October Tube map

Thx for the link. Interesting what they've done to it all.

But what we have, inaccurately called the 'Tube Map' is not an Oyster PAYG map. Adding Thameslink to it would not make it an Oyster PAYG map.

Nor is the 'Tube Map' a 'High Frequency Turn Up and Go Seven Days a Week Map'. An attempt has been made of one, but it is awful.

The 'Tube Map' is a 'Railways that by Historical Accident TfL Own, or Have Control Over' map.

The London Connections Maps are the only logical maps for 'London Railway Completists' but the designs are now very old, and inadequate for various reasons, they need a complete rethink.

Everyone has their own personal favourite that they want to see on the 'Tube Map'. How many tourists actually want to get from Farringdon to Blackfriars? Depending on where you are and want to go, it would probably be less hassle to walk anyway!

If one can't even get the name right on the outside of the map, what chance the inside. "Colloquial name" for what? So what? The user has to be given some sort of clue as to what is on offer.

Not enough people on this board trying to think about what is it like to be a member of the general public trying to make sense of all this. Thats why we get all this single line advocacy and failure to understand just how important it is to get the supplementary information unambiguous and informative.

We need some sort of British Standard for rail services and interchanges between them, then a map that includes just the services that qualify.

The NR interchange symbol works very well, but the step-free access sign doesn't (it makes them appear as interchanges) - it should be replaced instead by the wheelchair symbol used like the NR and Airport interchange symbols - blue for complete access and red for partial, with an instruction to see the more comprehensive accessibility guide.

The map should show as many routes as possible - Underground, DLR, Overground, NR commuter services out to zone 6, even Tramlink (but only with principal stops shown and a note to see the more detailed tramlink maps).

I think both the Tube and DLR are metro networks and belong together on the map. The Overground is going to become one more and more, with very frequent trains alongalmost all sections. It's all completely within London as well which helps with actually putting it on maps like this, and it connects a lot of the other lines. I don't think it's a bad idea to add it, although it's obviously far from perfect. Those high frequencies aren't everywhere (yet), and a lot of the interchanges with tube lines are missed. But the stations are becoming of a TfL underground standard.

So in short. The DLR is a full metro system that belongs on there, the Overground is the Tube's little brother that still needs some growing up.

There's already another map for that.

It would be nice to have some sort of British Standard for quality rail routes: service, signage, security. Then these would get to go on a high-quality services map. Something like trains every 15 minutes or better throughout the working day, and late night trains, seven days a week, clear unambiguous signage and branding so that it is absolutely clear which trains go where, and staffing/cctv throughout.

Overground fails miserably on service, and I don't think that including it on the map because things might get better in the future is a good idea. People are being fooled, and stranded late at night. Ultimately this is counterproductive as a marketing tool. Roll the lines out individually as they qualify.

Its actually surprising/depressing just how many NR services fail narrowly on service quality. Shenfield line has a great service during the week, but the 4tph on Sundays have a 10/20 split (as does Fenchurch Street to Upminster last time I looked). Lewisham was worse, with 6tph to London somehow still managing 24 minute gaps in service. There is a lot of lazy timetabling on Sundays. The chaotic services south of the river don't help. The three ToCs are basically still running a 19th century service that happens to use electric trains.

A high quality services map would be a powerful marketing tool, and might provide some incentive for operators to improve their services so that they could get included on it.

would have been a forerunner, probably national government that got the NLL on there. The NLL has been on the map since at least the early 90s, Thameslink was on the map once it was finished (the first project, not the 2000 one that has only just started). The GN&C lasted over 20 years on the map as NR. The WLL's Outer Circle was on the map, as NR, pre-war (Willesden Junction to the Met north of Uxbridge Road shown as two black lines). The NR until 1994 W&C service was on the tube map from the beginning IIRC.

FYI the new October tube map is now on the TfL webpage at the link below :

www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.pdf

Both the pdf linked above and the gif version at www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/Standard-Tube-map.gif are the October edition.

Haha I just asked my girlfriend to compare both maps and she couldn't tell the difference, and though the actual one was actually more clear. Which makes me think this is mostly a tube enthusiast thing to worry about.

Its also possible to argue that the current map is so disorganised and chaotic that the differences between different versions are harder to spot. If the map was clear and well designed then the differences would be easy. Anyway, its not about spotting differences, its about how easy the map is to use, and how specific pieces of information are interpreted.

Maybe you should take a look at my credentials: www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/staff/mjr

I have spent all my working life researching into logic, reasoning, intelligence, and human factors: why certain tasks are easier than others, why people make mistakes, and why some people make more mistakes than others. I am not so much a map enthusiast as a good-design enthusiast.

The problem is that most of the people out there banging on about how the Tube Map is wonderful (it must be, Henry Beck designed it) and that any detractors are just petty obsessives, never actually make use of the thing, they have all memorised it. The important thing from a designer's point of view is to be able to design a map suitable for people who are less experienced with the map, or less able to cope with being deluged with excessive information.

Finally saw the October map available today.

I made a quick comparison while switching it for the old one in my bag and in addition to the various difference already mentioned, I noticed a few other things:

West Brompton, Harrow and Wealdstone, and Watford Junction had both lost their red 'National Rail airport service' planes.
They have removed the note from Waterloo about international services now using St Pancras.
Pinner, Hendon Central, and Finchley Central have step-free access.
Woolwich Arsenal is opening in early 2009 rather than being under construction.
The "Mayor of London" and rondel have been removed from the bottom of the map.
And the front cover is now "...fragment of a Magic Carpet, circa 1213" by Pae White.

Seeing all of which is unusually observant of me.

I picked up a couple of copies at Caledonain Road station on Saturday. Given the constraints of the current size, the Shepherd's Bush area is very neat. The ELW bus service is how it should have been from the start.

I though that it was an LU replacement bus rather than an LO replacement bus?
And under construction does not imply replacement bus services - there are no bus services running from Whitechapel to Dalston.