Transit Fantasy Maps

[WislaHD]

I knew I was forgetting something...

Its crazy how much sense that line makes from a transportation planning, construction and money point of view and how little is being discussed about it.

If I recall, the EA for it is going to be out of date pretty soon, unfortunate.

 

[dunkalunk]

IMO, the Lakeshore West LRT needs to be continued along the Queensway to Sherway Gardens where there is room in the centre to continue the dedicated right-of-way and plenty of redevlopment potential. The 501 Streetcar would continue to serve Lake Shore Boulevard to Long Branch.

 

[ehlow]

Its crazy how much sense that line makes from a transportation planning, construction and money point of view and how little is being discussed about it.

If I recall, the EA for it is going to be out of date pretty soon, unfortunate.

I don't know, from what I read it got more complicated than connecting exhibition place to the queensway as time went on.

Here it seems like they decided not to use the existing Harbourfront ROW and wanted a new ROW through Cityplace and/or under the Gardiner:
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2008/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-14828.pdf

I wasn't paying attention to transit at all back then though and there isn't too much info online that I could find however.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Its crazy how much sense that line makes from a transportation planning, construction and money point of view and how little is being discussed about it.

If I recall, the EA for it is going to be out of date pretty soon, unfortunate.

The line is stupid cheap as well.

 

[gweed123]

So after going through several versions before finding a look that works, I've completed my INAT (http://www.inat.fr/about/maps/) version of the GTHA. There's a specific set of rules that INAT maps follow, including all lines must be either 0º 45º or 90º, the map must be square, a standardized method of displaying transfers and different line types.

With that said, here's what I've come up with:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43869799/INAT GTA v4.jpg)

Because the GTHA is such an east-west region, fitting it onto a square map was challenging. I had to bend both Durham and Halton regions to show as being vertical instead of horizontal. I also tried to maximize the number of routes that were running either diagonal or N-S (on paper), because based on INAT standards labels need to be horizontal (no angles). This makes putting labels on a horizontal line very difficult.

Another thing from a transit perspective is the E## routes that use a DRL tunnel under King/Wellington. The branches run to the inner 905 centres, maximizing the "relief" part of the DRL.

If you have any questions about any other aspect of the map, just ask, haha.

 

[WislaHD]

Awesome map!

With Sheppard converted to LRT, a stop at Willowdale is in order.

 

[gweed123]

Awesome map!

With Sheppard converted to LRT, a stop at Willowdale is in order.

Thanks! And yes that would definitely make sense, I'll add it in. There's probably a few other things that I may have missed, it's a big map, haha.

 

[BurlOak]

So after going through several versions before finding a look that works, I've completed my INAT (http://www.inat.fr/about/maps/) version of the GTHA. There's a specific set of rules that INAT maps follow, including all lines must be either 0º 45º or 90º, the map must be square, a standardized method of displaying transfers and different line types.

With that said, here's what I've come up with:

It is amazing how much effort you put into that map, but unfortunately, I find it kind of confusing. Lake Ontario runs East-West (not quite, but it does in most peoples minds) and so does Lakeshore GO, B-D, Eglinton, Hwy. 2, Dundas. And Yonge most definitely runs North-South. Very interesting map though.

 

[nfitz]

Behold the (redone) frequent/rapid transit map of the Greater Golden Horseshoe and the National Capital Region! It's got all the routes we all know and love. :

I'm not sure what the criteria is for inclusion on this.

For example downtown you've got the lightly-used Wellesley 94 bus on this, which doesn't even have enough demand to run at all hours. But you've not included the much busier Bay and Sherbourne buses.

Also, you've got the Cherry Street streetcar terminating at a subway on King Street ... but the next subway stop eastbound at Carlaw/Queen, wouldn't the the streetcars continue up King Street to Queen and then up Broadview?

And what of the plans to put streetcars on Fort York. And the plan to extend the streetcar at Exhbition to Roncesvalle/Queen?

The station spacing on the Downtown subway line seems odd. Dufferin/Bathurst/Spadina/Yonge seems fine. But then it get's quite tight with Jarvis (Market), Parliament, Pan-Am (Cherry/Sumac) ... and then a large gap to Carlaw. If your going for long spacing, I'd think you'd combine the stations at Parliament & Jarvis with a single one at Sherbourne instead. I'm also not seeing Bathurst intersecting the GO line. Wouldn't you put a station between Bathurst and Dufferin between Sudbury and Atlantic to do that? Which would also allow a relatively short walk to the current Exhbition GO (which you've somehow managed to move back to it's old location at Dufferin street).

 

[gweed123]

It is amazing how much effort you put into that map, but unfortunately, I find it kind of confusing. Lake Ontario runs East-West (not quite, but it does in most peoples minds) and so does Lakeshore GO, B-D, Eglinton, Hwy. 2, Dundas. And Yonge most definitely runs North-South. Very interesting map though.

