home :: blog :: about :: contact “I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.”Tumblr (3.0; @subwaymaps)http://maps.complutense.org/<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkunjcuWKk1qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Davis, California. </strong>The basic point of the Tube-style diagram is to simplify everything down to its most basic: how do I get from point A to point B?  This includes drawing maps of places like Davis, a small college town in California with a small bus system operated by the college’s students.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/5287549484http://maps.complutense.org/post/5287549484Sat, 07 May 2011 19:49:00 -0400unitransbusdaviscaliforniaUC Davismiddle class in the middle of nowheremapthe future<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_letzlgmD6V1qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>New York Subway.  </strong>This is my suggestion for what to do with the New York subway map.  The current MTA map simultaneously gives too much information (i.e., the street grid) and too little, because the map provides no service information.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/2690398365http://maps.complutense.org/post/2690398365Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:51:14 -0500vignellinew yorksubway mapsubwaynot THE FUTUREcommuter railbridge and tunnel crowd<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcjx91TZzU1qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>The East Bay 2030.</strong>  The second of three detailed maps of my brilliant plan to revolutionize how the Bay Area gets around.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/1703030334http://maps.complutense.org/post/1703030334Sat, 27 Nov 2010 11:17:00 -0500BARTBay AreaJake's brilliant planCalTrainthe FUTUREoaklandsan franciscosan josemass transit<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lba1sdXdmn1qzy036o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><strong>How not to design a diagram.  </strong>This thing fails miserably at answering the one question it’s designed to answer: “Where can I fly on Frontier Airlines?”  It gives you lots of information that doesn’t matter (geography) and displays the important information (what routes they fly) poorly.  Just try figuring out whether you can fly from Denver to Columbus non-stop. I dare you.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/1464636598http://maps.complutense.org/post/1464636598Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:45:00 -0400mapsstupid mapsbad designfrontier airlines<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2isg8lr3t1qzy036o1_r1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>Los Angeles 2020.</strong>  Since my last map of Los Angeles was posted, LA Mayor Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles MTA have decided to accelerate their subway construction timetable.  A lot.  For comparison, <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Los_Angeles_Metro_System_Map_%28Dec._2009%29.png">this is what the system looks like now</a>. By 2020, LA should have the second-largest subway system in the U.S., after New York.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/604045400http://maps.complutense.org/post/604045400Sun, 16 May 2010 12:00:00 -0400los angelesLACMTALA MetromapTHE FUTUREwhy did they ever get rid of the pacific electric<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0xgcaEeK21qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>San Francisco Bay Area 2030.</strong> The companion rapid transit diagram of the Bay Area, matching my map of the City of San Francisco.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/523655550http://maps.complutense.org/post/523655550Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:55:22 -0400BARTBay AreaJake's brilliant planCalTrainthe FUTUREoaklandsan franciscosan josemass transit<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0xg0vk6kX1qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><strong>City of San Francisco 2030.  </strong>This map is the outgrowth of a college project to design a proper mass transit system for the Bay Area.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/523644150http://maps.complutense.org/post/523644150Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:48:00 -0400BARTBay AreaJake's brilliant planCalTrainthe FUTUREoaklandsan franciscosan josemass transit<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kx4u3zX6sC1qzy036o1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>Greater New York.</b> New York has no fewer than four different commuter rail agencies, none of which is willing to share maps.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/363869159http://maps.complutense.org/post/363869159Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:21:00 -0500vignellinew yorksubway mapsubwaynot THE FUTUREcommuter railbridge and tunnel crowd<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvt3vbO2UI1qzy036o1_500.gif"/><br/><br/><p><b>Detroit.</b> This map that I produced for the City of Detroit’s light-rail project.  Phase I is projected to open 2011; Phase II is slated for 2013.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/319132225http://maps.complutense.org/post/319132225Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:47:34 -0500detroitm-1 raillight railmapthe future<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxqe5hj8wYP2fBgLLo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>Bay Area 2009</b><b>.</b> With the BART system cut down to half-size, the Southern Pacific commuter trains survived into the modern day as the CalTrain commuter service. Soon, CalTrain will be upgraded into a four-track rapid transit line, and Marin is getting its own commuter service, SMART.  50 years late, but better late than never.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/149841020http://maps.complutense.org/post/149841020Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:54:00 -0400BARTMuniBay AreaSan FranciscoOaklandSan Josemapretromissed opportunities<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxqe5da4yr3fUqSnSo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>BART 1961 Plan.