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Understanding your local bus network should not be as hard.
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Published on
September 3, 2023
Having a clear and simple signage system can be a catalyst to boost ridership. Since the Montreal region does not have this, I had decided to have some fun designing it myself. Basing myself on the best practices around the world, I think I pulled it off very well. Other cities have also been busy such as Boston which has the Silver Line and soon 30 "T" frequent bus routes. Vancouver has the Rapid Bus routes. Berlin has "X" express routes and "M" frequent bus routes. Seattle has lettered Rapid Ride bus routes. London is working on the Superloop bus routes. Winnipeg is working towards lettered frequent routes. It begs the question: Why not Montreal? Bus networks from coast to coast have been or are in the process of redrawing themselves, especially after the pandemic, following the successful model of the Houston METRO bus network redesign in 2015. Along with this redesign, many have reimagined the way to classify their routes in a bid to improve customer experience.
In an era where it is ever so much easier to hail a ride-sharing service or a taxi, transit systems and authorities must be at the upmost of their game in terms of ease-of-use. Good signage is one of the strongest weapons to combat these services. However, while the metro signage has gotten a renaissance with the redesigned signage, the bus stop signs, not so much. In fact, the STM bus stop signs had gotten worse over this period.
Many of the improvements that I have outlined in this article, can be done at almost no extra cost. However, the reason why transit agencies are not implementing these changes, is mainly due to a shift of priorities. In many Canadian and American cities, the bus carries the majority of public transport users (Harvard (CitiesX) via YouTube). But in Montreal, it is one of the only exceptions to this rule, by which the Métro system has 25 percent more ridership than it's sister bus network (APTA page 36). This is not a resounding success, but instead signifies a glaring issue in our bus transportation network in Montreal. Even before the pandemic, between 2012 and 2017, the Montreal bus network had already lost almost 14 percent of it's riders (McGill publication DeWeese et al. page 3). Aside from a needed bus network renaissance, the system needs badly a new wayfinding system to promote higher ridership and loyalty after they discover how easy it is to navigate through a metropolitan unified system of signage. In fact, this is already underway for many Métro, REM and train stations (ARTM). Now, it is needed for the metropolitan bus stop signs.
Related article
Pie-IX busway: From hope to deception
A new bus stop design that is one step forward, two steps back.
Picture of the latest STM bus stop sign design.
Can you guess which routes are express, shuttle, local, night and where they go?
(Side note: Do you recognize the different fonts for the route numbers when comparing the left signs with the signs on the right?)
Montreal bus stops are great for telling which bus routes stop, and next metro station and train station they serve along with service information, such as if the bus only runs during rush hours, or from Monday to Friday, etc. This is already drastically better than most bus stops in North America, but we could do even better.
In fact, the newest redesign (seen above), introduces the cardinal directions, which is much appreciated as all transit apps refer to route direction as the cardinal direction of the route. The only thing remaining to fix, are the destination boards on buses to show the cardinal direction, as they currently only show the name of the route, not the final destination.
A Metrobus stop in St. John's, Newfoundland. (Source)
Hardly any information is given, and therefore you must rely on your phone to get around.
A colorful stop gets blued.
The previous STM bus stop design.
Note the plethora of colors on this sign.
Compared to the previous STM bus stops, the new one removes any notable colors for different types of bus services. It also removes any mention of night or express bus services. I am guessing this is to make room for the cardinal directions of the bus routes. The removal of colors is probably due to the harmonization by the ARTM. However, these are important tools for the user, especially those who are not familiar with the public transportation system. It is hard knowing the difference between a 80 and a 480, especially if there is no notable distinction on the sign.
However, an even older version of the STM bus stop signs was even more colorful. It showed limited service bus routes in a yellow color as seen below.
Yellow was used to show limited service bus routes. Note also how each service type had an icon attached to it. (Flickr - Alex T)
On top of that, when the 515 (today the 715) was a circular route, two different colors were used to denote clockwise and anti-clockwise directions.
Colors were experimented on the 515 route (now 715) to denote if it was clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. (Flickr - Alex T)
Therefore, what stands out is that colors have really meant a lot of things in the last 10 years and constantly changing their meaning over this time, is not a user friendly solution. This stands out especially for new users who do not understand the coloring system.
Express buses? No, not really.
Compared to the previous STM bus stops, the new one removes any notable colors for different types of bus services. It also removes any mention of night or express bus services. In fact, 410, 427, 430, 445, 465, 480 are all express services. However, here comes in the next caveat, they are not all the same type of "express" service, actually scratch that, some of them are not even express services at all.
465 and 480 are merely an extended "branch" of their respective local counterparts, the 165 and the 80 respectively. For example, the 80 and 480 stop at exactly the same amount of stops, but the 480 is a rush hour extension of the 80 that extends into downtown but only runs in peak direction. Confused yet?
