Transit Fantasy Maps

[W. K. Lis]

By 2021, there would be an additional 21 subway stations that would be accessible. By 2025, all subway stations will allegedly be, as per legislation. The map doesn't not indicate any additional accessible stations.

 

[salsa]

The current map has the airport bus and not the UPX. It's a TTC map. Doesn't show GO stations either.

TTC is trying to keep it simple, and also show how easy it is to take TTC to airport.

The map shows which stations are accessible or have washrooms, but it would be nice if they also put a little GO logo next to the subway stops that have a GO station or GO bus terminal (e.g Kipling, Dundas West, Yorkdale).

 

[gweed123]

The map shows which stations are accessible or have washrooms, but it would be nice if they also put a little GO logo next to the subway stops that have a GO station or GO bus terminal (e.g Kipling, Dundas West, Yorkdale).

Much like GO does with TTC subway stations.

 

[JasonParis]

The map shows which stations are accessible or have washrooms, but it would be nice if they also put a little GO logo next to the subway stops that have a GO station or GO bus terminal (e.g Kipling, Dundas West, Yorkdale).

Indeed. UPE and VIA logos where applicable too please.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Another map from me after a night of toying with Illustrator:


PDF link

The concept this time around was a network not unlike those found in Europe, where regional rail systems are often integrated directly with longer-distance national/intercity rail services. There are defined lines, but a line would consist of various express and local services, as well as shorter or longer trains that terminate at different stations along the route. Remote areas like Orangeville or Gormley could be served by low capacity DMUs, which could be coupled with larger capacity EMUs at major stations further down the line.

Visually inspired by Vancouver's Skytrain diagram.

EDIT: Also meant to include stops for the high speed line at Pickering and Oshawa (theoretically there wouldn't be a service on the high speed line that stops at every station; I'm not sure if that would be a suitable stopping pattern for a high speed service, but I still think the line should be commuter-oriented rather than purely intercity, where some trains would stop at Pickering and others at Oshawa, etc.)

EDIT 2: Added high speed stops and deleted the extra Walkers station

EDIT 3: Added Brantford-Toronto service and branch lines to Scarborough Centre and Port Colborne, and changed Cambridge line to a through service to Peterborough via Union Station

I think the Yellow/Pink lines can be merged into a single service with multiple branches in an era where there is more than just peak service. Ex. Every other train leaving Milton would alternate between downtown and midtown service. Orangeville would be a peak period addition/extension of the Mississauga centre service, which would also alternate between downtown and midtown service. And finally Peterborough and Oshawa Service would alternate between Downtown/Midtown.

I've also been toying with the idea of an uptown line using either HSR/Via/or Go service. It would originate say at Malton (or a new Pearson airport station) travel east along the rail line that parallels the 407 terminating at, say, Ajax (in a Go Service), or merging with the via service

 

[reaperexpress]

I had fun placing tracks along the Midtown line in my last post here, so I decided to continue in the same style with the Milton Line.

This is the next segment, from The Junction to Kipling. It is actually far more important than the first segment, since it is currently a bottleneck precluding all-day service on the Milton line. Union-Kipling (or potentially Summerhill-Kipling) could be Phase 1 of the Milton RER, with Phase 2 extending all-day service to Dixie, Phase 3 to Cooksville, etc.

As with the Midtown Corridor, there is ample space for a pair of dedicated GO tracks in addition to a pair of CP tracks, and all but one of the bridges are already built to support 4 tracks. The two main pieces of infrastructure needed to realize this arrangement are a new double-track bridge over the Humber River, and a rail-to-rail grade separation. All of the Milton line stations are on the north side of the rail corridor, but GO trains need to split off to the south to head to Union.

Starting where we left off at the West Toronto Diamond and heading west:

We can easily carve 4 mainline tracks out of the underutilized West Toronto yards.

Runnymede; Jane:

Scarlett:

I've shown the grade separation here near the Humber river, but obviously it takes more than a railfan in a desk chair to determine the best location for it.
In any case, a second double-track bridge is required over the Humber River.

