AT Western line heads-up map

Rob sent me this photo of the Auckland Transport Western Line map at the Baldwin Ave station. Just look at it. Sparse. A glossy mirror. Flimsy. Lacking.

Having good, instantly readable line maps at stations is necessary ingredient for a true turn-up-and-go metro. Here’s my take on what this map at the Baldwin Ave station could look like, for platforms 1 and 2:

I’ve included the following small details:

  • Connections to the other train lines (Eastern, Southern and Onehunga). Admittedly the official map kind of includes this as a line of text at the bottom, but having the connecting lines displayed next to stations allows for much faster readability — and also makes it easier to follow if English isn’t your main language.
  • Connections to frequent bus routes at New Lynn and Henderson (omitted connections at the inner stations just because there are so many to show)
  • Scheduled time to reach the stops ahead of you
  • The entire line, but clearly split to show the section that’s ahead of you
  • A heads-up orientation for the line ahead of you. AT shows their line maps with stations ahead going down; this goes against the intuition of holding a map out in front of you.

Kia kaha ❤️

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