Transit Fantasy Maps

BurlOak said:

This is the best I have seen. It keeps open the option to go to Dixie and beyond.

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Correct, it is a nice one and a smart idea. Although it's not related to the routing, I particularly like the use of Bird's Eye and 3D rectangles for the stations.

Not a map, but an idea: how about an infill station at bloor & church/jarvis?

There's 850 metres between bloor-yonge and sherbourne stations. Every morning I get off at Bloor-Yonge and walk to church, and I'm not the only one.

Just as Bay station provides some relief to Bloor-Yonge, I'm sure a church station would as well (not enough, but every little bit helps). Should be combined with a Church st bus.

Another thing, the Bloor-Danforth platform at Bloor-Yonge should be renovated similar to Union: the current centre platform reserved for only eastbound trains, and a new platform built for westbound trains on the other side. This platform would have stairs leading to the yonge line further down the Yonge platform, leading to less crowding.

Yes, that would help the Bloor Danforth line, but it would not help the Yonge line to have wider platforms at Bloor-Yonge. It will cost hundreds of millions, and I can't support spending anything on projects that would rob worthier projects of funding, e.g. the DRL, GO RER, and a new express subway line to where I live.

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400m is a bit close to be forking over money for a new station. Regardless, B/D is fairly shallow there. More than likely every property through that stretch would have a basement or parking garage right up against the tunnel.

To add more stations to the system we have now, maybe we can use emergency exits and ventilation shafts. And have it set up so that the trains never stop, but rather roll through the tunnels slowly with their doors open. One can hop on or hop off wherever. /sarc
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Here’s my attempt at a simplified schematic map, with some added fantasy. Like the Tube map, I only used 90 and 45 degree angles. This wasn’t as tricky as I thought, considering Toronto is fairly grid-like and follows the concession system. Although it looks more top-heavy than I’d like, the level of distortion is quite minimal. I decided to share it before I started tinkering/tweaking it to death, or making it too busy by adding highways and geographical features.

It’s fairly self-explanatory and mostly a repeat of what I posted over the last few weeks. And the York Region system is a carry-over from what I posted in the Spadina Extension thread (i.e - light RT north of Steeles).

The Spadina extension is shortened to Steeles, with some kind of Jane RT either using its tunnel; or having the tunnel abandoned altogether. Steeles and Jane south of the 407 just seems more of a logical terminus than Hwy 7 and Walmart. It’s a fantasy thread, so why not go back in time and pretend there’s no extension.

Yonge is extended along the Finch hydro corridor. I thought about Sheppard, but Finch has more density and the opportunity for less obtrusive tunnelling along the hydro cut. Plus, closing the loop in the north end allows for deadheading.

A one-stop extension of the BD line to East Mall/427 could be combined with dedicated on/off ramps to/from the 427 directly into the station's bus terminal. Even with just just ramps to/from the north, we would see CONSIDERABLE time savings for the 191, 192, and a whole bunch of Mississauga Transit routes (including the busway route).

I wouldn't be surprised if building this would save 10 minutes on each bus trip using the 427 in the peak periods.

44 North said:

Here’s my attempt at a simplified schematic map, with some added fantasy. Like the Tube map, I only used 90 and 45 degree angles. This wasn’t as tricky as I thought, considering Toronto is fairly grid-like and follows the concession system. Although it looks more top-heavy than I’d like, the level of distortion is quite minimal. I decided to share it before I started tinkering/tweaking it to death, or making it too busy by adding highways and geographical features.

Click to expand...

Gorgeous map. Sorry if you've answered this before, but what program did you use to make it with? Photoshop? Adobe illustrator?

Thanks. I use Inkscape. Although people have recommended using Adobe Illustrator, I find Inkscape to work well and am quite content with it. I’ve used Photoshop for photo editing in the past, but am not a fan. Frankly I’m not a fan of anything Adobe-related, so I’m hesitant to try Illustrator.

This Inkscape works extremely well for making lines/vectors. I’m guessing it might be used by real cartographers, because it includes the whole gamut of ESRI symbols. And it’s really easy to use. No longer do I have to fiddle around with MS Paint making cruddy and pixelated pieces of garbage.

44 North said:

Here’s my attempt at a simplified schematic map, with some added fantasy.

Click to expand...

