New Jersey Public Service Coordinated Transit (New Jersey, USA) Guide "E": Newark and Essex Division (1938)
lets start things off with a really good one... this surprisingly old diagram shows transit connections between newark, new jersey and its suburbs. rather than showing the exact routes of the 70+ buses and streetcars (this is what 'car' refers to in the key), it reduces each locality to a node and simply lists the routes which travel between adjacent nodes. this is apparently one of a set of 7 maps (according to the inset), though i haven't yet come across any of the others
what i like:
- its clear, concise, and provides a quick way to find suburban transit options in the area
- i like the use of color to differentiate routes to the city with other routes
- time estimates!! i dont know if these were reliable so its a double edged sword, but i do like to see them on a diagram like this
my criticisms:
- no differentiation of service levels. meaning in this case that it doesnt distinguish between streetcar routes and bus routes. some would argue that theyre both street running (mostly) so it doesnt matter, but i believe transit maps need to be clear about this regardless. it helps people know what to expect and i think most would agree that even a street running tram is a little bit more comfortable than a bus
- two routes, the 5 and the 82, are weirdly inconsistent with the rest of the diagram (i guess because they made stops which aren't on clean lines between nodes). i think that they could be clearer.
overall this is one of my favorites! see the full res version on internet archive
