City
TTC unveils new system map and stop poles
The Better Way is working on a better map. A series of new London-style TTC maps and reworked stop poles are currently being rolled out on the 94 Wellesley route with an eye toward making the new designs a fixture system-wide.
The re-worked maps (high resolution verion here) strip away the clutter of the existing design and opt instead for something closer to the classic London Underground look that's proved popular with other transit agencies for its simplicity and clean lines. A recent presentation by the TTC noted that the current maps, located in subway stations and in existing outdoor shelters, are "very cluttered" and "lack critical information."
Some of the notable changes include the use of the system's famous font to label subway stations and the addition of a new "you are here" marker, something that's sure to help infrequent riders and visitors to the city. Extraneous information included on the old maps - the region's rivers, major highways, shoreline, etc. - is banished.
Executive director of corporate communications Brad Ross says making surface routes easier to navigate and including alternative routes where they are available is part of the TTC's new focus on customer service.
The TTC expects to have its revised hardware rolled out on the Wellesley route between Castle Frank and Ossington by Friday. On-street interviews and online research will help determine if the new look is successful and if any additional changes are needed. What do you think? Will new maps make it easier to navigate surface routes?
MORE IMAGES:
Parliament Street map with key (high res)
Harbord Street map with key (high res)
The existing version
Close up of the new stop pole badges
Simplified messages
Clearer information on service levels
Existing bus and streetcar stop poles
Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.
Images: TTC
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I do agree that they sometimes have their priorities not straight.
I just wish BlogTO had links for the large version of the images.
Do they actually think that this is BETTER!!!??? WTF?
Wayyyy too confusing and money can be better spent somewhere else like increasing frequency to certain routes.
These new posts are WAY too cluttered and that map is crazy confusing...
GREAT JOB TTC! YOU MANAGED TO SCREW UP YET AGAIN!
Seriously? You`re complaining about "copying" something that has proved useful in London? When the TTC opened the first subway line, do you think people complained that we were "copying" New York and London?
Instead of spending money to redo all these, hire a couple more drivers and a few more busses...
What do people want...more frequent and reliable service...so provide it...
So if you want to comment on the signs, direct your written prose to the TTC on what needs to be changed with your suggestions.
The people who complain about frequency are often the ones who don't have the information that the TTC has neglected to provide. The maps aren't confusing: they show where you are, where you can go from here, and where you can go when you get there.
The system map seems to have the TTC font at the bottom but Futura across the top.
But it's a shame that they didn't take the opportunity to include QRs in the "Next Vehicle Arrival Module." Could have been a nice modern touch. Maybe a little too modern for the TTC, I guess.
As for the maps in the subway stations and bus shelters: please keep the real maps. Using these lovely graphic ornaments reduces the amount of information. While the new graphic ones emphasize the system routes, they lose the purpose of having maps, which is being able to navigate to one's end destination. The TTC is the means to get there, not the end purpose. People need to see how the TTC route relate to reality and to their goals.
But why not show the destination or next subway station of the bus, like many other cities do?
As for those complaining they are fixing this, instead of making the buses less crowded? Really? They shouldn't try and fix other stuff too?
However, without knowing anything about this issue .. ahem... HOW EFFING STUPID IS IT THAT YOU SPEND MONEY ON WEBCAMS. MONEY COULD BE SPENT SO MUCH BETTER. EVERYONE ELSE IS STUPID ACCEPT ME.
thanks for your time.
ps: as a point of order, just because we're diametrically opposed, doesn't mean we can't be civil... oh, hold on a tick. nm.
Back to the signs...
Thank you for that because it's not annoying yet and hilarious
http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects_and_initiatives/Customer_Information_Initiatives/Next_vehicle_information_system/Text_Messaging.jsp
What the TTC hasn't advertised too much on its bus stops is that on its website (which you can access as TTC mobile), there are timed bus stopsthat also have a number that you can text to 898-882. And you will get exactly how long it will take for the bus to reach you or a timed stop near you.
You do not need an app or QR code or whatever else, the service is already there and ready to use.
I like the new maps, especially the time chart showing when all of the nearby routes run in the bottom left. I like being able to know if I've missed the last bus in one quick glance, rather than having to run through the schedule like with the old signs. Showing all of the surface routes nearby helps too, in case there is a subway shutdown, you can use this to find an alternative to your destination instead of waiting for a godforsaken shuttle bus.
