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User Friendly London Underground.

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150222

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Inspired by episode 1 of 'The Tube' I note that many passengers are confused by the LU map. My idea is to re-brand parts of the Underground.

Sticking to the current basic map design The lines have names and numbers in all official publications.

Changes to lines are as follows.

Line 1/Central line/Red) No changes.

Line 2/Piccadilly line/Blue) No changes.

Line 3/City line/Lime) High Barnet/Mill Hill East to Morden via Bank.

Line 4/Northern line/Black) Edgware to Kennington via Charing Cross.

Line 5/Victoria Line/Sky Blue) No changes.

Line 6/Bakerloo Line/Brown) Extended to Watford Junction.

Line 7/Thames Line (formerly Waterloo & City line)/Turquiose) No change.

Line 8/Jubilee Line/Silver) No change.

Line 9/Metropolitan Line/Claret) Some serices will terminate at King's Cross St Pancras or extend to Whitechapel/Plaistow to enable King's Cross line to terminate at Aldgate..

Line 10/Circle Line/Yellow) No change.

Line 11/District Line/Green) Wimbledon-Edgware Rd./Olympia no longer part of line.

Line 12/Hammersmith & City line/Line/Pink) Dagenham East to Hammersmith.

I look forward to your thoughts, thanks.
 
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MidnightFlyer

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If the King Cross line's pink, what colour is the Hammersmith & City line?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
To be fair though I already think the Beck LUL map is one of the best around as it is.
 

150222

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Is 3 via Bank or Charing Cross?

It's via Bank. (Hence City). Line 4 serves Charing Cross.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I have also changed the name of no. 7/ the W&C line to 'The Thames Line' to deter confusion with line 3 'The City Line'.
 

bb21

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Is 3 via Bank or Charing Cross?

I assume 3 via Bank, hence the name, and 4 via Charing X.

Line 12/King's Cross Line/Pink) Dagenham East to Hammersmith & Aldgate to Olympia/Wimbledon.

If you're looking for absolute clarity, shouldn't Line 12 be separated into two lines?

Also why is Watford Junction included? Do you plan to include LO services?
 

SS4

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I assume 3 via Bank, hence the name, and 4 via Charing X.



If you're looking for absolute clarity, shouldn't Line 12 be separated into two lines?

Also why is Watford Junction included? Do you plan to include LO services?

That was my hunch but I wanted to be sure. Line 12 is relative confusing.

I am also assuming that Mill Hill East would be part of line 3?
 

150222

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I assume 3 via Bank, hence the name, and 4 via Charing X.



If you're looking for absolute clarity, shouldn't Line 12 be separated into two lines?

Also why is Watford Junction included? Do you plan to include LO services?

Nope, as the point is so the Wimbleware can be it's own service as it doesn't suit the District. Merging with the H&C is the best way to do it. The shared section between Aldgate + Paddington (ish) is enough so as to not warrent being two lines. By that logic the Central line should be two services aswell. :)

The plan is (re-)extending the Bakerloo to Watford Junction. (As it was pre-1982?)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That was my hunch but I wanted to be sure. Line 12 is relative confusing.

I am also assuming that Mill Hill East would be part of line 3?

Yep, Mill Hill East would be line 3 but all services continue on to Kennington/Balham (possible?)/Morden.
 

SS4

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Attached is your idea. I was unsure how to connect the H&C from Hammersmith to Olympia and Wimbledon though so I guessed :lol:

You can probably tell I hated art at school!
 

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Deerfold

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Inspired by episode 1 of 'The Tube' I note that many passengers are confused by the LU map. My idea is to re-brand parts of the Underground.
...

I look forward to your thoughts, thanks.

Why do think this will confuse fewer people?

I'd have thought the London Underground map was fairly clear as transport maps go. I can understand a little splitting of lines to avoid confusion - but really you'd want to split all the ones with forks in the line to be certain of that - and then you end up with multiple lines sharing tracks.

Your Kings X line seems to be rather complicated.

I think a lot of visitors just aren't sure which station is nearest where they're going.

I'd say you see very few people confused about which tube they should get compared with other transport modes and towns and cities.
 

Dstock7080

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How does the (unchanged) MET and new 'Kings Cross Line' reverse in the 2 platforms at Aldgate?
The District already operates a 5min service Barking-Upminster (off-peak), what is the frequency of the Kings Cross Line reversing in the single platform at Dagenham East?
 

Greenback

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Why do think this will confuse fewer people?

I'd have thought the London Underground map was fairly clear as transport maps go. I can understand a little splitting of lines to avoid confusion - but really you'd want to split all the ones with forks in the line to be certain of that - and then you end up with multiple lines sharing tracks.

Your Kings X line seems to be rather complicated.

I think a lot of visitors just aren't sure which station is nearest where they're going.

I'd say you see very few people confused about which tube they should get compared with other transport modes and towns and cities.

I agree. I think that whenever you see people clustered around a tube map it is because they are trying to fathom out which station they need to get to, and how to get to it from wherever they are.

