{"id":5726,"date":"2024-07-12T00:25:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T05:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanshnookenraggen.com\/_index\/?p=5726"},"modified":"2024-07-15T16:08:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T21:08:52","slug":"philly-needs-a-new-metro-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanshnookenraggen.com\/_index\/2024\/07\/philly-needs-a-new-metro-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly Needs a New Metro Map"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year I was fortunate enough to work on a wayfinding pilot for WMATA<\/a>, the Washington DC Metro. They were looking at ways to make their signs and maps more user-friendly. Philadelphia just so happened to be doing the same thing<\/a>, so we used SEPTA as a reference. While putting together resources for my forthcoming Philadelphia Track Map (“it will be done when it’s done”), I spent more time looking at the new SEPTA Metro map. I realized that for all the good work the team had done on wayfinding, the map seems to have been an afterthought. More likely, it was a user generated submission (similar to what the MBTA did years ago with their new map).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old vs “New”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like other northeastern transit agencies, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority<\/a>, SEPTA<\/a>, was cobbled together out of former private transit and rail companies in an effort to salvage passenger service in Philadelphia after the automobile took over. SEPTA is most similar to the MBTA with a mixture of legacy trolley lines that run both in a tunnel and on the street, light rail interurban lines, heavy rail subway\/elevated lines, buses, and commuter rail. The complexity of these different services makes for a unique challenge for the cartographer.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"SEPTA<\/a>
SEPTA rail map for the last 30 years or so.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The previous system map was your basic design, showing all the lines with not much information about service. The Broad St Line, for instance, has both express and local service, with a branch along Ridge Ave, as well as special express service to the last stop, NRG Station, where the local sports stadiums are located. None of this information is communicated on the old map. Some of the street-running trolley lines are shown, but their full routes and terminals were cut off with arrows pointing to nowhere. Because the regional rail network is shown at roughly the same scale as the metro, the map is overcrowded with station labels that make navigation difficult.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSEPTA\u201d is a bit of an unwieldy mouthful, so as part of the wayfinding project, the subways and light rail lines have been rebranded with new lettered routes as part of the new \u201cMetro\u201d identity. The new map refocuses on the Metro, enlarging the transit lines over the regional rail system. The new map has four specific changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n