Posters as an element of marketing transit stations and neighborhoods

I can't say I've thought about this much.  I do think about it terms of parks, and using National Park Service style posters with a design language created in the 1930s.

Original poster design, 1938.

Modern version.  Poster not produced by the National Park Service.

A Reddit user, u/Coup-de-Cous, in Los Angeles has produced similar designs for LA Metro stations and neighborhoods.

Now that I think about it, they are reminiscent of the transit marketing posters produced by railroads, and for transit specifically, the London Underground ("Birth of the London Underground Posters," Art Institute of Chicago, "Frank Pick: the forgotten genius of the London Underground," Gallery, Telegraph, "The Hidden Women Behind London’s Beloved Modernist Transit Posters," Bloomberg), and Chicago Transit.

London Underground Poster.

Modern CTA poster promoting rehabilitation of Wilson Station.  

Making these kinds of posters could be a way to engender goodwill for transit infrastructure projects.

Non CTA poster, done in the 1930s National Park style.

Promoting the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

This series of posters by the Chicago Neighborhoods Project

 is comparable to those by u/Coup-de-Cous for Los Angeles.

Art deco style railroad poster.

Christopher Taylor Edwards, Rest in Peace | A grassroots leader in design thinking

Later he grew a huge beard but this is how I remember him.

I just heard that a past colleague, Christopher Taylor Edwards, died from cancer.  

Open-casket visitation Sunday, August 3, 3pm (service begins 4pm) at Colvin House, 5940 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60660. Reception 5-7pm. Parking is limited. Guests are encouraged to take public transportation or rideshare.

(I like the nod to public transportation.)

He moved around a lot and since I am not a big Facebook user we lost touch, but my partner kept following him, from his getting another design degree in NYC and being the first design fellow in a Knight Foundation program at Parsons, to Chicago.  Before that he lived in Oakland and DC among other places. 

In the early 2000s when blogs were the supreme social media (having long since been superseded by other media like Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, etc.), there was a small blogging community in DC devoted to the city and its urban issues and that's how I met him.

-- Christopher's old blog

As part of my activism then I used to lead walking tours of "Florida" Market (now renamed Union Market, which was the original name, also see "Revitalization of the wholesale food Union Market in DC to a consumer focus," [2025]) to increase awareness and to ford off the attempt at urban renewal-ing a cool food business district, mostly oriented to wholesale customers, but a number of businesses also sold to the consumer.

I was also interested in the visitor/tourist/guest experience, these days the profession is often oriented to computers using the shorthand of UX--user experience.  But the principles last.

In the tours besides going to businesses that sold to retail customers, we talked about missing amenities,  like directories, trash cans, etc., which were used as reasons for urban renewal.  My response was, yes it's dirty, why doesn't the city have trash cans?  Yes, it's hard to find things, why isn't there a directory?  Etc.

I knew Christopher as a "graphic" designer, but he was also into museum exhibiting and urban design, and he offered to help develop a "proof of concept" in wayfinding signage for the market.  

The city already had a wayfinding system, but I discerned gaps, and the concept of a district area directory map was one.  I also thought the "Discover DC" headers were more oriented to tourists, rather than both residents and tourists, so we developed a "Discover DC" concept as well.

The city sign.  Maybe it's merely a quibble, but I liked the idea of "exploring" being open to all, not the implication of "discover" being you had to be an outsider to find something, ignoring the fact that these are existing places known to many.

I had been aware of the concept of "design thinking" before this project, but he and I talked about it and related issues to design.  These blog anniversary pieces draw a lot on design thinking, business process redesign, design method, and systems thinking. This was in 2008.

(I started blogging in 2005, and these anniversary pieces draw a lot on design thinking, business process redesign, design method, and systems thinking.

--  "20th anniversary of the blog| Urban revitalization systems thinking's greatest hits: Part one -- (in)FAQ and my influences," 
-- "20th anniversary of the blog| Urban revitalization systems thinking's greatest hits: Part two -- not transportation
-- "20th anniversary of the blog| Urban revitalization systems thinking's greatest hits: Part three -- transportation"

In my writings, I prefer the application of design thinking to the typical urban planning process of constrained scopes, because that allows for an iterative process that can explore and incorporate new ideas, rather than be limited to the client's defined and usually constrained scope.

-- "Florida Market proof of concept wayfinding signage and the need for a wayfinding conference," 2009
-- Explore Florida Market (history)
-- Florida Market Map and Directory

In the project I had a idea leap using design thinking on the Florida Market Map, and how to represent necessary items like transit.  

I came up with the idea of using the local transit system's iconography rather than weak lines and or the weird looking industry-standard rail transit icon.  We extended this to mapping bus routes using the WMATA graphic design as well, although it's not as pathbreaking.

