Welcome to Reconnections’ Friday Reads.
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- • Wayfinding underground inspires graphic innovation (CityWayfinding)
- • Former Aldgate East Tube station cleared for development (IanVisits)
- • Better direct vision for heavy trucks (Passion4Transport)
- • Thames Clippers & Port of Tilbury to manage the Central London Cruise Moorings for PLA (CruiseandFerry)
- • NYC subway train arrows trial (Gothamist)
- • NYC subway map – Beck style (CamBooth)
- • How to not be a bully behind the wheel (StreetsBlog)
- • World’s 10 fastest trains (SmartRailWorld)
- • What is Gadgetbahn, and why is it bad? (Catbus)
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I found the Catbus article on “Gadgetbahnen” highly amusing – the only piece of supposedly tech-fix-wonderful vapourware that wasn’t mentioned, as far as I could see, was – – – driverless cars.
Agreed that some pieces of kit are not vapourware, but somehow, in spite of their supposed tremendous advantages, never seem to, erm… “take off”
Let’s not mention the “M” word, shall we?
Loved the clear-to-read NY Subway map.
@Greg
Yes I found that this article provides a concise list of the practical reasons why such schemes have and will fall short. Commercial success depends on far more than just the technology.
I don’t think the Tube style map of NYC Subway quite works. The service pattern is immensely complex and variable in NYC and the lack of line identifiers beside the coloured lines means you have no clue on shared colour lines as to what runs where. I have an old NYC subway map from the 1980s as a poster in my lounge. It has the line identifiers at various points along each coloured line to give a fighting chance of what to catch in the Bronx to reach parts of Brooklyn.
@ Walthamstow Writer. I fully agree. As an alternative can I recommend the Inat version of the subway map. I have attached a link below. It takes a moment to fully load but it is worth it. It is unusual in that it is the equivalent of our London Connections map in that the Suburban train services operated by Metro North, the Long Island Railroad, Jersey Central, the PATH trains and the Staten Island Railroad are included.
http://www.inat.fr/metro/new-york/#prettyPhoto
The other version of the New York subway map which like the INAT map I find easier to follow than the official version published by the MTA is the one produced by Tube Map Central. I could not find their website but a copy is still available at the Internet Archive – see the link below:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170316090418/http://www.tubemapcentral.com/pod/newyork_schematic.jpg
@ Richard B – that first INAT map is exceptional. Very clear. Shows services I didn’t know existed and I have used some of NYC’s suburban rail services as well as the Subway. I certainly had no idea there were so many ferry links – logical when you think about it but not advertised to tourists other the obvious Staten Island one plus the sightseeing round Manhatten Island boats. The one aspect I don’t understand are the numbers against outer area LIRR stations. There’s no map key to explain this.
Aren’t they just line numbers? (The Paris Metro maps show line numbers at the termini too)
The numbers on the LIRR are fare zones, presumably the Metro-North stations shown are still in the same zone as the subway. The map itself is really clear, far easier to follow than the MTA one
@ Richard B The New York map can now be found via http://www.tubemapcentral.com/webshop/usa.html . It’s the one listed as “New York Traditional”, and clicking on the link shows the full map image.