VBZ Züri-Line Liniennetz Stadt und Region Zürich (1992), design concept by Anne and Hermann Eggmann (SGV/AGI)
this stylish diagram shows trams, city and regional buses, PostBus, AZZK buses, and S-Bahn; as well as indications of other railway operators, intercity train connections, and ferries. the front (right image) shows all lines with the s-bahn services condensed into a single black stroke, while the back (left image) shows detailed s-bahn services superimposed over a greyscale version of the front side.
see a higher res version on internet archive: link
what i like:
- honestly i think this is a brilliant design. the way that the s-bahn diagram gives context by showing the underlying local routes in grey--and in the same positions as on the other side--is just so fantastic and greatly helps the readability of what is otherwise a very complicated diagram.
- the small dot which indicates the terminus of a line is very clever. its not the most intuitive, but it does allow for more compact layouts (see F1, right image) and i think its pretty clear once you get used to it.
- it includes a labelled grid and station listing!!! i think this is an absolute must for busy diagrams and not enough of them have it.
- i am normally skeptical of outlining yellow strokes (just choose a better yellow!!) but i think its handled tactfully here.
- nice font choice. not sure exactly what it is, i had trouble identifying it...
- great composition.
- this isn't normally something i'd mention but the paper this is printed on is very nice. it has a light texture to it (you can see this is the images if you zoom it) and it feels very Premium to the touch.
my criticisms:
- sadly, there is again a lack of accessibility info of any kind. this is of course unsurprising because its from the 90s but still. sad.
- the text setting on the front is ok most of the time but there are some areas (see F3, right image) that are a little hard to parse. some of the stop layouts are also weirdly set up (E3-4 for example, look at the branch for the number 10 tram??). this is made worse by the curve radius of the lines being very very low; its sometimes hard to follow the routes from a distance.
- as with any diagram which puts rail and bus together, things get a little messy. but putting the full s-bahn diagram on the back helps to resolve this. still, some of the bus loops and single direction operation is confusing (see D10, right image)
- the red dotted line indicating zone 10 is not so great. its hard to tell which zone some stops are in, and i think some of them are in border zones but i honestly cant even tell. maybe this could have been background shading? idk
overall i really like this one. there are major challenges when making a diagram which combines so many modes and i think its executed quite well here. i like it better than the current zürich map, which is ok but i find the design somewhat lackluster. this one, for all its faults, certainly doesnt lack luster.
