Subways of North America (XKCD)

[The Journalist]

The webcomic xkcd has put together a "Subways of North America" map that is largely accurate...but pretends that they all link together in some fashion.

Of particular note is the "Forest Park-Pasedena Shuttle" that runs between Forest Park, IL and Pasedena, CA....every 15 minutes.

 

[fairviewroad]

Love the "Springfield Monorail" in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[Ryan]

This is awesome (as are most of his other comics).

If you have a few hours to kill, this one will keep you entertained:

http://xkcd.com/1110/

Although this provides an easier way to look at it:

http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/#10/1.1006/0.1998

 

[SarahZ]

Oh god. I love that SO MUCH. I want to make it into a poster. I hope they sell it someday.

I love "xkcd". I've been following them for years.

 

[The Journalist]

That day is today!

Well, a few days from now anyway.

 

[SarahZ]

/squee

Thank you!

 

[trainman74]

Biggest "mistake" I can see is in Los Angeles, where the Gold Line is shown as orange, and the Orange Line is shown as yellow -- of course, that seems to be done so they can more easily be connected to San Francisco and Chicago.

The map ignores cities that have only light rail -- otherwise, it would be a lot more elaborate -- but does show light-rail lines in the cities that are depicted. (As well as some oddities, such as the Staten Island Ferry, and the aforementioned Los Angeles Orange Line, which is bus rapid transit.)

 

[Tracktwentynine]

Biggest "mistake" I can see is in Los Angeles, where the Gold Line is shown as orange, and the Orange Line is shown as yellow -- of course, that seems to be done so they can more easily be connected to San Francisco and Chicago.
The map ignores cities that have only light rail -- otherwise, it would be a lot more elaborate -- but does show light-rail lines in the cities that are depicted.

Correct. Except that the map leaves out the Baltimore light rail.

 

[The Journalist]

The "large size" link on the page has this at the bottom:

For the pedantic rail enthusiasts, the definition of a subway used here is, with some caveats, "a network containing high capacity grade-separated passenger rail transit lines which run frequently, serve an urban core, and are underground or elevated for at least part of their downtown route." For the rest of you, the definition is "an underground train in a city."

Which explains why LA's Gold Line (shown in orange), Muni Metro, and SEPTA trolleys are on there, but Baltimore's light rail isn't. The LA Orange Line (shown in yellow) apparently is one the caveats...which begs the question of why Boston's Silver Line BRT isn't on there, since it DOES run underground.

 

[jebr]

Or why Pittsburgh's light rail is left off, since it's underground for the entire downtown portion.

 

[fairviewroad]

Or why Pittsburgh's light rail is left off, since it's underground for the entire downtown portion.

Same for Seattle, which is underground downtown and is grade-separated for much (though not all) of its route.

 

[John Bredin]

I presume Seattle was omitted to allow the joke of Richmond on San Francisco BART and on Vancouver Skytrain to be the same station.

 

[Anderson]

Seattle was probably just classified as "light rail that happens to have a tunnel".

 

[TimePeace]

I was on on trains the New York part of that map last weekend, and on the Boston one a few weeks before that. As nearly as I can tell, the map is quite accurate... although I did not try the Red line from New York to Boston... whatever it's named (I can't read it).

:mellow:

 

[John Bredin]

I was on on trains the New York part of that map last weekend, and on the Boston one a few weeks before that. As nearly as I can tell, the map is quite accurate... although I did not try the Red line from New York to Boston... whatever it's named (I can't read it).

Ashmont-Manhattan High-Speed Line, a pun on the real-life Ashmont-Mattapan High-Speed Line, a trolley that runs south from the end of the MBTA Red Line.