A must read for any fan of wayfinding and transit information design.

46 Replies to “Sunday Open Thread: NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual”

    1. Kinda reminds me of http://youtu.be/ahlWufJqcSQ?t=3m36s

      Cute idea Currently there is very little resources for the homeless and the homeless are many. As a moneyed society, the way we abandon our needy is embarrassing. Whether we raise funds for the needy through government or private donations, we need to raise more.

      1. Atlanta does the same thing using old parking meters to collect funds for services for the homeless.

        Currently I think Utah probably has the most progressive policy toward the homeless. They’ve taken a housing first approach and are on-track to eliminate homelessness in the state entirely in the next couple of years.

        A funny thing is providing the homeless housing ends up saving money in the long run. However people don’t like it because it seems like giving handouts to people who don’t ‘deserve’ them.

  3. Does anyone know what New York’s “typeface” is called? Choice is both a technical and an artistic one. Of course legibility is most important- in every lighting condition, from farthest distance anyone will need to comprehend it.

    But every letter of public text also carries a “feel”, like running one’s fingers across material. Hard or soft? Fur, polished steel, brick or wrought iron? Not-quite-subconsciously, looking at a sign- especially related to either a highway or a transit system- is like looking at a building. Or a skyline.

    And the message drawn from the appearance of the lettering is: how do the people here see their own lives? If the answer is “regimented and boring because we’re desperate to feel safe”, more than the size and shapes of numbers and letters need to be changed.

    I first saw New York City on a summer afternoon in 1958 at age 13- and immediately headed for the subway, which was hot crowded, and a powerful memory. A few more visits over the ’60’s and ’70’s showed me a place that really was chaotic- the pay phone system barely worked- but also one where the culture that bred the signage pulled young generations in like a vortex. Chaos, soup-Nazi service and all.

    Signage now says “We love Stop-and Frisk” with complete legibility.

    For many priceless relationships in life, there’s huge satisfaction in learning to navigate learning something so well that signage isn’t necessary. And some other advantages: Alexander Solzhenitsyn noted that a prisoner who knew a city’s subways could escape from a secret policeman who didn’t.

    Of course, underneath it all, instant comprehension is the gold standard. If a stranger has to read beyond the bold face, they’re already lost and ticked off- word to Metro Transit system-wide. In Montreal, a new passenger can navigate within a few minutes, knowing French only for destinations.

    Lettering size and shape here isn’t the half of it- though really looks like Seattle thinks visible letters are in garish bad taste. But offensive mentality in a nutshell is Metro’s adamant refusal to show passengers clearly where most critical train stops. Dare you: PM rush hour, stand at the bottom the the escalator to southbound Bay D. Count number of passengers with wheeled luggage asking where to board for Sea-Tac Airport.

    Not a word necessary at all. Cutout of a jetliner anywhere visible from the escalator just fine, and should take less than five years to post.

    Mark Dublin

      1. Literally thanks a million, Guy. I’ll print this out and read carefully soon as I can. But just looking it over, thing that strikes me about the early signs is the appreciation the creators felt for their transit system. And their city.

        Probably sign of the years I lived. Chicago between ’50 and ’55. Coffee-table CTA trains still on the rails- though transit had really begun to die. College starting in ’64. Childhood dream of living in a city and lifelong work on transit- alive but barely.

        Hence sentiments about the Downtown Seattle Transit Project and my place in it. And deep hate for everything that gave birth to “Stop and Frisk”, only one blister from the disease that’s ruined my American dream.

        My first home, Chicago. My second home, Detroit, where 20, 000 people just had their drinking water turned off because in a city with 40 percent unemployment, they couldn’t- not wouldn’t- pay their water bills. By a Democratic mayor.

        What happened over the 50 years of my adult life was that the United States of America did what the Confederacy tried to do in four: destroyed our country’s real heartland by secession from it. Call those old signs remembrance of The Anti-Bellum North.

        Mark

    1. Whats to rebut? That really happens with regularity in the S Lake Union area. To me it looks more pro transit than not. Essentially he wrote I bought a new car because the buses are too crowded.