STM 410 and 480 routes. (Moovit)
Note how the 480 stops at nearly every single street corner while the 410 skips stops for the vast majority of it's route.
Contrast that with the 410 which is a true express route, as they skip all stops for a significant part of the route, as they extend far into the east end of Montreal.
This happened due to the renumbering of routes that happened in late 2011 (YouTube - STM). Before this, there were several classes of what are named express routes today. These included: R-Bus, which is short of reserved lane bus; Trainbus, which are like train substitute bus services; Express, which are skip-stop bus services.
The biggest consequence of what happened in 2011, was to the 506 (now 406) route. Before, the number 506 made sense, as it was under the "R-Bus" family to promote the reserved lanes along Newman. But once, it got renumbered to 406 and renamed to Express, it is downright deceitful as it serves exactly the same stops as it's local variant, the 106. In fact, it is only a rush-hour renumbering of the route, which is unnecessary complexity to users at best, and at worse is perceived as a deceitful service.
STM 106 and 406 routes. (Moovit)
Note how the 106 and the 406 are exactly the same route. The 406 is a remnant from the "R-bus" era with the 506 to highlight it's reserved lanes.
Today over 400 km of reserved lanes exist in Montreal, there is no need for a special designation.
A mess of different signs.
A STM, a STL, an exo bus stop next to each other.
Map data ©2023 Google, Image Landsat/Copernicus. Captured on Google Earth: (Source)
Another obstacle for new public transit users are the different agencies using different signs. Many new users may not understand the difference between exo and STM services, for example. On top of that, every sign has a different design, and therefore another obstacle is that the same information (e.g. metro stops served by a given bus route) is located in different places with different icons. As seen above, in some extreme cases, three different bus stop signs could be present next to each other. Not to mention that these signs hamper the recognizability of a unified signage system that the ARTM is aiming for (ARTM).
STL and STM signs at the same bus stop bay at Henri-Bourassa station, but are located on opposite sides of the sign, which makes it difficult to find the bus stop on either side as only one of the two routes are shown.
An exo bus stop sign at Île-Perrot train station.
Choose your route identification wisely!
Henri-Bourassa terminal bus stop sign.
Can you guess which routes are frequent, express and local?
Do you know the difference between the 469 and the 69? Well, if you are reading my blog, it is likely you do. But when I asked people, many of them did not know that all routes in the 400s are express buses for example. It is because the current numbering system is not intuitive. The user has to remember 300s are night routes, 400s are express routes, 700s and higher are shuttles and 10 to 249 are local buses along with frequent buses thrown in the mix (STM). This is not to mention that other neighboring systems such as those in Laval, Longueuil and beyond operate on completely different numbering systems respectively.
The STM also loves using the suffix "X." This means this suffix can mean many things, such as the 24X which is a short-turn route of the 24. The 48X is an alternate route to the 48, which runs on Gouin for a handful of blocks instead of Perras. The 171X is an extended version of the normal 171 which goes beyond Place Vertu and heads towards Bois-Franc. This creates huge confusion, as typically this is not marked on bus stop signage and this information is only sometimes available on the STM website, and the user only learns about this when the bus arrives and displays it on the destination board.
171 outside of peak hours (Transit App)
171X during of peak hours (Transit App)
The 171 schedule does not show which departures are the "X" extended (Transit App)
Jesus, I see these numbers, but I do not know where these buses go?
Dilapidated STM 192 Robert route map at Crémazie station.
In the last few years, the STM had been gradually replacing useful route maps with contact information along with an invitation to use their mobile apps.
An exo bus stop schedule at Île-Perrot train station.
Before, most STM bus stops had a route map that at least had a diagram of the route and the major streets it stopped at and other buses that crossed it's path. This was also useful to see what direction and which major metro stations the bus route serves (the sign only displays the next metro, train and most recently, REM stations). Now, the STM is progressively replacing them with just contact information and apps that people can use to see when the next bus is coming.
It should be evident. Mass-reliance on phones is a huge problem.
Utyae Lee, a reporter of stories in Vancouver named "About Here," did a video about bus stop signs and he said: "Well, I could reference the plethora of accessibility issues that come with phones, the risks associated with mass reliance on digital technology, the concerns around privacy...
But it's also about who our transit systems are meant to serve" (CBC). The latter part is super important, because public transport agencies are also serving some of the most poorest communities in Montreal, many of which do not have the choice to take public transport. Therefore, to make signage in a way that you need to have a phone, means that these unfortunate people need to have a phone but also a monthly phone plan with data to be able to consult the maps. This makes the public transport system not accessible and less user friendly, especially to the most vulnerable.