I don't think it's the map itself, or the colours of the lines, that are difficult, it's more that people are unfamiliar with the system and are checking and double checking their journey options.
 

trentside

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This may be controversial, but I believe that to improve clarity of the map the disabled access 'blobs' must be removed. A separate accessibility map should then be produced displayed at select locations and available at all stations in leaflet form.

The blobs are wrong on a number of counts, not least for making non-interchange stations circular, which corrupts the idea that interchanges are shown by a circle and non-interchanges by a tick.
 
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MidnightFlyer

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I believe he meant having one map totally void of the access symbols and one map with them on for all stations, not the current set-up of only showing them where accessible. I agree with him personally.
 

trentside

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I believe he meant having one map totally void of the access symbols and one map with them on for all stations, not the current set-up of only showing them where accessible. I agree with him personally.

That's exactly what I mean't.

While I think it's good that TfL are making such an effort to make the Tube accessible, I just think the disabled access symbols make the map much less clear.
 

Mutant Lemming

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In making the map simpler for occasional users you will confuse the majority of the regular travellers. Apart from the odd tweaking for actual service and line changes it is best left as it is.
 

SS4

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I would agree with splitting the Northern line into two branches although Via Bank and Via Charing Cross is very clear
 

NSE

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Also, as I understand it, if they were to split the Northern Line, it would put High Barnet with the Charing Cross line and Edgware with the Bank branch, as Camden junction is laid out in a way that means more trains can be squeezed through per hour in this way. Also, geographically the map is wrong, the Bank branch actually runs to the west of the Charing Cross line as it bypasses Mornington Crescent, before switching over the top at Euston.
 

SS4

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That being said if amendments were to be made I'd like a version which shows easy interchanges on foot with the distance between said stations (preferably in metres). For example it would show that Euston and Kings Cross are about 500m* apart. Plus some less obvious ones like Lancaster Gate to Paddington - useful if you arrived into Pad and wanted the central line

*insert actual figure here.

Not unlike: http://ni.chol.as/media/geoff-files/sillymaps/walkmap.gif
 

NSE

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That being said if amendments were to be made I'd like a version which shows easy interchanges on foot with the distance between said stations (preferably in metres). For example it would show that Euston and Kings Cross are about 500m* apart. Plus some less obvious ones like Lancaster Gate to Paddington - useful if you arrived into Pad and wanted the central line

*insert actual figure here.

Not unlike: http://ni.chol.as/media/geoff-files/sillymaps/walkmap.gif

I must say, since living in London, I've worked out so much on foot. I mean, Kings Cross, Warren Street, Euston Square, Regents Park, Great Portland Street and Euston can all be seen by standing in one place on the Euston road. So many tubes stops are closer than you think and much quicker to walk.
 

NY Yankee

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The London Underground map is the most complicated map I've ever seen.

This is the map for the New York City Subway:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm Notice how much easier it is to decipher than the Tube map.

I wish that the map showed tourist attractions like the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.
 

Clip

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The London Underground map is the most complicated map I've ever seen.

This is the map for the New York City Subway:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm Notice how much easier it is to decipher than the Tube map.

I wish that the map showed tourist attractions like the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.

You're kidding right? Your map is far too cluttered compared to ours. Landmarks are on tourist maps and shouldnt be on transport maps IMO.
 

bb21

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You're kidding right? Your map is far too cluttered compared to ours. Landmarks are on tourist maps and shouldnt be on transport maps IMO.

I agree. Also geographically scaled maps won't be suitable for London as the central area will be far too dense.
 
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Clip

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I agree. Also geographically scaled maps won't be suitable for London as the central area will be far too dense.

Exactly. it would be chaos if it was all geographically correct and to difficult to make out anything.
 

Greenback

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Exactly. it would be chaos if it was all geographically correct and to difficult to make out anything.

A lesson that was learned way back in the early days of the Underground, and which led, eventually, to Beck's map.

I agree that the NY Subway map is too complicated and cluttered. I do think that my view compared to NY Yankee illustrates how familiarity is an important factor in bein gable to udnerstand whatever map you are looking at.

I would venture to suggest that most of us are very familiar with the tube map; the layout, the colours, and the font. Someone living in the NE of the US will probably alos be used to the style and formatting of the subway map, and find it more user friendly.
 

Schnellzug

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The London Underground map is the most complicated map I've ever seen.

This is the map for the New York City Subway:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm Notice how much easier it is to decipher than the Tube map.

I wish that the map showed tourist attractions like the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.

I know opinions differ, but that looks incredibly complicated to me. In the direction of Coney island, you get the orange and yellow lines criss-crossing over each other all over the place. And the line numbering; you've got A, 3, 4, N, Q ...
 

SS4

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A lesson that was learned way back in the early days of the Underground, and which led, eventually, to Beck's map.

I'd agree with that although as a consequence we do lose sight of how some stations are really quite close to each other, something the map doesn't imply.

I would venture to suggest that most of us are very familiar with the tube map; the layout, the colours, and the font. Someone living in the NE of the US will probably alos be used to the style and formatting of the subway map, and find it more user friendly.

Again, I agree. It comes down to exposure for the most part. That NY map definitely confuses me
 
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