OpenGeofiction
Most of you have probably heard of QUARTA, Quentinsburgh, Freedemia’s transit system.
One of the nicest things about my city in my opinion is the subway system, as I’ve managed to make a system that seems to make sense and works with the bus system and major corridors as well. I imagine the area to be very transit focused as Freedemia continues to move away from car travel in favor of transit. (slowly. But surely)
One of the hardest things though was the metro map. For the time being I was able to use Google Drawings to create a somewhat visually pleasing map that covers the entire system (just showing basic lines). 
I’m mostly satisfied with it too. Considering what I used and the lack of stations on the map, it looks pretty good for an overview map. I even made a night service version.
However, as much as I like my autoshape-based map :P lol I’m attempting to make a hand drawn detailed map with station names and everything for the future. The design is inspired by the 1985 version of the NYC Subway maps, and I discovered their convenient way of showing stations using ticks instead of circles and how it showed multiple lines worked very well for my own QUARTA QLine Metro system. Here’s what I have so far.
What do you guys think?
Discussion
Comment from _zM on 23 March 2016 at 07:29
I like it. Following the lines is easy and the colors look good.
Comment from Sarepava on 23 March 2016 at 12:50
Try to get into the feet of a foreign visitor who might not read Inglish that well and has little idea of the layout of the city. Remove any geographical detail that is not absolutely necessary. Subway passengers don’t need to see where roads go, perhaps even where the coastline is, anything other than transport connections they can get to on the system and possibly a few main points of interest next to stations. Do not try to maintain topographical accuracy if it will interfere with the readability of the map. A consistent font should be used, big enough for all to read,
Many of your line colours are too similar: I had difficulty telling apart 8 and 11, and 5 and 14. You could add black and grey colour lines to fix this. Also, if I may, I think some of the routes are unnecessary and would limit traffic levels in real service. Line 12 seems particularly superfluous; very few passengers go from outer suburb to outer suburb (where road traffic levels are lower so it’s usually quicker to drive) and both halves of the route are doubled by other lines anyway. Every Line 12 train using a track reduces the number of trains on other lines, unless you 4-track the sections which doubles your costs. Lines 10 and 11 are also on odd alignments and would be of little use to downtown passengers. Also, too many lines carry on to all terminate at the outer suburbs (viz 3,12 and 13 all at Northcross). It would be better to terminate some of these further out where the line is still doubled, so you can run the same downtown area service with fewer trains, and reduce the complexity of the terminus arrangements, or at least have only peak hour running to the terminus stations.
Having routes double back on themselves and head out to the suburbs again can also be a source of confusion. If I say ‘take a downtown’ or ‘take a westbound’ Line 13 train, my route might well end up going away from downtown to the east…
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 23 March 2016 at 16:08
If you look at the top map, you’ll see that there’s almost no way to make the map accurate without it being at least somewhat geographically accurate. I’ve tried circle maps, 45 degree maps, square maps, 30 degree isometric maps, DC Metro style maps, London Underground style maps, and everything in between. With the routing of lines like 3, 9, and the 10 and 11, there’s almost no way to make it look legible and have stations in the right order if it’s not at least somewhat geographically accurate. The only reason I did it on the OGF backdrop is it was the easiest way to make an accurate map using Google Drawings to at least have something of an overview for the wiki.
As for the second hand drawn map, like I said I based it off the NYC Subway maps of the 1980’s. I’ve been including major roads as a backdrop just to clarify where things are because the lines follow major road corridors. The basic operating model with the QLine network is that subways stop every half mile to a mile while QUARTA buses running along similar routes stop more frequently.
Every line except 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and the portion of 12 between the 4 and the merge with the 3 are already four tracked because lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13 and 14 are all local and express lines due to the high density along the lines. Lines 2, 3, and 5 were the most recent to get four-tracked.
10 and 11 are more minor routes that weren’t made to provide service to downtown. They were corridors that would have needed a strong BRT or Light Rail anyway, considering a need for full integration into the metro system they were built as light rail style Metro lines that integrated with the rest of the system as street level would have destroyed traffic. Also, as of recently, at night lines 9 and 10 combine to create line 9N and lines 8 and 11 combine to make a line 8N. I considered making that a permanent change for the daytime too, making the 8 and 9 include the current 10 and 11 stretches eliminating the 10 and 11, but it would make a totally unnecessary two and three line service on a long stretch of track along Line 5, perhaps the only line in that area that doesn’t need more than one line.
The 12 existed before the 13 was even envisioned. In fact, the 12 is the only reason the 13 is possible. The 13 needed the new part of the 12 and a new section of track in a tunnel in downtown that wasn’t added until later (Technically the 13 is still under construction and is supposed to open in May, the 12 is currently the only one running there. That map actually shows 13 and 14 which aren’t technically running yet.) Theoretically line 12 could be eliminated once line 13 is complete, but until then it doesn’t make that much sense to get rid of it. I may consider getting rid of it after that, as you make a valid point there, but I’d have to make a much better transfer between the 4 and the 13 in that area then, perhaps a new express stop, so those trying to follow the former line 12 would have a good alternative.
Line 14 is really just a branch of Line 1 based off an older service patter that needed to return again. It got a separate number for similar reasons to why NYC labels their numbers differently when they have separate branches. Imagine line (14) as sort of a diamond <1> in the NYC system. If I eventually eliminate lines 10, 11 and 12 I may rename it the 11 so it sounds more like a route related to the 1 and rename the 13 the 14 to run with the 4.