On top of that, another issue with phones is that it does not respond well to what a transit user is looking for. According to a similar project of redesigning bus stop signage, they have discovered that transit users are looking for two things:
- "Find a bus with a similar route;"
- "Make sure the bus was in the right direction."
Current bus stop signage does not respond to this, and instead the user has to spend more time and energy researching to find the answer to the two aforementioned problems. This is a risky move, because the user may judge it is too much energy to expend and rather would use their car or ride-hailing services. This can be easily evitable if there was informative signage at their disposal.
Complicated and useless classification of buses.
Complicated numbering systems.
Recently proposed numbering system by the STM as seen on a community poll. (User "r141," Agora Montreal)
10 to 249 | Local bus service and 10 min max from 6am to 9pm routes |
|---|---|
249 to 299 | Gold shuttles (shuttles designated for elderly persons) |
300s | Night buses |
400s | Express buses |
700s | Tourist shuttles (mainly) along with other various shuttles |
[PROPOSED] 800s | Every 2 to 12 minutes, Monday to Friday, during morning peak in peak direction from 6:30am to 9:30am and during afternoon peak in peak direction from 3pm to 6pm. |
[PROPOSED] 900s | Every 2 to 12 minutes, Monday to Friday, from 6am to 8pm. |
Table of current along with proposed numbering system for the STM.
20 to 299 | Local bus service operating primarily inside a single municipality |
|---|---|
300s | On-demand only services |
400s and 500s | Express buses, primarily towards a metro, terminal and other major destinations, usually only during peak hours. |
600s and 700s | Regional buses, linking multiple municipalities. |
New numbering system for all exo sectors that come into effect once that sector is redesigned. (exo)
STL and RTL do not have any consistent numbering system.
A missed opportunity of all the bus network redesigns is for the ARTM to step in and decide for a standard numbering system. Instead, all four public transport agencies have their own numbering system (STM, STL, RTL and EXO). STL and RTL seem to not have one, and little consistency present.
This leads to confusion for the end-user, especially that more and more trips will be taken across many agencies since the fare reform (learn more here, ARTM). For example, the STL has 2 night routes, route 2 and 345, while all of the STM night routes are in the 300s and EXO 300s are on-demand only services.
Not to mention the proposed changes by the STM for frequent services. I acknowledge it is good to separate frequent and reliable bus services out from the pack, but the way that the STM wants to do this, is perplexing at best. I believe it is useless to mention even their proposed "800s" since those routes are only reliable for a few hours during weekdays and not all the time. Speaking of weekdays, it seems that the STM has forgotten that people travel on the weekends, and it could be a huge potential market that the STM could capture if they offered all-day from 5am to 1am, 7 days a week, frequent service.
Take for example the STL 26, which runs super frequent during weekday rush hour, but useless anytime outside of that.
The STL route 26 has a bus from every 4 to 12 minutes during peak direction on weekdays, while it only runs every 20 minutes at best during weekends. (Transit App)
Importance of highlighting frequent networks.
People do not take transit just for work, and if it works for their leisure activities late at night and on weekends, they would also take it for those activities. They do not currently, because a lot of frequent routes that run every 10 minutes or less diminish their frequency to every 30 minutes on late nights and 15 minutes at best on weekends.
Transit agencies across North America have recognized this, and that's why in almost every bus network redesign, they feature an all-day, every day, 15 min max networks. I have placed a few examples below.
Boston new network redesign proposes over 30 frequent "T" routes that come every 15 minutes or less from 5am to 1am, 7 days a week (MBTA).
Boston has half the amount of buses that the Montreal STM has, but is able to offer better all-day service than the STM and any transport agency in Montreal. Their secret? Running more direct, less local routes. This means that routes run more spaced apart and favor a transfer-based network (YouTube The Coast). Sure, customers may have to walk longer, but if they walk longer to a more frequent and reliable route, it's better than waiting outside for a bus that is only really frequent during rush hours (Twitter/X Marco Chitti).
Winnipeg's new bus network redesign proposes 16 frequent lettered routes that come every 15 minutes or less from 5am to 1am, 7 days a week (City of Winnipeg) (Winnipeg Transit).
Winnipeg has a quarter of the buses that the STM has. Yet it would be able to deliver all-day frequent service to 16 routes. Again, they did the same tricks that MBTA did. This means they reduced the complexity of their network, reduced the number of routes and increased the distance between bus routes.
Lots of duplicated identifiers.
On top of this, the current system has a lot of repeated numbers. For example, right now there is 7 route 22's for example. This confuses riders, as many of these buses run in completely different locations.
Seven different route 22's in the Montreal area. (Transit App)
Bus stop signage that gives too little information.
Journey map for a user to determine if they are travelling in the correct direction.