FWIW, I still haven't come across a similar use of integrating local transit map graphic design into other map products. 

 There is tons of writing and display of great transit map design, but not about incorporating some of that design into different kinds of maps.

WMATA Metrorail map.

Extract from an old WMATA bus system map 

(WMATA has since changed all of its bus-related routes, naming conventions, and map designs.)

The design method, graphic design, and design thinking offer a lot to making better government services like parks, libraries, schools, forms, etc.

-- "City branding versus identity | Branding versus Urban Strategy," 2019
-- "All the talk of e-government, digital government, and open source government is really about employing the design method," 2012
-- "PL #7: Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward," 2017
-- "World Usability Day, Thursday November 9th and urban planning," 2017
-- "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit," 2018
-- "Illustration of government and design thinking: Boston City Hall to Go truck," 2013<
"Best practice bicycle planning for suburban settings using the "action planning" method," 2013,

Thank you Christopher.

============

Over the past week, I came across some design thinking publications, downloadable, from the UK Design Council.

-- The Design Economy: Environmental and Social Value of Design 
-- Design Economy: People, Places and Economic Value, 
-- Design for Neighbourhoods: A design agenda for the new government
-- Future of Motorway Service Areas (interesting speculation about electric cars)
-- Public Design Beyond Central Government Key Insights and Recommendations

-- "Five components of social design: A unified framework to support research and practice," Design Journal

Impact of proposed transit cuts at SEPTA/Philadelphia presented in graphically compelling ways

With WFH and the ending of special grant programs from the Biden Administration ("Public transit agencies eye service cuts as pandemic aid runs out," Marketplace/NPR), coupled with the Trump Administration's pro-car bias, virtually every transit agency is facing financial exigency in future  budget cycles ("Metra, CTA and Pace warn of possible 40% service cuts starting in 2027," NBC Chicago, "What to know about possible PRT cuts and how to make your voice heard," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) , often with pleas like in Philadelphia ("No more excuses — Harrisburg Republicans must find a way to fully fund SEPTA," Philadelphia Inquirer) and the SF Bay, for state bailouts.

Process for considering transit service cuts in Pittsburgh

WFH has totally messed up transit agency budgets, shifting the most use from morning and evening commute to primary business districts, to use spread out during the day, across the system, further increasing costs alongside revenue decreases.  DC for example has lost about 250,000 train riders from pre-covid highs.

The Reddit Philadelphia has included entries on what budget cuts would to do to SEPTA's, the regional transit agency for Philadelphia, service network, and I thought they've had some good graphics to illustrate the changes.

-- SEPTA budget cut fact sheet

  Proposed cuts to the current rail system ("SEPTA prepares for major service cuts," Trains Magazine).

Current ail transit system

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission ("Regional planners calculated the impact on traffic if SEPTA cuts happen. It’s really bad," Inquirer) did a study of the impact the proposed cuts will have on motor vehicle traffic congestion.

From the article:

SEPTA is facing a $213 million annual structural deficit due in part to pandemic-related ridership reductions and inflationary pressure on labor and materials costs. (Fare evasion doesn’t help matters, costing from $30 million to $68 million yearly, according to SEPTA projections.)

The transit agency released a $1.65 million operating budget on April 10 that included a doomsday scenario of service cuts, along with an average fare increase of 21.5% across the board. In all, up to 55 bus routes would be eliminated, five Regional Rail lines shut down, and 66 stations closed. Other routes and lines would see reduced frequency of buses and trains.

At least one of the SEPTA trolley routes serve the suburbs.  This is in Media, Pennsylvania. 

Flickr photo by James Scales. 

Those cuts would occur in two phases, this fall and on Jan. 1, without new state subsidies, the transit agency says. If the full menu were enacted, all rail services would stop at 9 p.m. across the SEPTA network early next year.

From the standpoint of "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, some Pennsylvania Republicans are recommending privatization ("Idea to privatize SEPTA floats around the State House amid funding crisis," Fox29).  The proposal focuses on bus services, not the entire system.

There's a reason that with few exceptions, privately run transit systems were acquired by local and state governments to maintain service.  They were unprofitable from a fare standpoint, especially in that many of the "spillover benefits" of transit aren't captured by the transit operator.

Note that plenty of public transit agencies outsource operations of some or all of their transit services to the private sector.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Since the operator isn't responsible for investments in transit infrastructure, that's often skipped over.  Privatization is no panacea.

Impact on property values.  Another report ("SEPTA cuts could lead to drop in property values around Regional Rail lines," WHYY/NPR, Economic Impact Analysis: SEPTA Service Cut Proposal Due to Lack of Funding) points out that property values will drop in areas that get less service at a cost of .  This is another example of a "spillover benefit," improved property values, just one of multiple positive economic development impacts not being captured by a transit agency.

