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 ❤️
Nice work Sam – clear, legible, intuitive. Much better than what’s deployed in the field currently.