The average user has to do a lot of effort to confirm that the bus is operating in the correct direction. On top of that, online tools aren't on the user's side. Below, I had compiled pictures of the same route displayed on several popular transit map websites (I excluded Transit as not many users know this app and the user has to pay to access the full functionality). As you can see, on most websites, it is easier to find the last stop than knowing the direction of the route. This is why signs should have both the cardinal direction and the last stop. Transit customers, especially those who do not use the system quite often, may not know that routes are identified by cardinal direction and not by final stop. By having both, it caters to the needs of those that refer to the direction either way.
Google Maps gives more priority for the last stop rather than the direction of the route. Again here it seems that the direction morphs with the route name. Map data ©2023 Google (Google Maps)
A breath of fresh air: My new bus stop sign.
Click / Tap on the image to view the full size format.
My final design for a brand new unified metropolitan bus stop sign for the Greater Montreal area.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
The biggest change: A new numbering system.
Incorporating letters instead of numbers is the way I found that made bus routes easier to understand.
Prefix: The service types.
Letters convey more clearly than distinct numbers for service types.
When I asked a few people if they knew that all buses for the STM that we're in the 400s we're express buses, most people answered that they did not know this. This is because arbitrarily assigning meaning to numbers has a certain learning curve that the user needs to adopt. Compare this to letters where the meaning is instantly communicated without the need of additional information.
For example, when I say "X10" to people, the "X" instantly reminds you of express. The same thing applies to most letters I assigned to bus routes. The only point of confusion may be between the "M" and the "R." The "M" felt more like communicating a frequent service, while the "R" communicated a rapid service. It therefore felt more natural to assign the "M" for frequent routes and "R" to bus rapid transit routes or BRT routes. I did not believe that assigning the "M" even to BRT routes made sense, as the BRT routes are a tier above normal frequent transit routes. Currently, there would be only one route to fall into the "R" designation and that would be the STM 439 route.
The new lettering system will give place also to a new hierarchy of bus services, which are organized by classes.
The new classification system for bus routes.
Numbers means corridors.
The new numbering system is even more recognizable then before as most corridors will be able to have a singular two or three digit number to represent the corridor.
Many corridors today provide many types of services, such as on Pie-IX and Saint-Michel corridors which have a local route, an express and a night bus. As pictured above, the numbering is not consistent along these three types of services. Therefore, these services should have their numbers harmonized under the new system and therefore a certain number can be assigned to a certain corridor.
One of the complaints I had received under this new system is that people are already used to the existing numbers of their routes. But I argue against this, as I believe, for the cases above, that the numbers 39 and 67 feel more associated with this corridor (at first I even thought the route 39 also ran on Pie-IX) than the whole number itself (e.g. 439).
The reason for having a prefix, up to three numbers to signify the corridor and a suffix, is that my goal is that each goal has an assigned number. Currently there are over 500 routes that operate in Montreal, and if it was limited to two digits plus a prefix and suffix, it would only allow for up to 90 different corridors. By simply adding a third digit, this number increases to 990 possible corridors. Adding the prefixes to the mix, this means that there is 6,930 possible route designations. Without the three digits, this number would only be 630 possibilities, which may dwindle quickly considering the amount of routes and to avoid the current system of repeating numbers.
On top of this, a system could be introduced that the further away from Montreal the routes are, the larger the numbers become.
Suffix: Accounting for many terminal points.
A bus can end at many terminals while having a shared "trunk."
To fix the issue with having many meanings for the "X" (elaborated further here), I believe it is better to adopt a branch lettered system for the suffix of the route number. Not all routes will have them, but only those that have multiple starting and/or ending points. In some cases, on the newer maps, the STM has begun numbering certain cases, but only branches that see limited service. This leads to awkward situations such as the 439|1, 440|1, etc.
Therefore, to fix this issue, the lettered suffix can help distinguish various branches, such as seen below on the right picture.
There is only a mention for limited service on the 439 Laval segment dubbed the 439|1. Other branches are neglected (STM).
Example of branches on the R39 (STM 439 currently).
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
Another example, are duplicate routes with distinct but similar numbers. One example of this is the 52 and the 252. The 252 is the shorter version of the 52, but again this is an arbitrary number. It could have been 522, 152, 352, etc. Therefore, another upside of having a common numbering system including the standardized use of suffixes, the user will know that the suffix is just a minor alteration to the normal route and it may be an option to consider when heading towards their destination.
The new numbering system is simpler, because instead of a fickle meaning of the "X" notation, the suffix demonstrates a clear difference, and allows for the prioritization of branches.
Using a lettered suffix for branches, allows for the prioritization of branches. For example, the "A" branch would be the main branch with the largest amount of service, and the "B" branch is served less often.
The result: A few examples.
I had compiled bus routes for three terminals and renamed them according to the new convention I had set out. This helps illustrate the difference between the current system and my proposed system along with it's key strength: understandability. I find when you look at the renumbered lists, it is easy to dissect which routes are related (by the use of branches), related to what agency and classified according to being frequent, express, limited service, local service, night service, etc. by the intelligent use of icons, letters and colors (learn more here).