Impact on special event population.  SEPTA promotes transit service to sports events like Eagle football games and concerts ("Taylor Swift's Eras Tour helps boost Philadelphia's economy," ABC6).  Philadelphia will host ceremonies commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and World Cup soccer.  

Severe cuts to transit will significantly impact the ability of visitors to move around the city ("Philly mostly ready for 2026 … except for that little SEPTA problem," WHYY/NPR).

Streetcar service to ATT Park in San Francisco. SF Chronicle photo.

Impact of graphic design in government communications.  Note that the presentation of these issues with great graphics is an illustration of the power of good graphic design and the use of the design method by government agencies.

-- "All the talk of e-government, digital government, and open source government is really about employing the design method," (2012)
-- "PL #7: Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward," (2017)
-- "Design as city branding: transit edition," (2012)
-- "City (and university) branding: brand deposits; brand withdrawals; brand destruction," (2012)
-- "Georgetown: A subtle but important difference between branding and identity-positioning," (2010)
-- "Identity ≠ branding or Authenticity is the basis of identity," (2007)
-- "The taxi livery debacle as a lead in to a broader discussion of the importance of "design" to DC's "brand promise," (2012)
-- "Illustration of government and design thinking: Boston's City Hall to Go truck," (2013)
-- "(DC) Neighborhoods and commercial districts as brands," (2012)

Houston Light Rail fountains: Railroad Beautiful for the 21st Century

20ish years ago, I came across the term "railroad beautiful" which referred to the architecture (H. H. Richardson) and landscape of stations (Olmsted) for the Boston & Albany Railroad ("A Railroad Beautiful," Journal of Education, 1904).

It was a precursor to the City Beautiful movement, and is what I call "transportation infrastructure as civic architecture."  Which I argue should be a key planning element for transportation projects.  Out here in Utah there is a lot of this for freeways--bridges and walls--not so much for transit.

I have an old post:

-- "Transit, stations, and placemaking: stations as entrypoints into neighborhoods" (2013)

that discusses this more in terms of neighborhoods if you look at the title, but in fact treats the entire system as a design product 

-- "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit" (2018).  

Some systems do this in a systematic way, most don't, focusing on transit as a conveyance.  But if you want people to ride transit, perhaps for many it needs to be more design forward.

-- "Design forward trains and streetcars: Haga-Utsunomiya Light Rail and Brightline" (2023)

I haven't been to Houston in decades, so I didn't know that the Houston Light Rail terminal station on Main Street called Main Street Square, has a water feature--a fountain--and plantings, marking a recapturing of the concept of railroad beautiful for the 21st Century.

Bad mapping: WMATA Metrorail weekend closures

 Via a Reddit post.

The legend doesn't explain the ongoing closure between Clarendon and Farragut West, or the temporary closure between Forest Glen, Silver Spring, and Takoma and on the Red Line.

It explains it in text on the webpage, but not the map.

Blue, Orange, and Silver Line Construction Friday, Jan. 12 - Monday, Jan. 15 *MDOT MTA Purple Line construction to impact Red Line service Saturday and Sunday only, Jan. 13-14, with no service between Forest Glen and Takoma. Silver Spring Station will be closed with free shuttle buses provided.

This stuff is on my mind because I've been working ongoing in part (not as a designer) on a map signage project for Sugar House Park, and clear, explanatory language and legend on the map (sign) has been a big issue.  

More difficult and a much longer process since we are all volunteers, although we started with a basic sign template based on the Salt Lake City Parks, Open Space, and Trail Signage Guidelines, which are quite good (not perfect, but quite good). 

It also shows the value of digital signage, which can be updated with messages and map changes in real time.  

Like what the NYC Subway is doing. with digital signs both on platforms and outside of the stations.

Super design forward buses in Mexico: Irizar ie tram

Merida city in Mexico is creating a new bus rapid transit system ("IE tram system brings to Merida a whole different means of transportation," Yucatan Times, "Yucatan's Electrifying IE-TRAM Project," Mexico Business News), and as part of it, they're using Irizar ie tram bus vehicles, produced by the Irizar company in Turkey, which look more like fixed rail transit vehicles than buses.

While the specifications on the website only show a 40 foot long bus, images also show an extended version in the articulated bus form.

In "Making bus service sexy and more equitable," as a way to position bus service as a high quality servivce, I suggest that cities like Washington should switch to double deck buses, made famous by London, but used in many cities in Europe especially, but also Las Vegas and Ottawa, Ontario.  The Vegas and Ottawa buses are pretty dowdy looking, while Luxembourg puts them to shame.

