TfC Maps
We work on designing Transit Maps to help in making the data accessible and people more familiar with different transit modes,as well as encouraging potential commuters to use these modes.
Are you tired of waiting in traffic? Do you want to save time and money and leave your car behind? Do you want to start using public transportation but don’t know how? Are you visiting a new city and want to know how to move around and where to go? Are you operating a bus company and want to attract more commuters?
If the answer to any of these questions is a yes, then the first thing you would need is available and accessible data! To be able to change a behavior or start doing something new, you need to have sufficient data that allows you to understand the dynamics of what you are about to do. Like anything in life, to be able to successfully use public transportation as a mobility mean, you first need to have access to transit data. One of the oldest and most efficient means to achieve this, is to get access to a transit map! It helps you identify the coverage of the network, the places you can reach and the modes and routes you need to take to arrive at your preferred destination.
What are Transit Maps?
Transit maps are a diagrammatic representation of the public transportation network in reality. They illustrate routes and stations of various transit modes, highlighting the interchange opportunities within the system. Unlike conventional geographic maps, they usually don’t represent the real scale and are more compact, using straight lines and easy to read angles. Symbols and color codes are the main language of transit maps, helping users to navigate easily. Modern transit maps are based on a century-old design by Harry Beck for the London underground. Since then, modern techniques have enhanced and developed the transit map to solve unique challenges in diverse transportation networks around the globe.
So what is our role in all this?
Getting around mega cities like Cairo can be a challenge, especially with no reliable data out there. This is why, Transport for Cairo is working on making transit data available to everyone. Besides the digital mapping, we work on creating various Transit Maps that can be used online or in form of paper maps that are printed and distributed.
We worked on several Transit map prototypes for several purposes, be it to represent the diverse and complex multi-modal public transit system in Cairo or to illustrate the network of a private bus operator or to experimentally work with students to incorporate the idea of transit maps into the minds of the future generation.
But why Transit Maps?
If the transit map is given out or sold in a printed, folded and compacted version, it can show potential customers the benefits of using the system as a whole. Imagine looking at a way to get to the train station: Taking a quick glance at the pocket map will tell you which buses will connect your starting point to Ramses train station. In addition to that, it can also act as a marketing or branding tool for transit operator companies.
Finally, these maps can be accessed online by a much wider, potentially international audience. We routinely get inquiries online from tourists about where to start using the local transportation system and their search is limited to the internet. Having a publicly accessible map will encourage everyone who is unfamiliar with the public spaces in Cairo to take their first step in the local public transportation system.
Our Maps
Metro Map 2019
6th of October Transit Map
After years of mapping, research and intensive work, we finally managed to produce the first transit map of a city in Cairo! Traditionally, a map (in any place around the world) includes the network of one mode of transport: metro, bus, or commuter rail. Our map prototype, however, is combining several modes into one integrated map that can serve as the go-to solution for commuters on a daily basis.It also includes formal as well as informal transit modes, and thus it is one of the first of its kind. We want to proudly present to you, the first transit map ever created for 6th of October City, Cairo.
We are also proudly presenting to you the transit map we created for our highly valued client Mwaslat Misr. This transit map illustrates their bus routes (November 2018) and interchange options within their network and with Cairo’s metro lines. The map got printed, folded and distributed to potential customers to help them navigate and use the bus system at hand..
Experimental Transit Maps
As a start to introduce the idea of transit maps in Cairo, we began with organizing, in cooperation with Desert City Mappers, a three-day workshop with the title “Transit Map Design”. Students from all over the city participated in designing experimental transit maps of several bus lines in Cairo with the support and guidance of the organizers. The outcomes of this workshop were three transit maps representing real-life data released by TfC. All three maps show the same data but with different and diverse design languages.