The next thing the TTC should do is make an app using GPS to figure out your location and locate the nearest stop. All the stop should have a stop number for easy navigation on the app. Let's see if the TTC can get this right.
No, no. You don't realize those things, or you would never have the gall to put up such stupid comments.
More buses, more streetcars, more subways, better service... and users wouldn't care if the workers wear chicken suits as a uniform and the branding was styled after Kigali Metro and the poles had human heads on them.
The only reason these signs were improved was because they had money left over one the page of the budget sheet earmarked for system improvements. It IS frivilous, like the Fred Flintstone station in the north end under construction. The money's there... so they spend it... instead of saving it and shifting it, money that simply could have been shifted over to add more express buses on Dufferin or lobbying to reduce street parking during rush hour on King.
So, lipstick on a pig. Unless you take the TTC to look at subway stations and spend a bulk of the time complaining about how the poles are ugly.
Would you be happy if your waiter asked you to get up and move to a different table in the middle of a meal at a restaurant? And by the way, your new table isn't quite ready yet and even worse, you have to wait outside in the cold. Naturally, this wouldn't be tolerated by most people if it happened even once, let alone regularly.
Why should this be any different when it comes to short turned TTC vehicles? Yet no one questions or resists it in any way.
I bet the real reason they revamped the poles is so that they could sneakily remove the posted schedules which are never adhered to even remotely.
The worst thing is that I've actually been yelled at by TTC employees for asking what the reason for the short-turn was!
To everyone saying "this is dumb, everyone has smartphones just use QR codes", how can you possibly believe that? Most people (especially those riding a bus) can't afford smartphones and data plans. Plus if you have a smartphone why do you need a QR code? Just go to nextbus and you can literally watch on the little map as the little bus indicator drives to you. It's always been 100% accurate for me. It's the best website for a TTC user and I can't believe anyone who uses the TTC and owns a smartphone doesn't already have their local stops bookmarked on it.
That's kind of like saying, "why don't you buy a Lamborghini instead of a coffee?"
The first main problem is that for the local maps, they appear to reuse them for a specific area. This means that in some cases, the "You Are Here" point is nowhere near the centre, but closer to the edge.
This leads to the second problem: the regional maps which not only show the extensions of the current route, but all routes which pass through the local area. This just looks confusing, even to those who are familiar with Toronto's geography (especially considering the scale change, where to the south it is far closer than in the north).
What is even stranger is that they will show the full scope of nearby local routes, but not the subway! Personally, if I'm at Harboard and Bathurst, I could care less that the College streetcar goes out to Woodbine! Howeever, knowing that a subway line nearby would take me to that destination would be of more value, especially since it is better designed for such a trip.
The subway connections map in the corner does a far better job explaining the geography of the route than the main local map does.
That out of the way, the general look of the new maps are much improved. The current ones simply look bland, and the thinner lines are far more eye pleasing.
Of course, if the TTC didn't run any express service, then you would be complaining that it is too slow because it stops at every other side street to pick up/drop off a couple of people at a time. So there really is no pleasing you, is there?
Better signage > Less confused customers = satisfied customers, less complaints, less need for bureaucracy to deal with complaints and staff relieved from having to inform confused passengers. What does that give us? More money for "MORE BUSES".
W.K. Lis' comment about putting the direction sounds like a good idea (I'd advise against using the transfer direction, those things are confusing enough!) you run into problems where multiple routes running in different directions share a stop. Take Eglinton West(bound) at Lascelles, there the 5 South, 61 North and 32 West all share the stop. Perhaps putting the direction next to the route?
I'm not saying the existing maps couldn't be redesigned to be better, but this is not better.
Pole design is an improvement though.
And DRL study #912 will be released using the same 1985 map as they are using today.
Great idea - maybe TTC should partner with google maps to do this - oh...wait.....they did.
Seriously. Fuck the signs. If people need help going somewhere the just turn to the person next to them and ask for help as they always have, so I'll just echo what more sensible souls on here have said - the TTC needs to make a more concentrated effort fixing their reliability, adding more buses, etc. instead of wasting everyone's time with this crap.