  5. Why does Metro use the short buses on the 48 on game days? Even wirh 15-minute headways passengers were stewed in like sardines, and some probably passed up as well.

    1. Laziness? The default weekend bus type is the 40 footer, I would guess. But for them to go through the calendar and see which weekend days are special event days or game days and then switch out the 40 foot buses for the longer 60 foot buses would require a little bit more work.

    2. Because most of the 60 foot buses are sitting near the stadium during the game, waiting to take the fans back to their park & ride lot? That, and since it is a weekend, the rest are replacing electric trolley buses on the 7, 43, 44, et al?

    1. It seems to have been delivered Friday around 3:15. The smaller lettering says something like “Tunnel something Support Unit”.

  7. So Mark Driscoll heads up the Mars Hill Church and it is doing great. Expanding, setting attendance records, etc.

    Then he takes on ST over the issue of the Eastside maintenance base claiming that God wants him to have it and not ST. Suddenly his church is in complete collapse mode. Coincidence? Or is ST more powerful than any of us ever imagined? Or is God simply on the side of ST?

    In any case, I don’t think ST needs to worry about Mark Driscoll when it comes to their maintenance vase.

    1. The signs are numerous: I-90 being swallowed up by Lake Washington decades ago, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge before that, the vague prophecy of the AWV’s collapse in the next big earthquake, Bertha stuck deep in the Earth, and now the collapse of Driscoll’s empire before the mighty force of Light Rail.

      It’s enough to make a man a Gaia Hypothesis literalist.

    2. God is on Sound Transit’s side. Look at how much it took to build the line through the rainier valley, if god was not on ST’s side we would not be riding trains down MLK today. Obviously God wanted ST to have the eastside property for betterment of his children, so under his watch Mars Hill has collapsed.

    3. No no no no no no!

      The problem at Mars Hill Church is that they decided to build a branch just north of the Hawthorne hippie district here in Portland.

      The collision of the 1960s with diametrically opposed Moral Majority style Christianity from the 1980s formed a time warp and a small black hole that sucked up a bunch of emotionally charged particles, quite a lot of money, and the trombone store that was on 35th.

      Everything was put right when TriMet dumped the last of its 1960s Flexibles into the hole, restoring Hawthorne to its pre-Nixon state.

  8. The Region as a whole has a lot to learn about branding. When everything goes well, the lines blur and people talk about how good it was transferring from the 2 to the 594 to the 1 to get to wherever. When things dont go so well they are quick to blame “Sound Transit” or “Metro” or whoever may be at fault.

    The NYC region has done a lot of good things with branding that our area has to learn. First off, the bus route numbers are more complicated than ours, however there are no duplicates in the NYC area. Right now PT, and Metro both have routes 1 2 3 10 16 etc. Pierce Transit has local service numbered in the 500 series, Metro tries to be consistent through the service area, however they did not allocate enough numbers to each area long ago, and there are some oddities, and than there is the 900 series on top of it all.

    Timetable and map design differs at each of the agencies, 3 use books, one still uses individual pamphlets. 3 use some form of letter or number to indicate a time point, one does not, quality of maps varies far and wide.

    Starting small, with a standard format for all the partner agencies for presenting the timetable’s map and schedule is a good start and wont loose anyone’s individual branding, and eventually it could move up towards standardizing bus stop signage (For example, you have a standard “format” sign, all presenting the same route/timetable information but customized for each agency(s) serving the stop, with maybe a generic sign for when multiple agencies serve the same stop) to eventually a wholesale renumbering of bus routes to eliminate duplicate numbers and present a consistent regional image while still maintaing each agency’s unique image.

    1. I definitely agree that the region needs much more consistent branding for transit. I would argue that in the long run (after ST3?), all transit service should be presented under the Sound Transit brand, with consistent schedules, maps, and fare policies, as well as a common website. Note that for funding and bureaucratic purposes, the existing patchwork of systems could be retained “behind-the-scenes” if it is politically necessary, but the average transit user doesn’t care about transit funding politics, and there is no reason why the region should not have a seamless unified transit experience.

