I thought it might be most suiting to start this blog with something regarding the San Francisco Bay Area, since I was born and currently studying in the region.
During a somewhat recent trip into San Francisco with friends during the past summer, a few bright things caught my attention:
I was unable to take pictures of these at the time, so I thank Eric Fischer and Urban Life Signs for having them up online and available for me to use. Apparently, the entire Powell Street Station (both MUNI and BART**) has been experiencing a nice modernization transformation for the past few months! As seen in the above photos, wayfinding signs for both people going to trains and people leaving them have been installed . Thanks to Californian tax dollars (including mine!), BART has been able to further progress its mission to improve wayfinding in its stations.
Check out the improvements in these comparisons (provided once again by Urban Life Signs):
Definitely an improvement with the better and larger font, lighting, and symbols! While arrows are quite direct and universally understood, these new pictograms are more advantageous in two ways:
1) They do not require readers to read the entire sign; the icons can “speak” for themselves. This is extremely helpful especially for tourists who are illiterate in the Latin alphabet.
2) Signs can be efficiently sized. Having a board with “i” for information works better than an excessively grandiose board with “information” spelled out or a same-sized sign with smaller, ineffective font size.
Which brings me to these new boards posted on the walls of the BART station (photos by Eric Fischer):
The top one shows lines and stations from Powell to the East Bay (Oakland, etc.), while the bottom one shows those to the Peninsula (south of SF). Compared to the official BART map, there is something strange about the East Bay diagram. It took me a few seconds when I first saw it, but then it came to me: if the BART map was orientated it so that one faced the East Bay from Powell (90 degrees counterclockwise), it can easily be noticed that the Red and Yellow Lines are switched on the diagram and so are the Blue and Green Lines. Considering direction, the colors should be (top-down): Green, Blue, Yellow, Red.
I thought I could come up with an explanation as to why the system was altered in that manner. The Red and Yellow Lines can be explained as the Yellow Line technically runs on the left of the station platforms in Downtown Oakland. The Orange Line, which runs north-south in the East Bay and does NOT enter SF, uses the right side of the platforms alongside the Yellow Line for timed transfers. Since the Orange Line is timed to only run with the Yellow, the Red Line is free to use the right side when travelling through. Hence, on the top diagram, the Yellow Line is shown underneath the Red as the outermost color, as it technically runs on the left, and the Red runs on the right.
There is still a problem with this, though. Why is it, then, that on the bottom diagram, the Red Line is the outermost one and not the Yellow? When comparing the two boards (and taking into account direction), it appears as though the Yellow and Red Lines switch position. I know that in this case, there is no switching in track or timed transfer in the Peninsula. So it makes the most sense to have the Red Line, which heads southward, be the outermost on the diagram as the Yellow Line veers eastward to SFO before rejoining the Red Line at Millbrae. This color arrangement is identical to the BART map.
But should one follow that logic, why are the Blue and Green lines switched on the top diagram? Those Lines almost replicate the situation in that the Green Line heads south to Fremont on the East Bay, while the Blue Line diverges and heads eastward. Since the Green Line simply travels southward like the Red Line, it too should be the outermost color.
Perhaps I’m reading into the diagrams a bit too much. However, there’s no reason, as from what I can tell, NOT to have them match the official BART maps in the stations, on the trains, online, and in other published material. I’m definitely curious to know the answer for this one.
Still, these signage improvements are definitely a step in the right direction. Being there in person, I definitely experienced the difference and noticed how much easier it was to read the exit signs across the concourse. Plus, it does bring in that modern feel to Powell Street Station. Always nice to see my tax dollars being spent for good use!
First post! Thanks for reading!
More info on these signs can be found here and here.
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**For those readers not familiar, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is a heavy-rail, Metro-like system that serves San Francisco and its surrounding cities (Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Daly City, Fremont to name a few). I say Metro-like because BART does act like other great Metros systems, especially in the urban core, with close station spacing and high frequency. However, there are many segments of the system that behave more like a commuter rail, with stations many miles apart and trains only arriving every 15-20 minutes. Conceived in the mid-20th century and built in the 60s and 70s, BART was the first child of the second-wave rapid transit planning that hit America. As with most things first, many innovative ideas were poured into the project, and many lessons were learned from the system. More knowledge can be absorbed here.
MUNI (short for San Francisco Municipal Railway) is San Francisco’s local transit system, comprised of buses, electric trolleys, historic trolley, light rail, and the iconic cable cars. Its service map can be seen here. Both MUNI and BART use the popular Powell Street Station to help transport riders to SF’s main shopping district, Union Square. Under Market Street, the backbone of the city, is the station concourse where riders-to-be can purchase tickets. Since transfers are not free (probably an issue to discuss in a future post), there are specific entrances and exits for MUNI and BART users. The MUNI platform is the next level below the station concourse and is served by the J, K, L, M, T, and N light rail lines. Underneath that is the BART station, which is served by the Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green lines. If passengers want to transfer from MUNI to BART, they would have to climb up the stairs to the station concourse first and then take the stairs two floors below to the BART trains. This layout is similar to the Embarcadero, Montgomery, and Civic Center stations on Market Street.