The final product.

The final version of the diagram.

This map, I am happy with enough to finally release it to the public. Many improvements have been made with the map, so I will share a few of them that I am particularly happy with. I am particularly happy that I was able to do a somewhat simple map, despite having 85 transit lines on the map.

Interchange blobs.

I noticed that the previous Metro map, used to show connections at all interchange stops, but the new map did not. I wanted to find a way to display such connections without cluttering. Then I stumbled upon this map from Eric M., and found these interchange blobs with many branches. Then I tried inserting these many branches blobs and adding the line identifier inside this blob. I noticed the immediate difference.

I added plenty of features to these interchange blobs, such that they show the interchange time between different lines. If it is a solid line, it is less than 3 minutes to interchange, and if it is more than 3 minutes, it is a dashed line. This is important, as it is imperative to show that changing from the orange and green lines at Lionel-Groulx is not as trivial as changing between the Metro and trains at Lucien-L'Allier. It will also help people make connections, because if you treat all connections the same, this means that the riding public expects the same ease to transfer and by extension the time. However, if it takes twice or three times amount the time to transfer, and especially for the infrequent trains (which come sometimes every few hours), it is necessary to have this information.

This is probably why the Sauvé connection is marked in Metropolitan Diagram as a disjoint connection blob. However, many still question why this is designed like this, because the disjoint blob in the Metropolitan Diagram is not explained at all, not even in the legend, that it is a longer connection time. Therefore, people only understand until they actually go there, which defeats the purpose of putting it on the map! Now, with my map, it is clearly marked with a dashed line, instead of a solid line, along with an entry inside the legend that explains the difference between solid and dashed connector blobs.

The Sauvé train to Metro connection in real life, is a four minute walk outside and then another two to three minute walk inside the Metro station to the platforms. In total it is a seven minute connection. This deserves to be mapped properly in the diagrams.

Another improvement, is the type of bus connection. This means if the bus stops in a bus terminal, it is connected to the interchange blob. However, if it is just an on-street connection, it just shown as an outlined circle. This is again important, as typically bus terminals have amenities such as a heated, covered waiting shelter, while on-street bus stops, you are lucky if you have a bus shelter. Bus terminals also tend to be larger and be more important connection points in the network, and thus even more justification for them to be distinguished.

Radisson has a bus terminal, with a heated waiting area, while Langelier just has on-street bus stops, with bus shelters on one side of the street.

Connections are also showed between stations, as it may be faster to transfer via the Underground City instead of taking the Metro to get between the stations in the downtown.

Fare zones.

The situation pointed out earlier in this article has been fixed!

Thanks to the use of color, it is not easy to distinguish which islands belong to which zone. Contrasted to the current official map, where it was impossible to distinguish if the big and small island are part of the same zone or different zones; now it is easier.

Instead of zone labels directly on the map, the largest neighborhood text is employed to display the name of the area in a semi-linear fashion.

Instead of marking in many places zone A, B, C or D, large neighborhood text is placed in a near linear fashion to display the name of each zone. The same name is then used under the fare section of the legend. This is because not everyone wants to know about the zones when they look at the map, and I found that putting the labels just clutters up the map.

Fare zones in legend.

On top of that, the fare zone diagram in the legends displays them in order that you see them in the map, so it is easier to follow. It also uses the official colors, so it is consistent with the existing ARTM marketing of the new fare zones.

Outlining of lines.

Every line is outlined and it smoothly changes between zone colors when crossing bodies of water or zones.

This smooth colored outline helps create a certain hierarchy of the lines, and helps push the prominence of the Metro and train lines. This also helps stop the clashing of colors when lines meet.

Fixing the Saint-Jérôme line (again)

The exo 9 bus route and the Saint-Jérôme line is now straighter.

To keep diagrams simple, I try to put as much straight lines as I can. With that in mind, I was able to straighten both the train line and bus line, while keeping the main goal: showing that the bus crosses twice under the Saint-Jérôme line. The reason for the importance of this, is that the train line could be a major landmark, and therefore it would be easier to find bus lines if they are correctly position in relation to train and Metro lines.

Fixing the alignments of a few bus routes.

Displaying these bus routes properly, help give the user additional information for whenever a bus does not show up, for example, which other frequent alternatives exist.

Improving the placement of labels.

Compared to my previous versions, it is now easier to read the Vaudreuil-Hudson line stations in a list format.

As explained in this video, the best placement of labels on a horizontal line is at an angle. This is because the goal of the transit map, is not to show geographically accurate information, but to show in the clearest manner possible, a list of stations.

Correcting the color hierarchy.

Left colors are the official colors, Right colors are the adjusted colors for my diagram.

As one of the issues in the previous map was the colors. Therefore, I adjusted most of the colors so that the perceived luminance is about the same per mode to create a color hierarchy. This means that Metro lines are the brightest, the train lines and then buses.

The frequency legend.

The thicker the line, the more frequent it is during that period.

I have also added a frequency legend. This I felt was important, as none of the buses run frequent all-day (from 5am to 1am), and some buses have a limited service span. This is what the frequency diagram shows, as it approximates between a certain period, how frequent the bus is and if it operates or not. If it is more frequent, it gets a thicker stroke, and thinner if it is less frequent. There is also no stroke if there is no service. I used common cut-off hours of frequency for the clocks. The darker the clock, the later in the day it is. This also helps to list all the bus routes, and to put their two terminus points along with a code that corresponds to its location in the grid.

Further improvements.

I may revisit this map in the future, but I have already identified a few improvements I could make.

1. The map is complicated and contains a lot of details. It could scare off people who see this map for the first time.
2. Rerouting the 69 and 439, which just got announced by the STM.
3. Expand the downtown area to reduce the clutter.
4. Find an even better way to do the zones, as the colors are not friendly to those who are colorblind.
5. Improve the accessibility of the map by trying to figure out how to make labels bigger.
6. Try and reduce the blank space in the upper left-hand corner of the map.