      As for the specific issues you mentioned:

      Duplicate route numbering: It might not be an urgent priority since the duplicate route numbers are almost always 20+ miles apart from each other, but eventually the region should move towards a single route numbering system. For example, Community Transit and Everett Transit local routes could be renumbered in the 600s, Pierce Transit routes in the 700s, etc. Changing route numbers will admittedly be a confusing process, but it should be worth it.

      Map/schedule design: this definitely should be made consistent across agencies, and doing so would probably even save money. As for the book vs. individual pamphlet issue, King County Metro has too many routes for a book of all routes to work, but releasing schedule books for subareas (i.e. Seattle, East King, South King) might work. However, I would also recommend that the other agencies distribute separate pamphlets for each route, as they are easier to carry around.

      Bus stop signage: just because many of them are already there, the new Metro bus signs could be adapted for the region–just edit the specific agencies mentioned. (The generic bus logo works well for this.)

      Also, another issue–the region should adopt a consistent fare system. For example, currently an adult travelling from Bellevue to the U-District may pay 2.25, 2.50, or 3.00 depending on the time of day and what color bus he boards. This is ridiculously confusing, and may deter new riders. Maybe settle on a 2.50 ORCA, 3.00 cash fare for a single county trip (unlimited transfers for 2 hours), and 3.50 ORCA, 4.00 cash for multi county express service (and possibly other premium expresses)? Since Everett Transit’s fares are so much lower, Everett local routes would get a discounted fare if the city of Everett is willing to subsidize them, but overall the fare system could use a lot more consistency to avoid confusing riders.

      1. Everett Transit’s fares may be lower due to low costs, not high subsidies. Fares in small cities are generally lower than large cities, due to less expensive land, labor, and cost of living. CT’s, PT’s, Kitsap’s, and Intercity’s local fares are all lower than Metro’s. ET’s routes are all short and have limited hours. That all suggests low fares, and Everettites would likely get angry if fares or subsidies rose because of the higher cost of a larger regional agency.

      2. This is why I specifically mentioned that even under a unified fare structure, Everett Transit routes could keep their existing low fares. I also recommended keeping the funding streams separate–so Everett residents would continue to pay for only their local buses and ST’s regional buses/trains, even though the service should adopt the “Sound Transit” brand.

        Nevertheless, given the low level of service on most Everett Transit routes (many routes are only hourly), it’s worth wondering if a fare increase (for non-low-income riders) could allow Everett Transit to improve service levels. Of course, this is entirely the decision of Everett Transit’s riders–it depends if they value low fares or higher levels of service more.

      3. @Mike: When (as it is today) transit costs can’t be covered by fares, transit riders are a minority, and non-riders’ willingness to tax themselves for the transit system doesn’t vary all that much from place to place, systems with less service per-capita can have more subsidy and lower fares per-rider, even when they have fairly high subsidy per-rider (as most low-ridership agencies do).

        ET might have lower subsidy per-rider than CT because it doesn’t run so many long coverage routes and isn’t as ambitious about frequency and scope, but I’d be surprised if it had lower subsidy per-rider than KCM. On the other extreme, I bet London has less subsidy per-rider than any Puget Sound agency, but more subsidy per-capita (and much higher fares!) because transit is so popular.

    2. Get more of the Regional Transit Map Book out there. I would pay a nominal fee to ensure a reasonable supply. I’d love to see one specific for Metro.routes and more detailed map of the downtown corridor.

  9. Why the People in Charge of Transit Systems Should Be Required to Actually Ride Transit

    It may sound obvious, but it’s a big problem in cities across the country.

    1. Not only those in charge of transit, but those who design it as well. I remember some years ago many of the newer buses had large yellow strips by the inside seat that passengers were to press when they wanted off instead of having to pull on the ding string. Problem was that whenever someone leaned too close to the window it would unintentionally activate the STOP sign. Bus drivers told me it drove them crazy.