Flickr photo of The Deuce, Las Vegas, by EYBusman.

The Irizar ie tram is a worthy option as a way to reposition the image of bus transit.

Also see:

-- "Design forward trains and streetcars: Haga-Utsunomiya Light Rail and Brightline (plus bonus)," 2023

-- "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit," 2018

Design forward trains and streetcars: Haga-Utsunomiya Light Rail and Brightline (plus bonus)

When I first was into the idea of reintroducing streetcars into American cities, I favored re-adopting the heritage streetcar vehicle ("A National Mall-focused heritage (replica) streetcar service to serve visitors is a way bigger idea," 2013).  

But maybe 15+ years ago, I had a conversation with Dan Malouff (Beyond DC), and he made the point that for a lot of people that might mean that streetcars are dowdy and old fashioned.

His point was provocative.  And I'm sure I disagreed at the time.  But he's right.  

Today, too many people scoff at streetcars as "19th century technology."  Although cars are 19th century too.  The thing is both have improved since.  But really they are knocking mass transit for being transit while favoring individualized personal mobility.  

Design should be a key element in repatterning how people think about transit.

A lot of train design is clunky, or at least given that the trainsets are used (unless terribly faulty) for at least 40 years, it's important to try to get the design right and to be forward, recognizing it will be around for a long time.  

While I think Baltimore's light rail cars have a kind of industrial charm, they have been in service for 31 years, and likely many more.  They don't communicate "design forward."  (Note that in my writings on the Purple Line, I suggested that they replace the Baltimore light rail vehicles at the same time.  But that's expensive when the cars have years of useful life yet.)

Most governments aren't so great at this, but there are exceptions.

There's an article in the Financial Times, "Kenneth Grange: ‘The government once had ideas about how to use design’," about a famous designer in the UK, and he commented about how the UK government was once truly focused on the value of design as an element of the built environment:

He also says the Design Council, founded in 1944, was a cornerstone of his career, a government body which “approved” the right kinds of designs. “It was an incredible thing,” he says. “The government had ideas about how to use design, for how to recover from the war and for society. And it promoted industry too; everything then was made here, now absolutely everything is made in China.” 

... One thing Grange points out is that so many of his designs were the result of central or local government commissions, from the Festival of Britain to parking meters and trains, something almost unthinkable today. “Wouldn’t it be great if [Keir] Starmer, or whoever ends up trying to govern this country, embraced the idea of believing in design in the creation of real stuff that makes real lives better?”

And you have the great example of Frank Pick who incorporated design into the communications and stations and trains of what we now call the London Underground.

I do have a piece about this, "Using the Purple Line to rebrand Montgomery and Prince George's Counties as Design Forward," which includes links to scads of entries as design as an element of urban revitalization.

I watch "Japan Railway Journal" on NHK as a way to keep in touch with best practice in Japanese rail matters.  While it's a sub-channel for many PBS stations, it's also available on demand.

For the most part they cover trains and stations, but sometimes but not nearly enough local transit systems operating in Japan.

The latest episode is "Haga Utsunomiya LRT: Shaping Communities," on Japan's first new from the ground up streetcar/tram/what they call light rail in 75 years.  

HU 300 light rail car.

The line was built mostly for Utsunomiya City, capital of Tochigi Prefecture, but during the planning phases it was slightly extended to the manufacturing district of Haga, which is a major job center ("Utsunomiya in Japan: The new light rail opened today!," Urban Transport Magazine).  

Just like in the US, it took a long time to realize, about 30 years from idea to working line--about 10 miles.  And its primary purpose is urban revitalization and centralizing new development along the transit line, with the aim of promoting trips on transit instead of by the car.

There's talk about extending it to the Utsunomiya City Hall, but I think they should also extend it to Haga's center, as the manufacturing district is on the edge of Utsunomiya, and the light rail barely extends into Haga.

But related to Dan's point, the streetcars are absolutely design forward, with a great design, low floors, huge swathes of glass for the windows, and a decent livery.  

The cars are called HU 300 and are manufactured by Niigata Transys, although Alstom is a partner as they provided the bogie/wheel sets.

Similarly, Brightline ("Florida's Brightline passenger rail as an opportunity to rearticulate and extend transit service in cities like Orlando"), the "new" private passenger rail service operating from Miami to Orlando (an extension to Tampa is planned) also has well designed trains and liveries.

In "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit," I discuss how London Underground is treated as a "design product":

The London Underground as a design product. The London Underground is an outlier for transit systems in that it has been a consistent innovator in design and usability for 100+ years.

