Some time ago Greater Auckland suggested that Auckland Transport produce a system transit map that includes planned routes. AT is currently investing huge amounts into the future of their RTN, and a system map showing what that future is could lend a lot of insight to the average resident.
I decided to have a crack at one myself. Now, Auckland doesn’t even have a full system map (except this dinky strip map, but that has next to no scope to show future lines), so I’d have to create one from scratch. I’ve only set foot in Auckland a few times but by talking to family that live there and reading blogs like Greater Auckland I gathered an idea of things to include (and some of my own goals). These include:
- Airport links (apparently everyone shells out stupid amounts of cash for the Skybus when there’s a perfectly good bus and train connection that’s so so so much cheaper).
- Geography. Auckland is a city nestled between two seas and many destinations lie on or are close to a bay or beach.
- Service patterns (certain trains miss certain stops at certain times).
- Future lines.
- Frequent bus. With the upcoming New Network, there’s going to be quite a comprehensive network of frequent (<15min) bus services throughout the city that link to the rail and busway lines. I wanted to show as much of this as I could for the sake of ease of use; to travel between two major locations someone should only need to check one map to see what buses and trains to take and where to transfer.
- Ferry services. Not really rapid transit but they’re fun.
- Horizontal and vertical lines only. Very much inspired by Jaap Knevel’s map of Amsterdam
- Horizontal labels.
And I produced this:
There are a few things on this map I know I could have handled better if I spent more time on it but hey it’s supposed a fun project right…
And for fun here’s a continuation into the future (minus busses):
…I don’t think that mapping style will cut it for the more complex networks of ’28 and ’38 though.
Update – 2019
I’ve made another Auckland future map, this time more slick and stripped down. See it here.
1 Comment