A Critique of the New SEPTA Map

A recent article in Bloomberg discusses how SEPTA, Philadelphia's transit authority is trying to improve wayfinding including creating a new map with new nomenclature. While most of you probably don't care about SEPTA, I navigate this system almost every time I visit my Mom so this is personal.

The system is very difficult to map, complicated by subways, both elevated and underground, commuter trains, buses and various types or trolleys, some running along streets, others with their own dedicated rights of way. Additional complications come from the many different agencies that run lines through the area such as Amtrak, PATCO and New Jersey Transit. While trying not to go full negadelphia on here, the more I look at this map the less I like it. 

 

My first big complaint is this triple line representation. It creates a lot of unneeded visual clutter to just show local and express routes separately. The current map. does just fine with one line.

I'm also not impressed with the new nomenclature. Naming lines based on the county they serve M1, D1, etc seems arbitrary, especially given how county lines cut across otherwise uniform suburban areas. Then using "T" for trolley lines, but giving the Girard Avenue trolley a separate letter and color? I could go on a rant about the "L" for what used to be the "MFL" too but I'll spare you. Also, there's an "L" bus line to add to the confusion. Why doesn't PATCO get a letter designation? Finally, is it really necessary to have G1, L1 if there is only one line? I would remove the "1" to keep it simpler.

Also, notice the mess created at 69th St Station by separating local and express lines.

The complete lack of visual prominence of the heavily used regional rail lines is also not good. I get how they create a lot of clutter on the current map but they went too far the other way. I'm OK with making the more frequent rail lines more prominent but one of the problems here is that the less prominent lines are almost indistinguishable from the seemingly random* occasional street. See how the width changes at Penn Medicine** below and then compare the thin line below it with Spruce Street.

Getting back to the multiple line representation, take a look at how it makes the green subway-surface lines way more prominent. I don't know what the ridership data shows but I usually think of the blue line as being the most used/important line here.

A few more complaints before I finish. The wheelchair accessible symbols are almost invisibly small. They want to show accommodations for disabilities while making it hard on those with vision issues. Does the "express sports special service" really need a separate line given how infrequently it runs? I also don't like how tiny the dots are on the non-transfer subway stops.

I'm all for changing the map and even the line names where it makes sense but so far this new map is not an improvement. I hope they can get to something better.

* I understand why they chose the streets they did to include but by only having a couple of non-transit streets, it gives those decisions a random feel.

** I could really go on a rant about corporate station names but that is a decision SEPTA made without consulting me. Jefferson Station is particularly bad as the name says little about its location to anyone not very familiar with that part of town. This is also one of the busiest and most tourist-y. stations in the city. Also, if you're visiting from out of town and want to see your sports team (most likely) beat us, you're just supposed to know to head to "nrg"