Current signage at Henri-Bourassa terminal along with ad hoc signage for the Laval routes.
Renumbering of every single bus route at or near Henri-Bourassa Terminal
A lot of routes that serve Henri-Bourassa terminal are high frequency routes. Compared to before, these routes now "pop-out" more from the pack, thanks to the letters. The letters also make it more clear which routes are night routes and express routes.
Pet-peeve: Henri-Bourassa bus terminal signage.
Exit sign in the tunnel linking between all three platforms and both exists at Henri-Bourassa station.
Note how this sign omits the existence of most STL routes and lacks the lettered notation for exits.
At Henri-Bourassa station, there are no signs prominently showing the existence of the STL 31, 52, 55 and 252 routes. The only place to figure out where these buses stop is actually on the neighborhood area maps around the station.
Henri-Bourassa neighborhood map.
Try to find the STL 31, 52, 55 and 252 routes on this map.
Outdated Henri-Bourassa neighborhood map in the terminal.
Additionally, the STM 31 route had been moved for ages into the Henri-Bourassa terminal, and it is still not updated anywhere, not even on the STM website for Transit. It is still marked as a temporary stop, but it had been like that since the STM 55 was extended and took over the STM 31 stop, in 2017 (STM). This is marked by the heavy usage of ad hoc signage across the terminal.
Ad hoc signage indicating not to cross in the middle of the road alongside with the "temporary" STM 31 stop.
Ad hoc signage to guide passengers towards STM buses.
Ad hoc signage to guide passengers towards Laval STM buses.
The best example: A dilapidated AMT sign with stickers plastered all over it along with the ad hoc sign to guide passengers towards Laval buses.
Henri-Bourassa terminal is not the only STM / ARTM terminal that direly needs a signage update. I will do a future blog post on redesigning bus terminal signage.
Re-numbering of all bus routes that serve the Côte-Vertu bus terminal according to my new system.
Re-numbering of all bus routes that serve the Longueuil bus terminal according to my new system.
Colors galore!
Agency and fixed service colors.
The use of colors is not only to determine which agency (or municipality) operates a given service, but also to determine if the bus operates during the whole day from 5 am to 1 am, during peak times or a limited period of time during the day or during the night.
The importance of colors is incontestable. The colors compliment the icons in being able to quickly scan a given list of routes, and understand off the bat the classification of a given route without any context or word explaining such classification. Examples of this can be seen here and scroll down until "The result: A few examples."
That's why I had decided "R-Bus" and "Métrobus" routes use dark shades of colors in contrast to the rest and are consistent across all agencies so that the eye spots these routes first. This is important, as these bus routes are the most reliable and most frequent across the Greater Montreal Area. Bus routes that operate the entire day from 5 am to 1 am, are displayed in a solid color of the agency. On the other hand, the routes that have an outline are those that have limited service which means they do not operate the entire day (+/- 2 hours). White background is designated for day limited service routes as the sun is bright and black background is designated for night services as the sky is dark at night.
Why a different color for each exo sector?
Greater Montreal area map. Exo operates routes in turquoise and blue areas.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
Exo operates over 300 bus routes and taxi bus routes. Some of these routes are about fifty kilometers apart from each other. This means to get between them, you also need to pass by other transportation agencies such as the STM, STL and RTL. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that each exo sector has it's own color, to help distinguish between and organize all 300 routes, in addition to the nomenclature system. On top of that, the Exo service area is huge, and it's nonsensical to give the same meaning to a bus route that operates in Saint-Jérôme and to the one that operates in Valleyfield, two municipalities that are almost a hundred kilometers apart by driving.
Giving them different colors does not mean they are not part of the same agency, as they will still all retain the exo mention in all the signage, but this should not overshadow the need of distinction between routes.
Dark or light sign? You choose.
Dark vs. light sign.
The newer signs for the Pie-IX BRT and the REM bus terminals have a black background. Therefore, I had prioritized designing for a similar background. However, these stops are mostly used outside where sometimes the light conditions are not optimal. This is why a light version may also be pertinent because of it's visibility at night. But, the black background also allows colors to pop out more compared to the white one.
The redesigned sign.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
My final design for a brand new unified metropolitan bus stop sign for the Greater Montreal area.
The head sign.
The goal of the head-sign is to give a certain recognizability for all the bus stops in the greater Montreal area. This will make it easier for transit users from different systems being accustomed to finding the bus stop as it will be on the top of the bus stop sign along with a huge bus logo.
To help the user know they are at the right stop or to look up schedules on various transit applications, the main street is displayed in bold and the cross street in normal font.
Stop list for the STL 902 (Transit App).
