March 2011 Tube Map

[fleetline]

Hot on the heels of the new re-opening of the ELL TfL have released a new map. To my surprise it doesn't contain the DLR extension on it meaning either its going to be awhile time that opens or its going to be a short lived map. I prefer the latter.

Cover

www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/5501423965/

Map

www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/5501424243/in/photostream/

Key

www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/5501424407/in/photostream/

The PDF

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

Interesting how they've tidied up Stratford and the GOBLIN ahead of the DLR coming. Tho West India Quay needs to be moved to the other side.

[Chris M]

I disagree with the need to move the West India Quay label, if it were west of the line then it would become cluttered with the Wapping label. They have changed the label though (comparing March 2011 pdf and October 2010 paper), despite there apparently being no other changes in the area:

October 2010      March 2011
------------      --------------
West India        West
Quay              India Quay

[mcmaddog]

It does look shortlived as TCR is shown as an interchange with no note.

[Dstock7080]

Also surprised at other changes:
- no mention now of opening times at; Kensington (Olympia), Heathrow T4, Chigwell, Grange Hill, Roding Valley, (they loose daggers)
- no mention of 'change at Finchley Central for Mill Hill East at off-peak times' and removal of the note about Charing Cross branch, (daggers removed).
- removal of the notes about Rayners Lane to Uxbridge, (daggers removed).

I guess the re-draw at Stratford is for the forthcoming DLR extension.
The tidying of South Tottenham - Leyton Midland Road is welcome.

[Deleted]

What really needs to be done with West India Quay is - it should be closed and replaced by the walkway along the viaduct from the northern end of Canary Wharf station. Offtopic, nevermind.

[Tomcakes]

It's a shame those awful disabled splodges can't be got rid of, too.

[Deleted]

Or at least replaced with another symbol.

[thirstquensher]

I just wish "Platform For Art" would desist on encouraging so called "artists" to contribute endless variations of 'tube line colours scattered in a geometric pattern' and calling it "art". Even worse when the write-up 'justifying' the piece adds even more condescension to the whole exercise - I think the "artist" says something like how the black background represents the darkness that we feel in our lives, that we escape from when we enter into the comforting bright interior of a tube station - or somesuch w@nkspeak. Remember the tube lines arranged as concentric rings, and remember the RAF bullseye, both of which were described, in slightly different ways, as indicating how the tube, and London, are synonymous with being a 'target' for visitors worldwide. I mean, really. You could shove a photo of a plughole on the front of the Tube Map and say the same thing, explaining that the phrase "The Drain" is synonymous with the Waterloo & City Line. Except that would be too imaginative.

[thirstquensher]

Also, I'm really surprised this version was even printed up in quantity. It must really indicate a substantial further slippage of the DLR extension.

[Deleted]

As mentioned in other threads, the new tube maps installed in the London Overground trains already have the DLR extension marked - and are identical to the other map apart from that.

[Chris M]

Mar 6, 2011 19:48:25 GMT @thirstquensher said:

Also, I'm really surprised this version was even printed up in quantity. It must really indicate a substantial further slippage of the DLR extension.

I don't think there is as much joined-up thinking as that comment would imply!

[madonion]

Why does it show a long interchange between mile end central and sub surface lines?

[Deleted]

Mar 7, 2011 0:04:55 GMT @madonion said:

Why does it show a long interchange between mile end central and sub surface lines?

Because the lines run parallel on the map and aren't paired. Take note of Finsbury Park.

[malcolmffc]

Mar 6, 2011 17:48:18 GMT Tomcakes said:

It's a shame those awful disabled splodges can't be got rid of, too.

Agreed. It would be far better for TfL to just print a special "access impaired" (or whatever the politically correct term is) version of the map, and keep the blobs off the main map.

Especially since the map in its current form doesn't even contain full step free information. There are many stations (Stockwell, Finsbury Park to name a few) where access to the platforms is not step free, but the interchange between the lines is.

[norbitonflyer]

Mar 7, 2011 7:07:07 GMT malcolmffc said:

It would be far better for TfL to just print a special "access impaired" (or whatever the politically correct term is) version of the map, and keep the blobs off the main map.