Key to this development was Frank Pick, who started at the agency being responsible for communications ("PR") and who laid the groundwork for corporate branding by coordinating all elements of the program into an integrated and extensive transit system -- advertising, branding, station architecture, vehicle design, and mapping -- with the highest standards for "design."

That legacy had been maintained through the creation of "product design managers" for the various transportation modes managed by the successor agency, Transport for London. But more recently, because the agency has been crushed by needing to find money to pay for Crossrail, in part because the national government cut back its contribution, they've cut these positions (and many other programs across the system).

-- Product design guidelines, Transport for London

Although in our IT centric world these days maybe people think about this more in terms of what is now called UX or User Experience.  

Brightline also does that, better than Amtrak, more like how it was done "back in the day" with railroad passenger service as being a premier service by railroads.

And the ads ("American Streamlined Trains. Striking Ads of the 1940s," Ikonographia). This page classifies ads, and the elements of premier train service as:

• the equipment
• power and speed
• comfort and service
• ability to serve leisure and vacation (and commuting)
• designing trains for the future.

Brightline's focus on first mile/last mile transportation integration with train service is unparalleled.  They even sponsor bike share in some places ("Brightline kick starts bike share rental program," Florida Weekly).  

(Deutsche Bahn was an early pioneer in bike sharing, but not in other elements of first mile/last mile.  In Los Angeles, the local transit agency is the deliverer of bike share.  This is an outlier in the US.)

Multiplicity bus system Luxembourg.  I've mentioned these buses.

Flickr photo by km_edinburgh

Flickr photo by EYBusman.

And I just came across the livery for the Class 222 trains of East Midland Trains in the UK.

SEPTA Metro rebranding of rail services: insights into conceptualization of transit networks

SEPTA, the transit service in Southeastern Pennsylvania, centered on service to and within Philadelphia, operates the second most number of "modes" of any transit system in the US:

• regular bus
• trolley bus (electrified, not the fake trolleys often used in tourist areas)
• streetcar
• subway and elevated heavy rail
• the Norristown light rail
• regional commuter railroad service.

(MBTA in Greater Boston also has water taxi/ferry services.)  SEPTA mostly operates in Pennsylvania, but some of the railroad services go into New Jersey and Delaware (with talk of extending the Delaware line to Perryville in Maryland, see "Maryland trains to Newark inch closer," Wilmington News-Journal, 2017) and there is at least one Morristown area bus line that terminates in Trenton, NJ.  

New Jersey Transit operates transit on the NJ side of the Delaware River--bus, railroad, and light rail.  One train line, Atlantic City, serves Philadelphia, as do some local and express bus services.  PATCO is a heavy rail line from Camden County to Philadelphia, operated by the Delaware River Port Authority.

Like most US transit systems, SEPTA's fares are based on mode, with regional rail being the most expensive.  There is a complicated fare structure but a variety of pass products reducing the cost of using transit, and fees for most transfers.

Transit equity.  In July there was an op ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer about how even though  regional rail serves many of Philadelphia's neighborhoods (a vestige of the competition between the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads), because the fares are much higher for the train ("regional rail"), people take the bus, making their trips much longer ("High fares for Regional Rail riders create a ‘tale of two transit systems’ in Philadelphia").  (This is a criticism of the fare structure in the DC region also, that while subway can be much faster, it can be much more expensive, so low income riders take the bus instead.)

Rebranding SEPTA rapid transit services as SEPTA Metro.  Last week, Philadelphia media reported that SEPTA will be introducing a rebrand ("SEPTA proposes renaming its city rail lines to help everyone get around," Philadelphia Inquirer), under a new Rail Transit Wayfinding Master Plan, calling its city and suburban rapid transit services "SEPTA Metro" with the aim of making it more understandable (or "legible" as Kevin Lynch would have said).

New SEPTA Metro Map.

The changes cover the trolley lines in both Philadelphia and the suburbs, the light rail line in the suburbs, and the two heavy rail lines in the city.  The map also includes the heavy rail PATCO line, run by the Delaware River Port Authority, which provides service into Center City Philadelphia from Camden County, New Jersey.

Renaming the lines means changing the maps and in association with this, they will redo station wayfinding ("A New Transit Map for Philadelphia Aims to Draw More Riders," Bloomberg CityLab, "The surprising way SEPTA’s rebrand is going to save you time," PI).

Complementary transit system improvements.  Like most transit systems, SEPTA has an integrated farecard media system.  

As part of its overall SEPTA Forward program, they are redesigning its bus network through a program called Bus Revolution.  On the existing services map, they have changed line colors to reflect service frequency.  

