Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Metro Pont Neuf for Piccadilly Circus?

I have written before on some of the interesting connections between transit network design and urban form, as typified by the differences between the London Underground and Paris Metro (here and here).  I recently found a piece on CityMetric (here) that really nails the point.
They superimpose a geographically accurate map of the Paris Metro on a map of central London (see below).  If you are at all familiar with London you will immediately see the incredible density of the Paris Metro.  As the text notes, a trip from Kings Cross to Victoria on the Victoria Line involves 5 stations.  If we were using the Metro Line 4 to make the same trip, it would involve 13 stops!

The CityMetric piece calls attention (as I did in my previous postings) to the different functions served by the two systems – critical issues that transit system designers need to consider.  (Unfortunately currently in the US the choice is usually between a sparse system and no system.)

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