg in the Ellenbrook line, which seems very fussy in comparison to the straight trajectories of all the other lines.

Theodoræ Ditsek@theoditsek.bsky.social

We may have made an executive decision with this one. We’ll see how it turns out, I guess.

Transit Maps reposted

transitmap.netSubmission – Official Map: Transperth Rail Diagram, 2026Submitted by Noah, who says: I would appreciate a review of the updated system map for Transperth. Transit Maps says: This dates from October 2025, when the Armadale line was extended one station to Byford. Again, this is one of those diagrams that gets the job done, but absolutely lacks any finesse and craft. There's a whole litany of problems here — angled labels when there's plenty of room for them to be horizontal, inconsistent corner radii, a river that just ends (where's the West Australian coast?), icons that are visually too similar to each other, etc.

12 Jan

New on the blog! The official diagram of Transperth rail services has a lot of problems, but here's the two big ones:

12 Jan

I agree with Mike 100% here – this type of stuff should not be allowed.

Mike@mikeyashworth.bsky.social

Unforgivable. Mixing basic passenger information with advertising to the confusion of the former. Brand prostitution. flic.kr/p/2rRd5mF

flic.krIMG_5292

Transit Maps reposted

Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

10 Jan

Welcome to all! If you’re looking for people to follow, here are some great voices on transit, active transport, cities… 🧵 go.bsky.app/U4hN8P9

12 Jan

New on the blog! The official diagram of Transperth rail services has a lot of problems, but here's the two big ones:

30 Dec 2025

I'm aware that the blog is down at the moment... looking into it!

@pinakographos.bsky.social

30 Dec 2025

Seems to be back up and running!

Transit Maps reposted

Eco 🍁🍉

@eco.tgirl.gay

11 Dec 2025

🇨🇳🗽 i finally got around to remaking the terrible subway map of my hometown beijing, this time in the style of vignelli! full image: ibb.co/album/tzt8H6

Transit Maps reposted

Daniel Huffman

10 Dec 2025

If you enjoy both #RhodeIsland and #rivers, stop by The Map Center (@mapcenter.com) to check out (and maybe buy?) this poster I designed for them, showing the state's streams in the style of a transit network map.

Transit Maps reposted