A few years back SEPTA released a nice trolley station design guide, Modern Trolley Station Deign Guide, which lay out some of the concepts for a trolley modernization program, along with new vehicles and improvements in the signaling system, a new railyard for maintenance (damaged by Amazon buying a property they were considering, "Amazon got land SEPTA wanted. Will it delay a much-needed trolley upgrade?," PI).

The RidePhiladelphia program of the Center City BID is a great example of transportation history interpretation, and the BID's public art bus shelter program is a good example of incorporating public art into transit infrastructure.

Branding/Wayfinding is not all you need for an integrated transit network.  Media coverage seems to be all in on the change, but to my way of thinking important points are missed.

The changes are significant but not necessarily transformational for at least two reasons.  First, they don't include the regional rail system.  

Despite how the separate City of Philadelphia Transit Plan lays out a program to reposition the various regional rail lines into a more frequent rapid transit service, modeled after European services like the London Overground and the German S-Bahn.

Second is the question of the fare system, which is primarily mode based, and complicated, and has equity implications.

It reiterates the point I made in "Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit" (2018) that unified branding is only one element of a complete system, There are four elements*:

• An integrated transit/mobility system bringing together all the providers, modes, planning, and fares into one system.  The way transit is done in Germany and to some extent in London and Paris is the model.
• Treating transit as "a design product" and ensuring that each and every element within the system of providing transit and mobility services is designed to be effective, efficient, successful, powerful and connected. Transit as a system must be complete, integrated, and legible.  London was the pioneer on this dimension, beginning with Frank Pick as a design leader beginning in the early 1900s and most recently with the creation of the London Overground ("One big idea: Getting MARC and Metrorail to integrate fares, stations, and marketing systems, using London Overground as an example," 2015).
• An integrated branding system for lines (modes), wayfinding, signage, maps, etc.  London is the best example of this, although NYC's subway system is a runner up.

* The fourth element of a complete transit system network: transit equity + sustainable mobility/transit-centricity implemented through a unified zone fare system.  For a long time, I've had a difficult time expressing in a succinct way an additional key point about transit.  (And I'm still not there...)

The key point is in terms of communities that recognize that automobility isn't sustainable or scalable with urban design, quality of life, and the placemaking qualities of center cities.

Perhaps the best expression of this is San Francisco's "Transit First" planning policy, enshrined in the city charter through a citizen-initiated referendum ("Transit cities invest in transit expansion," 2007, "Comments on Proposed EYA Development at Takoma Metro Station, Washington DC," 2006).

It can be realized by linking the concept of transit equity and a transit-centric sustainable mobility system ("Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework" and "DC is a market leader in Mobility as a Service (MaaS)," 2018 ), also encompassing the concepts of placemaking, urban design, quality of life and land use intensification ("Transit, stations, and placemaking: stations as entrypoints into neighborhoods," 2013).  So the fourth point is:

• Providing transit equity and a transit-centric mobility system through a fare system that is zone focused, not mode specific. German systems are the best example.  The point is to discourage car use as an element of transportation demand management, not to maximize fare revenue by mode.

Using zone-based fares, especially through a pass system, including all modes is the way to bring equity + transit-centric urbanism together, where transit is a service accessible to most everyone.

The SEPTA "change" illustrates this perfectly.  Even if they are moving towards integrating the trolley, light rail, and heavy rail services more overtly into a "seamless" network calling it SEPTA Metro, renaming lines, simplifying the map, alongside station and wayfinding improvements, it's not particularly  transformational, definitely not transformational in ways that will significantly increase ridership and change land use and mobility patterns.  

They're redoing their branding.  The challenge will be to see if they begin integrating additional services within the transit network, treating transit as a whole as a design product overall, and moving to a fully-zoned fare system incorporating intra-city regional rail services.

Fares versus zones and an equitable transit network.  The SEPTA fare system remains very complicated, and is focused on charging by mode, with additional fees for transfers.  Although SEPTA has a good system of fare passes that are cost effective for most services, there is a severe segregation between regional rail and the other services, and the fact is that these "commuter lines" serve many neighborhoods within Philadelphia (although the basic transit pass does allow free use of regional rail on weekends and holidays).

While this kind of segregation is typical, there are exceptions.  For example, in Baltimore, passholders for MARC rail have free access to local transit services for no extra charge (it also includes Metrobus and RideOn in the DC area, because the Maryland Transit Administration also funds those services).  Riders of the SoCal Metrolink rail system can transfer free to local transit services--there is a QR code printed on each ticket--whether or not they hold a monthly pass.

Although the rebranding is clearly a step forward, SEPTA (and the media touting the changes) aren't focused on an even bigger picture and transforming the position and role of transit in the metropolitan area's land use and transportation planning paradigm, which would entail focusing on transportation demand management and urban design aimed at reducing car use, and treating "transit as a service that enables quality of life" (sustainable mobility and urbanism).