    2. Oh I wish I could tell the stories.

      One involves someone doing interior design on a particular transit project and asking me questions for two weeks about stuff that could be answered had they walked out the door of their company and taken a five minute ride on the very system with which they were working.

      Maybe once when certain lawsuit happy individuals die off I can provide more complete details.

  11. Are there any last rides or first rides people want to do for this service change? The 47 and 61 are going away, and the 208 is going down to every two hours.

    1. Meh. The 42 ride was to celebrate the redeployment of its service hours to more productive use. These cuts are service hours gone. I think most of the cut routes weren’t worth keeping, even if we had the service hours, but I’d rather have had those service hours to plug back into all the routes that need more service to keep up with ridership. The Danny Westneats of the world who can’t stand waiting more than 15 minutes for their bus home are a market we can capture now or lose forever.

      I think we need to start pushing the mayor to allow investment in the routes that desperately need it, starting with capital treatments (not break tightenings) that reduce travel time on these routes, but also adding service as a stop-gap. And we don’t have to butt heads with the people pushing to save the half-empty routes to do it. Celebrating the loss of the cut routes is an exercise in unnecessarily making enemies.

      Maybe after November 4th we will have something to celebrate. Then we can (attempt to) take a ride on a route that desperately needs investment. Heck, maybe we should do it now, and attempt to ride whichever route Danny couldn’t get on, as a campaign stunt, and a way to get the mayor’s attention to spend the money more productively.

    2. I’m leading a group of people to hike Si next Saturday, using the 208 bus. It’s the last weekend trip before service is reduced to every two hours.

    1. MORE:

      This reminded me of a funicular I rode in Wellington, New Zealand years ago. That one especially impressed me because it had the system of 2 cars connected to either end of a single cable, but it was single-tracked. This article got me wondering if that is in fact a common way to engineer & build a funicular…… which then lead me (as is so often the case) to Wikipedia.

      I learn there that single-track funiculars (referred to as “2-rail funiculars”) are actually relatively conventional — the trick is with a double-flanged outer wheel & flangeless inner wheel. Also notable is that another common design is a three-rail funicular (weird & counter-intuitive, until you see it).

      I also enjoyed the concept mentioned in the Wikipedia article that some funiculars are gravity-driven through the use of filling/draining water ballast from the cars….. cool, huh?

      Wikipedia article:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular

      1. There were also 100% gravity powered funicular for coal, logs, and other freight that was moving down hill only, and the weight of the car + commodity moved the empty cars up.

        The Great Orne Tramway is interesting as it is street running like a cable car and has a few curves, both of which are non typical:

  13. The great thing about the New York City subway in the 1960s before all the Bauhausing was that it was a 1940s WWII time warp. It was all Works Progress Administration-ish, my Dad’s era.

    They had these big iron candy bar machines with treats like Clark Bars and 5th Avenue bars. (By then kids like me only wanted Snickers and 3 Musketeers). They would take ridiculously low coinage like nickles. And you had to turn these giant knobs to force out the candy bar.

    Oh, and the gum machines stocked with Beemans and Chicklets. Really, it all was very hipsterish, but with no irony. None whatsoever.

  14. When I visited New York City about 15 years ago, two things in particular stood about the subway system.

    1. It’s byzantine complexity, especially the maze-like nature of many of the larger stations that evolved over time instead of being carefully planned beforehand.

    2. How effectively it was signed, to the point that I, a person who had never been in NYC before, could navigate those complex stations with ease. Pretty much every time I found myself wondering where I was heading, there would appear at about the same time a sign telling me.

  15. Hey Sam,

    Could you research the validity if the rumor that Amtrak Cascades is dropping Wi-fi north of the border?

  16. Note that New York City’s MTA signage does something that Sound Transit signage does not: They list the direction of the train on every platform prominently. Someone waiting for the train clearly sees it. Let’s hope that someone at ST realizes that this is painfully obscured to the point of being hard to find on Link platforms – and changes it! It really drives me nuts when I try to encourage first time station users see how to take the train.

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