Like this, perhaps?

[ruislip]

Mar 6, 2011 15:20:24 GMT Dstock7080 said:

- removal of the notes about Rayners Lane to Uxbridge, (daggers removed).

;D applause ;D

[rincew1nd]

There definitely does seem to have been a significant de-daggerification.

Anyone fancy a poll on what the new symbol will be?

[Deleted]

Mar 10, 2011 21:26:36 GMT rincew1nd said:

Anyone fancy a poll on what the new symbol will be?

Wouldn't small LU roundels be nice? or how about leaving it as it is, getting rid of those step-free symbols too? Though that would seem too obvious and simple to the mighty people in the design department ( - if that's what it's called!).

[edwin]

IMO the disabled signs shouldn't be there at all. Just make the disabled-specific tube maps more available in stations, etc. and leave them off of the "main" map.

[malcolmffc]

Unfortunately the wheelchair blobs are a legal requirement.

[Chris M]

Mar 11, 2011 7:29:07 GMT malcolmffc said:

Unfortunately the wheelchair blobs are a legal requirement.

I'd be surprised at that, as they don't show enough detail to be actually useful. And even if showing the subset of disabled access that they do (where there is stepfree access from all platforms to the street, regardless of whether you can interchange, or if only some platforms have the access) then surely it could be shown with a wheelchair symbol sized and positioned like the NR arrows are.

The accessibility of the accessible tube maps does need to be improved - a friend's mother was completely unaware that the large print map existed. Similarly there was a wheelchair-bound passenger I saw at Dalston Junction shortly after that station opened who was discussing with a friend whether it would be possible for him to interchange with mainline services at West Croydon, both of them were unaware of the detailed access map.

[Deleted]

Then a small wheelchair symbol at the end of the station name is all that's needed.

[21146]

A review submitted to Underground News:

A new edition of the Underground diagram (lettered as the “Tube map”) was issued in March 2011 in both poster and pocket sized form to coincide with the extension of London Overground services from Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington. This replaced the pocket diagram of July 2010 (and poster of May 2010) which appeared upon the advent of London Overground services to Crystal Palace and West Croydon. The most obvious changes to the new map are in the north-east area, with the ELL now shown paralleling the existing NLL route between Dalston and Highbury & Islington, but the Gospel Oak – Barking line route has also been re-jigged, whilst the Central Line’s Hainault loop has been narrowed.
Another attempt has been made to remove ‘clutter’ from the map, and most of the ‘daggers’ appended to station names have been removed. Many of these had referred to patterns of service, or sections of line where services finished slightly earlier than usual – e.g. on the T4 loop or between Hainault and Woodford. A total of 22 daggers have been expunged on the new diagram, with the 11 remaining denoting shorter station/line opening times, a station closure (Blackfriars), step-free issues, non-stopping at certain times (Turnham Green and West India Quay) and refurbishment disruption (Victoria). Oddly, Blackfriars remains struck-through with a red line as well as having a dagger, yet the full closure of Latimer Road goes unmentioned.
The spread of the step-free ‘blob’ continues apace, with new symbols appearing at Bank (DLR), Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, Kingsbury, and Highbury & Islington; plus King’s Cross St.Pancras gains a third blob to indicate the provision of a lift to the Northern Line. Apart from aesthetic considerations, it must be questioned as to how useful these wheelchair blobs are, since such information is too complex to be properly indicated on a pocket map, nor even on the full-sized poster version. For example, step-free access is now possible at Euston Square I/R and Headstone Lane N/B but is not indicated, presumably as the other platform is not similarly equipped. Yet journeys in both directions can still be made, albeit by going a distance in the ‘wrong’ direction before changing trains at an island platform. Similarly, West Brompton has step-free access to the E/B District Line but this is not shown either; but a trip to say Wimbledon is possible, albeit travelling via South Kensington. It sometimes seems that the proliferation of these symbols is just an attempt by LU to pretend that its system is ‘disabled-friendly’ and that a great deal of work has been made to make huge parts of the network accessible. However, in reality it is not and in fact, much of the current step-free access is merely a quirk of the original station design (e.g. Elm Park or Sudbury Town). In addition, platform heights do not always align with train floors, despite the work being done to provide step-free ‘humps’ as are appearing on the Victoria Line and at other locations.
Several stations have ‘grown’ in size; Highbury & Islington goes from a single interchange circle to a three-circle combined interchange/step-free connector. Ditto Stratford goes as from one circle to two, no doubt part of a general rearrangement of this area ready for the opening of the DLR branch to Stratford International. Canonbury becomes a two-blob station due to the ELL/NLL services being depicted as parallel lines, but Dalston Junction and Dalston Kingsland are now shown separately instead of being joined by a two-circle interchange connector. Bank goes up from three circles to four to accommodate a DLR step-free blob.
The south end of the Northern Line has been tidied up, with all station names south of Stockwell now appearing on the left instead of alternating. At the east end of the District Line, Hornchurch has also changed sides, from top to bottom, presumably due to a slight moving of the fare zone shading. Staying with this part of the map, alterations to the alignment of the Gospel Oak – Barking route has allowed Leyton Midland Road and Walthamstow Queen’s Road to appear above the line instead of below. Finally, North Greenwich has gained a “for the O2” suffix in what might be subtle piece of advertising.
The pocket map continues the tradition of using a commissioned artwork for the front cover, with Good Times by Eva Rothschild (2010) replacing Untitled (Tube Map) by Barbara Kruger (2009). The worthiness of these projects, which seem in the main just to amend existing LU artwork or iconography, must be decided by the eye of the beholder (e.g. the previous cover design showed a section of the central area diagram with just the station names changed, an idea that had already been done as The Great Bear by Simon Patterson back in 1992. The current cover design features a series of ten rectangles in LU line colours arranged in a circle on a black background.
There are slight differences between the poster and pocket map diagrams, one of the most obvious being that the index grid does not appear on the poster. Other changes on the poster are that the Epping branch does not curve to the right but points due north, and that London Bridge’s station name sits below the Jubilee Line instead of above it.
One policy change in recent years is that future extensions are no longer shown as “under construction”, allegedly to avoid “confusing” passengers, though this never seemed to be a problem in the past. So no mention is made of the forthcoming DLR line from Canning Town to Stratford International via West Ham. This will no doubt be the catalyst of the next change to the diagram, that is unless Blackfriars reopens first.

[21146]

Mar 12, 2011 18:44:23 GMT @plymothian said:

Then a small wheelchair symbol at the end of the station name is all that's needed.

These already appear on the reverse of the pocket diagram in the index so there's no need to disfigure the front of the map as well.

[Deleted]

I agree that the blue wheelchair circles should be taken off of the Standard Map. The only places with the original end of line station markers (Not sure of the official name) left are, Watford, Mill Hill East and Cockfosters

[Bighat]

Mar 12, 2011 20:44:19 GMT @bronzeonion said:

I agree that the blue wheelchair circles should be taken off of the Standard Map. The only places with the original end of line station markers (Not sure of the official name) left are, Watford, Mill Hill East and Cockfosters

And I agree also.

The amount of 'clutter' they cause is totally disproportionate to the number of wheelchair-bound travellers likely to need such information, and as already has been said, can be obtained from the reverse side of the brochure anyway!

Rant Over!

[ianvisits]

Mar 11, 2011 7:29:07 GMT malcolmffc said:

Unfortunately the wheelchair blobs are a legal requirement.

Which particular law governs the placement of accessibility information on maps?

I am working on maps for other projects, and cannot find anything to support that claim.

Thanks

[Ben]

I can't see how there would be otherwise blobs would appear on all forms of public transport in the country, which they don't.

I recon they still exist because TfL doesn't want to loose face over insisting on such a contradictory, illogical and misleading idea in the first place.

[Deleted]

I'm bored of it already. Let's have the next update.

[Deep Level]

Why aren't Dalston Kingsland and Dalston Junction shown as an Interchange any more? The distance between the two are the same as Bow Road & Bow Church and Tower Hill & Tower Gateway.