Note: in fairness to SEPTA, the transit wayfinding study is a wayfinding initiative, not a complete rethinking of transit as a network, nor transit as a service, nor as an element of equity, nor as an enabler of walkable urbanism and the foundation of sustainable mobility.

Tram in Alexanderplatz, Berlin.  Photo by Platte C.

The German transit model.  Interestingly, while Germany is as committed as the US to automobility and the importance of the automotive industry as a key economic driver (VW + Merceders + BMW), they didn't see cities and transit as oppositional to automobility in the same way as in the US where rail-based transit systems were dismembered even before GM + Standard Oil + Firestone + others started buying up rail-based transit systems and converting them to buses.  

Sure, Germany built fast freeways before the US, but rather than disinvest in or eliminate transit, they invested in and expanded transit simultaneously.

In the early 1960s, transport officials in Hamburg figured out that the best way to encourage transit use was make the system of services and fares super easy to use--transparent to the user--and they created a system called Verkehrsverbund (VV)--transport association, to bring this about ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017; "Verkehrsverbund: The evolution and spread of fully integrated regional public transport in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," Ralph Buehler, John Pucher & Oliver Dümmler, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (2018)).

Transit equity using zones, not a mode based system, for fares.  The key in the German system is the fare system is organized into zones, and it is the zone (distance traveled) that determines your fare, not the mode you use or the number of segments of your trip involving different modes.

In the US most systems charge by both mode and distance.  Typically bus is the cheapest, subway service costs more, and railroad transport costs the most.  While distance is the basis of zone-based approaches, the German system focuses on the complete trip, end to end, not the number of modes you use to accomplish the trip.

In Hamburg (and other German cities), fares are based on zone, not mode.

In the German model, fares are based on zone, not mode, so the type of service you use isn't an issue.  If a train is more efficient take the train.  If a bus works better, take the bus.  If you need both, take both.  The cost is based on the trip, not the mode.

SEPTA has changed the brand of its trolley, heavy rail and light rail services, the map, and station signage, but not how they conceptualize the place of transit within the land use and transportation planning paradigm of Metropolitan Philadelphia.  Hamburg's transport association extends beyond the boundaries of the Hamburg City State to areas of two adjoining German states.

The current SEPTA map includes all rail services as primary elements, while the regional rail services are somewhat de-emphasized in the new map.

Zones accomplish two goals simultaneously: transit equity + a sustainable mobility centric land use and transportation planning paradigm.

Metropolitan Philadelphia needs a transport association.  Metropolitan Philadelphia has a complicated set of independent transit services, despite the region having a pretty visionary MPO, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

While SEPTA and its various modes primarily serve Greater Philadelphia within Pennsylvania, with two regional rail lines serving New Jersey and one Delaware, NJ Transit serves New Jersey, with a variety of bus services and one railroad line into Philadelphia, and on its side of the border it runs various light rail and railroad services alongside local and regional bus service.  

Separately, the Delaware River Port Authority (PATCO) provides a single line of heavy rail service into Philadelphia from Camden County.  (Interestingly, PATCO is to Philadelphia the same way PATH, the NJ-based rapid transit service is to New York City, although PATH also is a bigger local transit provider within Greater Network, with more lines and many more stations.)

A couple small bus services operate in part of SEPTA's Pennsylvania service area.  In Delaware, DART provides connecting services for the four SEPTA stops in that state.  Amtrak also provides services between these states on the Northeast Corridor.

For the most part, these local services and fare systems aren't integrated.  If you're traveling to NJ from Philadelphia, for the most part you'll have to transfer to NJ Transit to get to your final destination.  Same from the other direction, although NJT has many services that do cross the border to serve Philadelphia.

Patco's fare card works on SEPTA, although not regional rail.  SEPTA's card does not yet work on PATCO.  NJ Transit fare products don't work on SEPTA or PATCO.  None of these fare systems work on DART.  

(The DC and Baltimore fare card systems are integrated, with the exception of railroad services.  Bus systems in Massachusetts outside of Boston use the MBTA Charlie card system so they interoperate.  Ontario ports the Toronto-area fare media system to other cities across the province.  The PATH network in NJ/NY works with the NYC Metrocard for single fares.)

While not necessarily integrating services like how it could be done in Greater NYC ("New York could use congestion charging to begin better integration of transit service between New York City and New Jersey," 2019) or in Maryland and Virginia ("The answer is: Create a single multi-state/regional multi-modal transit planning, management, and operations authority association," 2017), a transport association in Metropolitan Philadelphia could start off by focusing on the planning principles laid out in the MPO's Connections 2045: Plan for Greater Philadelphia, especially the last:

• sustainability
• livable communities
• economic development and growth
• equity
• creating an integrated, multimodal transportation network.