</b> <b></b>One of the little-known things about the original BART system is that it was only half-built.  In the early 1960s, San Mateo and Marin both pulled out of the BART district: Marin because the Golden Gate Bridge directors didn’t think the Bridge would carry a pair of tracks, and San Mateo because local merchants were afraid of losing shoppers to San Francisco.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/149839145http://maps.complutense.org/post/149839145Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:51:00 -0400BARTMuniBay AreaSan FranciscoOaklandSan Josemapretromissed opportunities<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxpykq2urKj6wlR1xo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>The future of suburbia.</b> Suburbia’s Achilles’ heel is its auto-dependency.  Curing it in the long term will require a major reworking of the modern suburb, but this long-term fix simply isn’t feasible in the short run.  What can be done, however, is to redesign the suburbs to accommodate bicycles.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/142588881http://maps.complutense.org/post/142588881Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:16:57 -0400daviscaliforniabicycleUC Davisretrofitting suburbiamiddle class in the middle of nowhere<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxo1phm356eBtYssqo1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>New Orleans 2020.</b> New Orleans was a gigantic clusterfuck even before it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  That said, it has two big advantages: first, it’s <i>the </i>major port in and out of the Midwest.  Second, it has a famous if underperforming mass transit system.  A few short streetcar extensions and a modernized network would work wonders.  (NOLA cars stop every two blocks and run at 10 miles an hour.)</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/114565662http://maps.complutense.org/post/114565662Thu, 28 May 2009 20:34:00 -0400new orleansrtamapsthe futurewhich doesn't seem to ever get therenew orleans e a cidade do futuro e sempre sera<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxmxisv2iHRCU1UNZo1_r2_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>California High-Speed Rail. </b>Now that Prop. 1A passed, we’re likely to have an LA-SF bullet train by 2016, give or take a few years.  (The brown line in the corner is the Desert XPress, a privately funded high speed rail line that just had its draft environmental impact statement approved.)</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/101999573http://maps.complutense.org/post/101999573Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:36:00 -0400cahsrahigh speed railthe futuremapsno really it is THE FUCKIN FUTURE<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxmt93c7dxhEkhLWto1_r3_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>San Jose.</b> <a href="http://www.vta.org/schedules/lr_interactive_map/lrBusMap.html">The Santa Clara VTA’s map, frankly, blows.</a> In a place like San Jose, which is one endless suburb, a diagram like VTA’s is useless. The whole point of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_map">tube-style maps</a> is to simplify extremely complicated systems into something manageable.  Since San Jose only has two lines, there’s a  lot of value in showing where VTA light rail runs relative to the freeway network.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/100797795http://maps.complutense.org/post/100797795Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:53:00 -0400bay areasan josevtacaltrainamtrakmapplaces with lots of asians<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/CqkppczlxmrhtnkueYdfjhyJo1_r1_500.gif"/><br/><br/><p><b>San Francisco Bay Area. </b><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Sf-new-map-present1.gif">Extra large version here.</a><b> </b>The biggest problem with Bay Area mass transit (aside from there never being enough of it) is lack of coordination between mass transit agencies.  There aren’t any good maps of the entire system, nor can you transfer from one agency to another seamlessly.  This map can help with the former problem, at least.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/100339376http://maps.complutense.org/post/100339376Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:22:00 -0400bartmunicaltrainbay areasan franciscooaklandsan josesubway mapno it's not really a unified system<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxktsgut3KJjvZ7tOo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><b>New York 1939. </b>This is the fabled IND Second System, which would have put a subway stop within a half-mile of anyone’s house in New York City, with the exception of Staten Island, which was mostly farms back in those days.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/84687495http://maps.complutense.org/post/84687495Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:36:20 -0400vignellinew yorksubway mapsubwaynot THE FUTUREcommuter railbridge and tunnel crowd<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxkp2ijyrYI4qes5Po1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>Los Angeles 2040. </b>Includes all of LA Metro’s currently unfunded projects.  Green Line extensions to Norwalk and San Pedro; Wilshire, Santa Monica and Sepulveda Pass subway lines; lots of rapid buses in the San Fernando Valley; high-speed elevated line to Santa Ana.  Light rail tracks on Exposition, Crenshaw, Slauson, Sunset and Westwood.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/83779622http://maps.complutense.org/post/83779622Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:18:00 -0500subway maplos angelesLACMTALA MetromapTHE FUTUREwhy did they ever get rid of the pacific electric<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/Cqkppczlxkn10hc8EVIkzBICo1_r1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p><b>Sacramento RT Light Rail. </b>This is my proposed map for the <a href="http://www.sacrt.com/schedules/current/maps/R533.gif">Sacramento light rail system</a>.  RT’s current map is unnecessarily complicated.</p>http://maps.complutense.org/post/83348549http://maps.complutense.org/post/83348549Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:01:00 -0500sacramentoRTlight railmap