17 Replies to “Fantasy Maps”

  2. Man, I hope your alright. I’ve been down that road 4-5 years ago, it isn’t fun at all. Hopefully it is a very, very minor dislocation like mine was….

    Very best wishes, recover fast and don’t do a lot of movement…

  3. Aqua – Sounder Commuter Rail
    Light Blue – Link Light Rail
    Orange – Monorail, Streetcar, Light Rail or BRT??
    Purple – Streetcar
    Green – Light-Rail
    Brown – Eastside Commuter Rail

    I think that is it?

  4. Speaking of fantasy transit maps and snowboarding (wondering how I’ll pull those two together?), here‘s a fanasy map of mine. I call it the Galer Ski Lift – it’s for a ski lift from the top of Queen Anne (right up the stairs from the main corner with Olympia pizza) down to Westlake. Hopefully from there you could hop on the extended streetcar – but even if no extended streetcar is built you could walk to the existing one.

    Of course it’s not for skiing – it’s my plan to inexpensively connect Queen Anne with, well, anywhere else.

  6. Now that’s thinking big. While we’re at it, let’s solve poor West Seattle’s landlocked problems using a ski lift.

    It seems like in our hilly city these could cheaply connect quite a few areas. It only cost Snowbird $5.6 million to build their latest high-speed quad, and we wouldn’t need anything that fancy – a regular 3-seat slow chair would be fine (or even one of those Disney gondolas to have rain shelter).

  7. Hi I’m the author of the map. Thanks for mentioning it on your blog. I didn’t expect it to appear here so quickly! I saw all of the ideas out there and wanted to visualize what the entire system would look like. Many of the lines that are on the map are from planned projects like the failed Prop. 1, the Eastside Rail proposal, etc. The orange lines are BRT. This map is however, nowhere near finished as you can see.

    I hope you have a speedy recovery!

  8. Oran, nice map.

    I’m curious why there’s no BRT from Lake City to Bothell. I know all of Bothell Way has been studied as a BRT route, and as someone who lives in Bothell and occasionally takes the ST 522 into Seattle, I’d love to see better transit options here. It also connects the west and north parts of the transit plan in the north end, which is good from a network perspective.

    I continue to be confused by the Eastside rail proposals. The number of stops suggest this is light rail, not commuter rail, and yet if this is the BNSF route it misses most of the dense Eastside neighborhoods. Is this a 405 light rail corridor instead (and if so, how is a line to Snohomish justified)? The London Tube-style map adds to the confusion.

  9. I don’t know whether to be amazed or depressed. Yeah, that map is so cool that it makes me sad just to look at.

  11. Well Matt, I think a ski lift (or even Disneyland style gondola) would have some inherent safety issues, but an air tram could be useful in some places. The expanse of Capitol Hill and Eastlake which are completely cut off by I-5 comes to mind. Heck, OHSU in Portland did it to connect their ever expanding health campus.

  12. Hey, this is the fantasy map post – ski lifts are perfectly safe in my fantasy map.

    Actually, I wonder why ski lifts are considered less inherently dangerous when travelling over rock faced cliffs with heavy weights strapped to your feet.

    I’m ok with trams, but would prefer them smaller. I like the idea of never having to wait. Plus large trams lead to large towers, large gauge cable, large budgets…

  13. The eastside stuff is also something I’m debating with myself. Should I include the ST buses or not or turn some into BRT lines? It was an oversight that I didn’t put BRT on 522, I was focusing doing the details in Seattle.

    That line to Snohomish is the BNSF line and I intended it to be a commuter rail line. The lack of density in the area would have to be made up by P&R lots. The Bothell branch is not realistically feasible but I put it in there for fun just because it’s in my backyard (sort of, I live near Brickyard P&R) ;)

    The tube style doesn’t really work well for unestablished systems but it’s a fantasy so I’m pretending it is one. It is a challenge in itself trying to optimize the diagram (read Mr Beck’s Underground Map, another source of inspiration). It was drawn during Winter break and several things have changed since, like 520 might not be getting light rail or new streetcar proposals. I also forgot to put Mercer Island in and think the lake looks ugly.

    Thanks for all your comments. I hope to find some time to complete it soon with your suggestions and I’ll let you know when I do.

  14. Those are some pretty drawings, but as the author says on his blog, “They’re incomplete and they lack any analysis in choosing routes. It’s mostly style and less substance.”

    This is some fairly important information that should be included in the original post. It also appears that we got a new bridge going across Lake Washington?

  15. Yes, it was quickly put together from current and planned projects as a starting point, call it a brainstorm if you like. That’s how most projects begin, with ever more detailed analysis following. Notice that the central Seattle area looks the most polished while the outlying areas are all unfinished, especially the BRT lines which lack stations.

    Be aware that the way the map, technically a diagram, is drawn can be misleading. The next revision will try to make it look more geographically correct. Given the geography and extent of the region it is difficult to cram all those stations in Seattle along with those in the vast expanses of the suburbs into a single map without using either a very large size map or a separate downtown map.

    The next revision should make it look complete and I will analyze the routes and stations to be more realistic, after all, I am a civil engineering student. That will take some of my time (all my free time).

    I guarantee you, the next one will be prettier AND actually useful and realistic.

  17. Pingback: New Sound Transit Regional Map - Seattle Transit Blog

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