Besides integrating fare systems, maps, wayfinding, and then a bi-state zone system. they could work to plan for transit expansion using the best mode, regardless of operator and place.  Plus, a greater focus on transit expansion, within Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, within New Jersey, and between the states.

Transit-based urban revitalization.  Camden.  With the idea of SEPTA creating a zone-based system for its Pennsylvania services, with the participation of New Jersey it could be extended to Camden City as a revitalization measure ("Behind the Camden Comeback," New Jersey Monthly, "'FOUNDATION PIECES': Camden chips away at the next phase of its economic growth," Philadelphia Business Journal).  

To simplify the complexity, the Camden + SEPTA zone system could be applied only to rail-based services, either just PATCO, which is already integrated into the SEPTA Metro map, or with the addition of the NJ Transit Atlantic City Railroad Line and the River Line light rail).  

But New Jersey should prioritize adding rail transit north of the River Line (which is proposed anyway as part of a new service, but that is years out ("Glassboro-Camden light rail proposal takes next step in South Jersey," Philadelphia Voice).  

Camden, New Jersey area rail map

The red line shows PATCO, the brown line the Atlantic City NJTransit rail line, and the purple line the diesel powered light rail River Line.  The blue line is the proposed Glassboro-Camden light rail line. (Decades ago, the light rail lines were originally proposed to be PATCO heavy rail lines.)

Toyama City, Japan intra-city tram routes.

Perhaps the Camden section could be prioritized, the way that Bilbao added surface tram service ("Return to the Rails: The Motivations for Building a Modern Tramway in Bilbao Spain") and how Toyama City in Japan created an intra-city transit loop  to intensify development in its core ("Brief follow up to intra-district transit proposal for Tysons: Toyama City Compact City initiative (Japan)").

Philadelphia.  Rail transit expansion within Philadelphia should be a revitalization priority.  

Separately from SEPTA, Philadelphia has created its own Transit Plan, and one of the recommendations is the extension of PATCO westward to the University District ("Faster buses, more Regional Rail, modern trolleys: Philly’s transit plan takes system to 2045," WHYY/NPR).  Another is an infill station on the Market-Frankford Line, and one or more extensions for the Broad Street Line.  PATCO is also restoring the Franklin Square station which should open next year after being closed for decades.

Along with other recommendations, the City Plan focuses on repositioning regional rail to a frequent service, focused on four lines that serve the most populated areas, including the creation of a new frequent service called the Silver Line, operating on existing lines, from Fern Rock to the Penn Medical Center.

Again "Transit cities invest in transit expansion."

Pennsylvania.  There are a number of proposed regional rail expansion initiatives, although Amtrak is the driver, not SEPTA ("Passenger rail is the road to a brighter future, Reading, Scranton and Allentown leaders say," Reading Eagle).  

The regional rail system used to be broader, but when the three city railroad stations were connected, the underground tunnel connection required that all lines be electrified.  Instead of electrifying the diesel-based lines, they shut them down.  Some of these services would be restored under the Amtrak plan.

 Plus, like I recommend for Maryland ("A "Transformational Projects Action Plan" for a statewide passenger railroad program in Maryland"), Pennsylvania should create a statewide passenger rail program.  

For example in the 1990s, there was an interesting proposal to extend service to Reading with a service called the Schuylkill Valley Metro.  Such a proposal could be revived as part of broader rail transit planning.

Conclusion: Branding's (NOT) all you need for transit | Zone based fare systems are a key element.  Recently, I wrote about the closure of the Pfizer research center in Ann Arbor and how it makes clear the reality about about economic development and startups--it's a lot easier when you already have potential products in the pipeline than if you're starting from scratch ("How the closure of a Pfizer research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan led to the development of a biotech sector there")

Similarly, the proposed SEPTA change illustrates the reality that just because you have control of a bunch of different transit modes in one agency, it doesn't mean that the agency acts like they are running a transit network versus operating a bunch of somewhat connected lines, which may or may not be well integrated.

So I am appreciative of SEPTA's move and the fawning media coverage, because it helped me clarify that transit equity and the sustainable mobility platform is a necessary additional to the three original points.

• An integrated transit/mobility system bringing together all the providers, modes, planning, and fares into one system.   
• Treating transit as "a design product" and ensuring that each and every element within the system of providing transit and mobility services is designed to be effective, efficient, successful, powerful and connected. 
• An integrated branding system for lines (modes), wayfinding, signage, maps, etc.   
• Providing transit equity and a transit-centric mobility system through a fare system that is zone based, not mode specific.