Nice map! So much simpler to read when it's only 90 and 45 degree angles, isn't it? The one suggestion I would make is putting route numbers/letters at the terminus points of each line. Especially with lines like the Red Line, it's somewhat difficult to figure out what branch ends up where (ex: does the Richmond Hill line end up at Dupont or at Gladstone?).

gweed123 said:

Nice map! So much simpler to read when it's only 90 and 45 degree angles, isn't it? The one suggestion I would make is putting route numbers/letters at the terminus points of each line. Especially with lines like the Red Line, it's somewhat difficult to figure out what branch ends up where (ex: does the Richmond Hill line end up at Dupont or at Gladstone?).

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I thought each line should be a different colour. One branch of the red line should be blue and another branch a yet to be used colour (gold). Where they are together, it is both colours.

Thanks, dude. Since I posted I’ve made dozens of changes...but for the most part they were all aesthetics. After reading your post I took a gander at how other cities present their maps, and it would definitely make sense to display where sections of a particular line terminate/originate – and maybe even the type of service offered. I might go for the NYC technique. Which like you mention uses numbers and letters, but a whole whack of symbol combinations. So any next map may look a bit messy, but at the same time should be a lot clearer.

CDL.TO said:

A one-stop extension of the BD line to East Mall/427 could be combined with dedicated on/off ramps to/from the 427 directly into the station's bus terminal. Even with just just ramps to/from the north, we would see CONSIDERABLE time savings for the 191, 192, and a whole bunch of Mississauga Transit routes (including the busway route).

I wouldn't be surprised if building this would save 10 minutes on each bus trip using the 427 in the peak periods.

Click to expand...

I would like to see this happen and then a streetcar extension to Islington station. Maybe Extend the 505 Dundas and the 512 St Clair past with a new Runneymede Loop.

44 North said:

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Here’s my attempt at a simplified schematic map, with some added fantasy. Like the Tube map, I only used 90 and 45 degree angles. This wasn’t as tricky as I thought, considering Toronto is fairly grid-like and follows the concession system. Although it looks more top-heavy than I’d like, the level of distortion is quite minimal. I decided to share it before I started tinkering/tweaking it to death, or making it too busy by adding highways and geographical features.

Click to expand...

I love this map. Only quibble is you have to do something on Finch or Sheppard.

denfromoakvillemilton said:

I would like to see this happen and then a streetcar extension to Islington station. Maybe Extend the 505 Dundas and the 512 St Clair past with a new Runneymede Loop.

Click to expand...

I've heard of dormant TTC plans for an extension of the St. Clair streetcar along Dundas West (west of Scarlett Road) to Kipling station, but haven't heard of an Islington station streetcar. Although apparently the extension plan is dead (in comments) because the reconfiguration of the Scarlett Road underpass didn't allow for it.

44 North said:

Thanks, dude. Since I posted I’ve made dozens of changes...but for the most part they were all aesthetics. After reading your post I took a gander at how other cities present their maps, and it would definitely make sense to display where sections of a particular line terminate/originate – and maybe even the type of service offered. I might go for the NYC technique. Which like you mention uses numbers and letters, but a whole whack of symbol combinations. So any next map may look a bit messy, but at the same time should be a lot clearer.

Click to expand...

Yup, the NYC map is a good starting point. I've adopted most of the INAT standard for my maps, because I think it's a really easy to read style. Here's the INAT map of the NYC Subway: http://www.inat.fr/metro/new-york/. The London one is pretty amazing too: http://www.inat.fr/metro/london/. He places the route identifiers just at terminus points, so that you can easily trace a route through the system. For Toronto right now it isn't an issue because there isn't any interlining or anything, but with your proposal there would be.

In terms of the type of service offered, I've always gone with a letter prefix describing the service type followed by a route number. I think it's the easiest way of immediately identifying what type of service you're working with, but again that's just my personal preference. There are certainly other ways of doing it (different shapes on the identifiers, letters vs numbers, different line weights and patterns, etc).

aquateam said:

I've heard of dormant TTC plans for an extension of the St. Clair streetcar along Dundas West (west of Scarlett Road) to Kipling station, but haven't heard of an Islington station streetcar. Although apparently the extension plan is dead (in comments) because the reconfiguration of the Scarlett Road underpass didn't allow for it.

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That sucks. They should try to do something with the underpass because it would relieve at least a small part of the subway.