Royal York:

Montgomery:

The Mimico Creek bridge only supports 3 tracks so a new single-track span is required:

Islington:

Bloor:

Kipling Station: No changes necessary!

 

[ticky]

Curious to why TTC (and most others making fantasy maps here) insists on designing their transit maps on a black background when a majority of transit organizations worldwide use a white/light background.

 

[Johnny Au]

Curious to why TTC (and most others making fantasy maps here) insists on designing their transit maps on a black background when a majority of transit organizations worldwide use a white/light background.

It is because for a long time, the TTC themselves used a black background. Only recently did the TTC switched to a white background (for their paper maps, though black backgrounds are still used for subway maps inside trains).

 

[gweed123]

Curious to why TTC (and most others making fantasy maps here) insists on designing their transit maps on a black background when a majority of transit organizations worldwide use a white/light background.

My guess is that it probably has to do with the backlighting of the overhead subway maps. By using a black background, not only do you stop the light from shining through the display, but it also helps to illuminate the white text and the colours on the map, making it easier to read. That's just my speculation though.

 

[salsa]

My guess is that it probably has to do with the backlighting of the overhead subway maps. By using a black background, not only do you stop the light from shining through the display, but it also helps to illuminate the white text and the colours on the map, making it easier to read. That's just my speculation though.

In Boston, the space above the doors is a map of just the subway line. It doesn't have a black background even though it's backlit, but I guess the fonts are large enough to easily read anyway.

The system maps are located next to the doors rather than being squished above the doors, Toronto style. It's definitely a more spacious location, though it's not ideal either if someone is sitting in front of the map and you have to stand in front of the person to read the map. In NYC it's even worse because the map is not as high up, so if someone sits in front it it then it's almost completely blocked.

^ Not very high ridership as you can tell! I took this pic on the evening of January 1. The downtown was dead as a doornail too.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

That map, and that whole subway car looks atrocious. And look at how much garbage is strewn everywhere. I hope this car is an anomaly. Yuck.

Not very high ridership as you can tell! I took this pic on the evening of January 1. The downtown was dead as a doornail too.

Is this Boston's Sheppard Subway?

 

[wolfewood]

The MBTA is easily the worst transit system of a major city I've used. I was in Boston during the snowstorms last year to visit friends from Toronto doing postgrads and we were crawling along on the Red Line headed to Harvard. Shockingly my friend claimed this was the fastest she'd ever seen the Red Line moving...

I never thought I'd see a system worse than the TTC but the MBTA sure seems to try. It's completely unreliable and, as of the last few days, ended service after midnight after a year's experiment. Also a recent attempt to extend the Green Line from Lechmere to Union Square ended up $1 billion over budget and liable to be cancelled because the MBTA failed to implement a new procurement process properly and the contractors were able to make the highest possible bids on each phase of the project. They've now basically cancelled the project while they sort things out but the MBTA was looking at paying $3 billion for a 7km surface LRT extension, in a right-of-way they already owned...

 

[salsa]

Is this Boston's Sheppard Subway?

Not really. This is the Orange Line which has 20 stations, so it's not exactly a stubway. Thought I expected a bit more ridership for an old compact city like Boston. The daily ridership on it is 203,406. For comparison, the Bloor-Danforth Line gets 519,180.

That map, and that whole subway car looks atrocious. And look at how much garbage is strewn everywhere. I hope this car is an anomaly. Yuck.

It's not a whole lot worse than the H-series subway cars that the TTC retired only a few years ago, but yeah the subway trains on this line were pretty bad. They even had a bit of rust on the outside, and the windows were all scratched up and had an orange tint.

Though to be fair, the MBTA will be ordering new trains to be delivered starting in 2018.

 

[ehlow]

It looks almost exactly like the inside of the SRT trains.

As a tourist I found Boston's transit pretty good. The trains and stations were old yes but it seemed to get me where I wanted to go. Going from the airport to downtown was insanely easy but that's also cause it's so close. But obviously using it for a only few days isn't a real test.

 

[Johnny Au]

I am confused about the signage for the 2018 rendering.