Grays and Blacks are already used. The AX (Airport Shuttle) (not shown on the top map because of the black background) is black, and the CS (Capitol Shuttle) is silverish-grey.
As for colors being similar, that’s really only because of the fact I was using Google Drawings. As you can see in the lower map, when hand drawn, the colors of 5 and 14 are much easier to distinguish. Also, line 8 (light blue) and line 11 (aqua green) never touch and never run anywhere near each other, eliminating a lot of confusion.
As for your question about doubling routes, all lines other than 10 and 11 run as “northbound” or “southbound”, but with a clear explanation of what suburb it is going toward. So trying to get to downtown on a Line 13 train, if you were at a station in Northcross, it would say “Southbound- to Downtown and Eastern Quentinsburgh” while if you were riding from western Quentinsburgh is would be “Northbound- to Downtown and Northcross”. There would also be clear signage on platforms saying what lines and what platforms lead to downtown.
In this day and age of apps and such there would QR codes that could be scanned for translated signage, as well as translators there as needed. There would likely be a digital version of the map in real life with multiple translations that could be changed online.
Freedemia has been trying more and more to be moving away from car travel, especially in larger cities. Quentinsburgh especially is trying to go to a point where almost all residents and visitors use transit for at least a fourth of their trips even if they own a car. Lanes have been taken away on most roads for buses and all loop highways and U-7 are now tollways, so even if it would be faster to drive, it would also be far more expensive.
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 23 March 2016 at 17:09
Following your idea for eliminating line 12 and my idea for eliminating line 10, i was able to make this modified idea.
Either way all lines are still serviced and redundancy is slightly reduced. It’s also easier to see that the 11 and the 8 are different lines now.
Comment from PortCal on 24 March 2016 at 01:18
I like the new maps! It’s very clear where the lines go, although it’s still a hard to distinguish the different shades of yellow/orange, but in cities with many subway lines, colors are always a problem. I can imagine it would be more noticeable on the detailed hand-drawn map of the network and this map is only to show the scope (which it does perfectly).
I really like your comprehensive subway network itself too, with a very New Yorkish style in many ways. It’s very already detailed and I like how you’re updating your network actively, since in a large city traffic always keeps developing.
Like Sarepava said, there are some small “flaws” included in the network, but I think this is just a good thing. Every network is unique because of its own order in which it was build, what decisions were made and how much money was available. There is not a single transit system in the world without flaws and oddities. All the lines show the supply and demand of transport in the city, and clearly there is a reason for all the lines to exist, also for suburb to suburb lines. In addition, in cities like Chicago and New York, many lines follow the same corridor, and actually this is a very common thing in many subway networks.
When a station serves 5 lines, it is only logical it gets busier and more difficult to drive the same amount of trains on the same line, but that’s why transport planning is such a creative job. You have to dig deep for solutions in order to compensate for the deficiency, for instance by extending the platforms and the trains on one line, or doubling the tracks to catch up with the increase of traffic on a route, and maybe even both. Costs are not very important when it is necessary to expand because of crowded trains, because the investments obviously will earn back themselves. So redundancy (especially downtown, in the CBD or at major transit hubs) is not a bad thing, because it makes your network to seem more realistic.
I also get your point of keeping the geographical guidance. Most of the networks are in luck of being easy to draw, using only abstract lines, but Quentinsburgh has a complex system. (Again, this is not a bad thing, as the city wants to attract car drivers to switch to public transit, and therefor it needs a good and reliable network.) I think it’s hard to keep things uncluttered when not using streets and important structures. It actually is a pity that some lines would not fit appropriately in a diagram, because as a graphic designer I could see a style like this looking great for your subway map, since your city is also along the coast and most of the lines are radians outbound from the center, but it would probably be a lot of work to getting everything in place.
TL;DR: Your maps and subway look great, keep up the impressive work in Quentinsburgh and I can’t wait to see the full version of your hand-drawn map soon! :)
Comment from Luciano on 24 March 2016 at 02:23
I am probably a strange person, but I much prefer a geographically accurate subway / transport map to an abstracted, diagrammatic approach. Perhaps I have been influenced by the excellent, standard subway wall map used in the Seoul Subway, which is extremely accurate and includes lots of non-subway-relevant details, including Topo! This is the MAIN map that is available in all stations and is on the wall on platforms and in other areas.
http://aisitei.tistory.com/890
It’s hard to find online versions, so forgive the above link which I was able to find on short notice.
In contrast, the simplified “diagrammatic” map shown inside subway cars is highly abstracted, and arranged to fit well in the wall space above the doors. It’s moderately useful, but mostly for counting stations and confirming destinations and transfer points, as opposed to offering any information at all about where in the city you’re going.
http://www.kjclub.com/UploadFile/exc_board_52/2013/06/09/137072282876.jpg
I would note in any event, that in contrast to some of the other advice and comments given above, the Seoul system manages to violate most of those “rules” while still being one of the largest and most successful subway systems in the world. Specifically, it offers a plethora of suburb-to-suburb options, most lines are “through center” (i.e. there are very few termini in the center), there is little distinction between peak / off-peak service (it’s strictly increase / decrease in frequency, as opposed to closed-down service on given lines), there are very few “overlapping” lines (i.e. different line numbers or sub-line numbers using the same stretches of track).
Comment from Ernestpkirby on 24 March 2016 at 15:19
Thank you guys for your input.
@PortCal, that style could actually work- hm. I’ll see what I can do with it. :) thanks!