Metra line renaming

[John Bredin]

Faced with Union Pacific no longer operating its Union Pacific lines (North, Northwest, and West), Metra is considering renaming its lines. News article. Metra webpage.

The three choices are
(1) keep the present names except for renaming the Union Pacific lines.
(2) number all the lines in a single number scheme (M 1-14), with one map color for all routes.
(3) number the lines in the three cardinal directions (N 1-4, W 1-3, S 1-7) and color-code them on the map for the four Chicago termini.

I really like (3), and filled out the survey accordingly.

 

[PerRock]

My friends and I had a lengthy discussion about this yesterday. I personally don't think any of the options are good options. To start off, the numbering (and what gets numbered) isn't consistent with options 2 & 3. For example in option 3 the S lines, going counter clockwise are numbered 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7, 5, 7 at their outer terminals and numbered 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 at their downtown terminals... at least numbering in Option 2 makes more sense.

My personal opinion is that the most confusing part of Metra's network is knowing what downtown station a line serves. While option 3 does give you different colors, for that, just using colors doesn't help someone who is color blind, and as someone who has worked in the graphic design world for over a decade, I can tell you that the OTC green & Millennium grey are going to start looking the same over time on signage.

I think the ideal solution is to do two things: 1) keep or change up the existing names. Assign each line a color & identifier based on the downtown terminus. So instead of the OTC trains being N1, N4, & W2 they would be O1, O2, O3; RI trains would get the identifier L1, & L2; etc. I personally thing that Union trains should be split into North Union & South Union, so N1, N2, etc and S1, S2, etc. Come up with some good names, in conversation, news, etc they'd be referred to by their names; and signage & maps would contain the little identifier tag. I'm kinda meh on the colors they chose, but am not dead-set on a color choice... just need to make sure they'll still be unique & identifiable in time or poor lighting. Finally I think express or services that don't go the whole route should be called out as well, this can be as simple as appending an X for express.

This whole project reeks of new hire trying to make a name for themselves & hasn't really talked to anyone or done much research on it.

 

[allanorn]

Option 2 is essentially naming lines like German/Swiss S-Bahn except with an "M". I can get behind that, especially as it avoids problems with color-blindness.

Option 3 is definitely interesting. I like it except it might be arbitrary on where the cardinal directions start and stop, especially if you add branches or new lines.

I guess there's an option 3b or 4 where you name based out of the downtown station instead of cardinal directions. That might resolve the problem of knowing where a train terminates downtown.

 

[John Bredin]

I personally thing that Union trains should be split into North Union & South Union, so N1, N2, etc and S1, S2, etc.

I feel like the color-coded system with directional numbering sorta does that. Also, one color for all Union Station lines tells users that the North Concourse and South Concourse lines take you to the same local connections and have the same proximity to destinations. "Arrived downtown on a yellow-signed Metra train? Look for bus signs to Union Station."

I doubt Metra would use the terminal lettering system you suggest, as they've planned for a (long!) while to move the Southwest Service and possibly Heritage Corridor to LaSalle St. Station to make room in the South Concourse Union Station. After such a change, they'd remain S1 & S4 with directional lettering, albeit with a color change, but change numbers with terminal lettering.

 

[Kramerica]

Each line would have its own number. Lines 1 through 14. Sequentially counterclockwise starting on the train to Kenosha. Then add a suffix for the station, like PerRock says. O4, N2, etc. And add in the colors too to help even more with station identification.

Although I don't see why they have to rename just because UP isn't the operator anymore. UP is still the tracks they're using. Unless UP themselves are insisting their name be removed.

 

[Literalman]

Cameron Booth has a good discussion of these proposals on his Transit Maps blog at https://transitmap.net/chicago-metra-rebranding/

I'm not keen on any of the proposals, and I don't think designating lines by their cardinal directions would be useful. I don't see people searching for a train that goes west, for example, but rather to a specific destination, such as Aurora.

 

[Cal]

I don't see people searching for a train that goes west, for example, but rather to a specific destination, such as Aurora.

I prefer destination-naming too.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Thom of Trains Are Awesome has a video on this:



I tend to like the idea of color coding according to terminal. But renaming according to destination, as other systems do such as MBTA, is a possibility.

 

[Basil McTabolism]

I think they should leave the names as-is. While they might not be perfect, changing them isn't going to magically make anything clearer than it already is. A newcomer to, say, Elmhurst or Lisle or Antioch only need to look at the Metra website one time to know they want the UP West, the BNSF, or the North Central Service respectively. Changing the names just equates to "dumbing it down" in my opinion.

 

[allanorn]

I think they should leave the names as-is. While they might not be perfect, changing them isn't going to magically make anything clearer than it already is. A newcomer to, say, Elmhurst or Lisle or Antioch only need to look at the Metra website one time to know they want the UP West, the BNSF, or the North Central Service respectively. Changing the names just equates to "dumbing it down" in my opinion.

I think that's precisely the problem they're trying to fix - not necessarily for the frequent commuters, but for tourists and those who don't use the train that often. As a visitor it's not intuitively obvious to remember who is or was running the line and correlate that to their trip plans, especially downtown where I have four stations to choose from. I can remember two or three characters (with a direction) though, and look for it on a train.

I imagine most people will use Google Maps, Apple Maps, or the Metra app instead of going to a Web site. Google Maps doesn't have a lot of room to display a huge line of text as the line name, but it will easily display three characters and (I think) color coding for the line name.