Fair enough, I'll admit it does take some getting used to. Traditional GTA maps use Yonge as the central N-S axis, but what I found is it was very hard to keep it that way if you want the map to fit onto a square, unless you want a lot of empty space in the top left and top right corners. Either that or you end up with a very long E-W map. By tilting Toronto by 45 degrees, I was able to use the Georgetown corridor as the principle N-S axis instead.

Also, by running Durham and Halton N-S instead of E-W (which they are in reality), it gives them a greater degree of visual separation from the regions surrounding them. In fact, York Region is the only region on the same 'axis' as the one next to it. Toronto and York are on a 45, Peel is on a 0, Halton and Durham are on a 90, and Hamilton is on a 45. It provides a way to visually distinguish the regions without having to draw any border lines.

I won't lie to you, it took me a while when I was making it to get used to it, because it was so visually different, but after a while it starts to make sense.

 

[Long Island Mike]

So after going through several versions before finding a look that works, I've completed my INAT (http://www.inat.fr/about/maps/) version of the GTHA. There's a specific set of rules that INAT maps follow, including all lines must be either 0º 45º or 90º, the map must be square, a standardized method of displaying transfers and different line types.

With that said, here's what I've come up with:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43869799/INAT GTA v4.jpg)

Because the GTHA is such an east-west region, fitting it onto a square map was challenging. I had to bend both Durham and Halton regions to show as being vertical instead of horizontal. I also tried to maximize the number of routes that were running either diagonal or N-S (on paper), because based on INAT standards labels need to be horizontal (no angles). This makes putting labels on a horizontal line very difficult.

Another thing from a transit perspective is the E## routes that use a DRL tunnel under King/Wellington. The branches run to the inner 905 centres, maximizing the "relief" part of the DRL.

If you have any questions about any other aspect of the map, just ask, haha.

GW: This map is excellent as an abstract map...I would like to see a "geographically correct" map of this
proposed rail transit system for the Ontario Golden Horseshoe region in comparison...LI MIKE

 

[doady]

Compare my map to gweed's, same comcept, but I actually think he did a better job. It's more compact. To make the Lakeshore left-right is more natural, but it makes the map elongated. Lake Ontario actually looks like a lake there too.

That said it does break some rules I'd never break, like parts of Lakeshore West being parallel to Lakeshore East. Is Pickering directly across the lake from Burlington? I think that is not part of people's perception. Perception is probably the key, not reality, but that's outside both perception and reality.

Another of my rules is that stations be lined up properly. Like all the Dufferin stations should be in a straight line, for example. If Yonge is a straight line, I expect Dufferin to be as well. I don't know if that's standard practice, but that's what I prefer.

I'm probably nitpicking, I still think that's an excellent map, design-wise. Probably the best I've ever seen. I don't agree with the actual system depicted of course, but that's probably true of everyone's map.

 

[christiesplits]

Very cool map gweed!

 

[dunkalunk]

Has anyone ever tried making a Toronto transit map with hexagonal *alignment (30 degrees)?

 

[gweed123]

GW: This map is excellent as an abstract map...I would like to see a "geographically correct" map of this
proposed rail transit system for the Ontario Golden Horseshoe region in comparison...LI MIKE

I already have an older version of a to-scale map that would only need a few updates in order to accurately reflect what I've shown there. In the meantime, here's a GO REX map that I made, which shows the same basic configuration, only using a Queen alignment instead of the King alignment I've used in this one:

And thanks!

Compare my map to gweed's, same comcept, but I actually think he did a better job. It's more compact. To make the Lakeshore left-right is more natural, but it makes the map elongated. Lake Ontario actually looks like a lake there too.

Yup, that's the compromise I had to make, especially since INAT maps need to be square.

That said it does break some rules I'd never break, like parts of Lakeshore West being parallel to Lakeshore East. Is Pickering directly across the lake from Burlington? I think that is not part of people's perception. Perception is probably the key, not reality, but that's outside both perception and reality.

They're normally rules I wouldn't break either, but it was the only way to solve certain issues within the constraints of the INAT standard. If this was a place like Chicago, where the lake ran N-S, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Another of my rules is that stations be lined up properly. Like all the Dufferin stations should be in a straight line, for example. If Yonge is a straight line, I expect Dufferin to be as well. I don't know if that's standard practice, but that's what I prefer.

Ideally I'd have liked to have had that, but in order for that to have happened the major lines would have had more turns in them than would otherwise be needed. For example, in the interests of simplicity I made the Georgetown line straight, even though in reality it actually isn't. That creates distortions elsewhere. It's unfortunate, but it does create some unevenness in terms of how non-transfer stations line up.

I'm probably nitpicking, I still think that's an excellent map, design-wise. Probably the best I've ever seen. I don't agree with the actual system depicted of course, but that's probably true of everyone's map.

Fair enough, and thank you! Like I said, it was an evolution and a lot of trial and error to get to that point. Out of curiosity, is it the Mississauga section you don't agree with, or the DRL configuration?

Very cool map gweed!

Thanks!