Stop list for the STL 902 (Chrono App).
Having the stop name also helps search the stop in long lists of stops displayed both on the Transit and Chrono apps for phones. No longer a user has to find their location and then find the closest stop; the stop name is already displayed in big text on the stop.
Just below the stop name, is the accessibility information and fare zone information. The fare zone is key, since the ARTM is considering that buses out-of-territory can pick-up and drop-off passengers. For example, the exo can board and debark people in Montreal, which is not the case today (Radio-Canada). If this happens, fare zone information would be very helpful to understand which fares are needed at which stops, because this means many bus routes will run across multiple zones, some all 4.
Having the stop name also helps search the stop in long lists of stops displayed both on the Transit and Chrono apps for phones. No longer a user has to find their location and then find the closest stop; the stop name is already displayed in big text on the stop.
The body sign.
The final body sign design for a hypothetical bus stop.
The body sign features one agency and up to four routes that the specific agency serves at a given stop. The biggest change is the wealth of information that is presented compared to most bus stop signs. This allows for stops without a schedule holder to still have information about the direction, final stop, route name and a handful of major points on the route.
On the left, is a colored box with the route identification. Below that, the direction is indicated with an arrow so that the user can understand it is the cardinal direction of the route, without being expressively told that it is. The bottom of the colored box is designated for the service information. This includes which type of service it is along with any service icons if the service is limited and does not run the full day, if the service is frequent and if it is the first or final stop of the bus.
Various redesigned service information icons.
On the right, a non colored information area presents destination information about the route. The information is presented in a linear presentation style. For example, this means that when a person reads the sign, it would be R39A South Pie-IX to Henri-Bourassa / Notre-Dame via a train station and the Pie-IX metro station. This linear presentation style increases the clarity of the sign and gives a sense of order to the sign which is not present today.
A linear presentation style allows for more clarity and organization of information on the sign.
Ideally, all the information would be presented in a singular reading direction. However, this poses several challenges. The first being is that the sign would be very tall and slim. Second of all, it would slow down the scanning of the bus sign for a particular route. The goal is that the user first scans the stop quickly to find their bus route and then find the details about said bus route. This presentation style uniquely allows this.
This gives way to a simplified end user journey map to find the direction of their route. As discussed here, it is currently way too complicated for the user to find if they are heading the correct direction. By adding the current stop on the head sign and the last stop for each route, a novice transit customer can easily identify from a list of stops if they are heading in the right direction.
Previously without any bus schedule, it would be nearly impossible to determine the direction.
Now, it is quite simple thanks to the simple addition of the current stop name on the head sign and the last stop next to each route.
A small change makes a big leap in wayfinding.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
My final design for new wayfinding strategies for the bus stop schedule sign, including a new unified route map and line diagrams of each route.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
Unified route map.
The biggest change to the schedule poster is the return of the maps. As seen above, transit agencies have been removing maps and replacing them with posters telling customers to check on their mobile phones. At this point, it is not even a cost saving measure, but rather a shift of priorities.
The unified map helps the user understand that their bus is going in the right direction, and see if there are any alternative bus routes that could get them to the same place. It also helps with visualizing where in relationship to the major Métro, train and REM stations that the bus route operates.
Linear route diagram.
The linear route diagram is another tool that the user can use to see in detail the upcoming stops. This again confirms that the user is going in the right direction. It's vertical layout also helps with the natural flow of reading and easier to search the destination bus stop.
The diagram is also easily set up to display branches or different route variations, such as the M48A and M48B (today 48 and 48X routes).
Along with that, it is also well set up to display in-detail any possible interchanges, with trains, Métro, REM and fellow bus services. This is further facilitated with the new numbering and coloring systems which helps the user understand the service nature of the bus.
Redesigned timetable design.
The STM timetable design was already among the best I had ever seen. Therefore, I did not change much, aside from making it the standard across the network (STL, RTL and EXO use a classic hour:minute list of departure times, seen here).
The biggest gripe I had with the timetable was that sometimes it used boxes or symbols to indicate a route variation (e.g. 460 PM route variation). Therefore, I used the route variation letters to my advantage and included them into the schedule design.
On top of that, the previous schedule design used the symbol "»" to indicate that the bus was frequent and would specify the maximum wait time in the legend. In order to make the frequent service periods more apparent and make it faster to understand how frequent the bus is, I had decided to add color and indicate in a box with a logo similar to the ex-10 min max route network along with a number of minutes of maximum wait time for that hour of service.
Accessibility for all.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
My final design for the accessible bus stop sign for persons with impaired vision.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
Raised tactile letters and braille comes to bus stop signs.
Public transportation should also be accessible spaces for all, and currently, the absence of the distinction between a municipal parking pole and a bus stop sign, makes it difficult or almost impossible for visually-impaired persons to navigate the bus network independently.
