We have found some of the most interesting subway maps from several different cities across the globe for your viewing pleasure. The term maps is a misnomer because these are diagrams rather than maps devoid of any topographical features or scale. In the beginning of the 20th Century, map makers realized that trying to remain true to the […]
Tag Archives: transportation
Amsterdam: The Bicycling Capital of Europe
Amsterdam is the most bicycle friendly city in Europe with 881,000 bikes in a city of 780,559 people. Amsterdam has approximately 280 miles of cycling lanes, and close to 58% of its residents use bicycles on a daily basis, 43% of them are commuting to work by bicycle. There are two reasons why Amsterdam is such a conducive place for bicycle use: Firstly, the topography […]
Do Cities Bring High Speed Rail Within Reach?
A couple of weeks ago, we cited a fantastic (and sadly, entirely fictional) map made by Alfred Twu as a potential catalyst for High Speed Rail in the U.S. The map oozes ambitions for a hyper-connected continent, and builds on many of the more realistic proposals for High-Speed Rail that were put forth over the […]
Is NYC Missing The Boat On Congestion Pricing?
Congestion Pricing has been in the news a lot recently. As it’s increasingly being embraced and debated by policymakers, planners and others, let’s take a look at what’s been happening around the world, and check up on where things stand in NYC. London recently saw the ten-year anniversary of its Congestion Charging scheme. Within a […]
Things New York City MTA could have done better: (Part Two)
This is a continuation of last week’s MTA blog post, which talked about turnstiles and metro-cards. This week I will talk about public address systems, signage, subway furniture, and the public art chosen by MTA for its train stations. Public Address (PA) Systems: MTA’s public address system is quite arcane, consisting of old speakers which […]
More on Grand Central…
For those of you who missed the on air version and need the videos to go with our Grand Central 100th Anniversary post, this news series from Channel 7 is pretty neat! Unfortunately, I can’t embed it, but it is a nice historical review and there is some cool video of the construction of the Long […]
Things New York City’s MTA could have done better: (Part One)
You have to admit, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is quite efficient at keeping the trains running on time. But oftentimes, they don’t seem to pay enough attention to many other important parts of their infrastructure that commuters face everyday: Turnstiles, Metro Cards, Public Address Systems, Subway Furniture, and Public Art. I believe these short comings are […]
The Map That Could Fast Track Plans For High-Speed Rail
You might have seen it on social media somewhere, but in case you haven’t heard of it, Berkeley-based artist and high-speed rail advocate Alfred Twu recently posted a map he created on the Guardian’s website (the map was originally featured on the California Rail Map google group, where additional resources on high-speed rail are listed). It’s […]
Post Hurricane Sandy: From New York City
Hurricane Sandy hit Monday night and dealt a devastating blow to New York’s mass transit, especially the subway system. Sea water rushed in from the lower tip of Manhattan and filled the subway tunnels from Bowling Green all the way uptown to 86 Street, and further north. However, there were parts of the system which […]
150 Year Birthday of The London Underground
In 2013 The London Underground will be celebrating its 150 birthday. In a new book, London Underground: How Tube shaped London David Bownes, Oliver Green and Sam Mullins of the London Transport Museum put together an illustrated history of how the London Underground kept the city moving over the last century and a half. It is […]