This is why adding raised tactile letters and braille to bus stop signs, will allow these people to quickly and independently identify bus stop signs along with which routes and their respective direction.
No need to fret anymore when the service is disrupted.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
My final design for a redesigned bus stop cancellation slip along with a new schedule pocket.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
The redesigned service modification slip had been modified to instead showing more prominently that the bus stop is closed, bus service is modified or a temporary stop. It will also be used not onlyby the STM, but by all the transit agencies in the greater Montreal area. On top of that, I had redesigned the pocket to use a standard size paper, so it's easy to deploy wherever needed.
A new schedule pocket.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
The schedule pocket vulgarizes that buses do not serve this stop by placing a bag with a slot to insert a map to guide customers to the relocated stop.
Prints use map data from Mapbox and OpenStreetMap and their data sources. To learn more, visit https://www.mapbox.com/about/maps/ and http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright.
Data mapped from the open data from the Government of Quebec, EXO, ARTM, STM, STL, RTL.
To better communicate service disruptions, a bag or what is referred to as a pocket, is placed over the schedule. and can be sealed on the back of the sign. This will hopefully prevent from customers waiting at the bus stop for a bus that may never come or a bus that will skip their stop because the bus stop is obstructed.
On the face of the schedule, the bag will have a pocket of which a map could placed inside. The map will show transit customers how to get to the nearest stop with service. It will also explain which routes are re-routed.
Inspiration.
Montreal.
Pie-IX BRT bus stop signs.
Pie-IX BRT bus stop signs.
(Notice the mistake with the moon symbol?)
The new Pie-IX BRT bus stop signs had heavily inspired this design from the start, all the way to the latest design. It's dark background signs are currently being deployed in newer terminals, such as at the REM bus terminals.
Métro signage.
Montreal Metro signage.
The bus stop sign design is based on the newest version of Metro signage, which day-viewed in 2016. Currently, the ARTM metropolitan signage is based on it. The same font, icons, and style had been used for the creation of my signs.
Exo bus stop signs.
The newest exo bus stop signage.
The exo bus stop sign had been completely redesigned in 2017. It is also similar to the bus signage that was later seen for the Pie-IX BRT project and the REM projects.
It was useful for the modern design, the mention of the Chrono app and the design of the stop at bus terminals.
Winnipeg.
Winnipeg bus stop signs are modern (Winnipeg Transit page 12).
Some major stops have much larger cantilever style structure (Winnipegmanitoba.net)
Other major bus stops have a totem pole (Winnipeg Free Press).
Winnipeg is probably one of the cities with the most unique bus stop signage in Canada. A significant amount of stops have one of the examples that are presented above. These signs are modern and are a bid to make the system more attractive (Winnipeg Transit).
However, due to their flashy design, they must be expensive to install and maintain. This is why I believe that Winnipeg Transit is reverting back to a classic metal sign on a normal galvanized metal pole (see here).
Winnipeg's bus stop sign inspired the design of the head sign, with the large bus logo in the middle (instead of the Winnipeg Transit logos) along with the stop name right below it, and contact information.
Ottawa.
Ottawa bus stop signage at Blair station.
The idea of denoting limited services with an outline came from Ottawa. They use colors and symbols and prefixes to help differentiate between services. In the example above, route 12 is frequent; 23, 24, 26, 42 are local routes that run 7 days a week all-day; 15, 302 runs only some days a week or some hours of the day; N39 runs during the night (OC Transpo).
Berlin.
Typical Berlin bus stop sign (Foursquare posted by "Chris S.)
Berlin is the home of the Transit font of which it is currently used by the STM Metro signage and the ARTM unified signage. On top of that, I inspired from Berlin's way of organizing routes. This is what gave birth to the prefix system for bus routes. Additionally, the fare zone on bus stop signs was also from Berlin.
Chicago.
Chicago new unified bus stop design (Chicago Transit Forum posted by "BusHunter")
Since 2017, Chicago had been implementing slowly a unified bus stop sign across the region. The RTA (Chicago's verc is spearheading this effort. It inspired the notion of having the route number along with the destination for my signs.
New York City.
MTA's latest digital signage design for digital line maps (Reddit r/nyc posted by "DJ_Maxyyt")
The latest NYC signage for line maps have inspired the design for my line maps shown beside the schedule. It shows interchanges clearly, along with the following stops in a clear manner so that customers can confidently identify the correct direction.
Toronto.
Toronto unified bus stop sign (Applied Information Group).
Toronto is also working towards unified signage. This will also be displayed throughout the latest transit projects such as the Eglinton Crosstown, Finch West and Ontario Line projects.
Their design inspired the design of the pole, as well as the organization for the bus stop schedule.
TTC route 52 diagram (TTC).
On top of that, I had also inspired the suffix nomenclature from the TTC. This helps organize routes that run along a certain trunk and then branch off, or simple route variations.
From the original design to the current.
Original design.
The original metropolitan bus stop sign designed by me back in April 2023.
Varying length of the sign and many bus routes could cause the sign being really long.
The non-accessibility sign was not proper, as instead of displaying a positive-tone, it displayed a negative tone of a slash is drawn across a wheelchair user.
It was not recognizable from afar and it's bus stop name was too small.
The original sign came about from the inspiration from Utyae Lee's video about better bus signs (CBC - About Here YouTube). It had also drawn large inspiration from the Pie-IX BRT bus stop signs and to which I had added useful information such as name of route and final stop. I also used it for inspiration for the black background and the size variation when more routes are added.
It's also where I had the first experimentations with letters, designating frequent or major routes with the "M" prefix.
But, I was unhappy with the design. This started especially when I watched an interview with the MBTA map creator (Transit Maps). It is pretty insulting to have a wheelchair symbol with a slash going through it. As Kenneth Dumas noted: "If I had a symbol that denoted my tribe and it had a slash going through it, I'll be offended" (Transit Maps).
The current STM temporary bus stop cover.
On top of that, I wanted to redesign the temporary bus stop cover that the STM currently uses to denote service changes. This would only be possible to use if there was one standard sized sign and that the sign did not vary in length or width.
However, a successful feature of the sign is the color system. Each STM service type, and municipality / agency had it's own unique color designation. This is because it does not make sense to put over 200 routes in the same pool, as the user would not be able to discern the difference between them.
It is in the same light, that every exo sector has it's own assigned color, as the exo name designates that it's a unified network, but each sector having a color allows to organize routes, as it does not make sense that routes that are over 50 kilometers apart to be part of the same system without any distinction between them, especially taking into account that a user will probably have to pass by the STM or other neighboring networks to go between them.
On top of that, another great idea was that instead of just displaying the stations with name and service mode. I had replaced them with the name along with the lines that serve that station. Since then, the final design pushes this even further with the re-addition of the service mode, as many stations have many different modes serving the same station, such as Gare Centrale.
A standard size for signs.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
The second revision of my bus stop sign.
This revision, I focused on making every sign the same size. However, one issue with this design is that I made a height variation for each route. This means, that if there are many different STM service types or agencies that stop, despite the sign just displaying the same amount of routes, could be different heights.
One agency versus many on a single sign.
I also wanted to make it more recognizable, and make the bus logo larger, so there is a standardized recognizable icon on each sign, akin to what is seen in Vancouver, and now in Toronto as well. It also was missing information to check the schedule and contact each agency. These two parts, led to the birth of the head sign in my final design (seen here).
I had also fixed the accessibility icon issue, by just removing it when the stop is not accessible. On top of that, I added fare zone information to the sign.
The arrow was also added to the cardinal direction of each route, so that the user can understand without being expressively told that this means the direction of the route.
I also wanted to make it more recognizable, and make the bus logo larger, so there is a standardized recognizable icon on each sign, akin to what is seen in Vancouver, and now in Toronto as well. It also was missing information to check the schedule and contact each agency. These two parts, led to the birth of the head sign in my final design (seen here).
However, the successful part of this design was the collection of detour signs I have made. Improvements that I have made, is that the information of the sign is kept. This is because the current signage obstructs any detail regarding what are the next major points that the bus serves, and the sign that is put on top of it, only displays route number and direction.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
My redesigned cancelled bus stop slip for the sign and schedule poster.
Click / Tap on image to view the full size format.
Using colors to display different states.
On top of that, instead of displaying useless information at the top, such as the STM and bus logo. I have placed a strikethrough bus icon to indicate that the buses do not stop here, and the absence of the strikethrough to denote that buses stop here. This is in addition to the description, either if the stop is moved, service is interrupted, or it's a temporary stop / service has returned to this stop after a long period of construction.
This greatly helps with the recognizability of the signs from afar, and customers will be able to better understand that the buses do not stop here.
Time and time again, I have seen the bus pass by folks waiting at the stop for that bus, and did not realize that the stop is cancelled, and they either end up running after the bus, or just missing it. Again, this hampers the user experience of taking the bus, and it is likely to leave a bitter taste in people's mouths about public transportation. Time and time again, this is a symptom of bad signage, and by better vulgarization of service changes would significantly reduce this.
Contact me
Related article
Pie-IX busway: From hope to deception
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This is a personal blog. I do not represent nor affiliated with the ARTM, STM, STL, RTL, EXO or any other entity.
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Comments
3 Replies to “Understanding your local bus network should not be as hard.”
Great work! Just read through the whole thing.
What a great a way to meaningfully improve the Montreal transit experience at minimal cost.
Great article!
Good job! Your article was great.