The New York – New Haven Train Schedule
The last entry was about flight timetables in Envisioning Information. I'd like to continue this tour de force and talk about train timetables. One of my favorite examples in the book by Tufte is the New York – New Haven train schedule.
Prior to Tufte's redesign, the timetable has many shortcomings: Too much space is allocated to the column headings: Only 21 percent of the area is devoted to actually giving train times. The many lines and boxes "create an elaborate but false appearance of systematic order". But worst of all, the times are listed in a strange pattern: the day's schedule follows a serpentine path.
For comparison, here's the top portion of the new design.
The book was published in 1990, so you'd think that Amtrak would have picked up on these recommendations and adjusted their design. However, when LT and I made a trip to New Haven, unbelievably, the schedule still looked the same. I clearly remember my confusion about following that snaky path, and the 'bold-means-p.m.' visual syntax. LT, conversant in urban matters, took the matter out of my hands and said "Yeah, ignore that, the train's at 2:33 ".
Prior to Tufte's redesign, the timetable has many shortcomings: Too much space is allocated to the column headings: Only 21 percent of the area is devoted to actually giving train times. The many lines and boxes "create an elaborate but false appearance of systematic order". But worst of all, the times are listed in a strange pattern: the day's schedule follows a serpentine path.
For comparison, here's the top portion of the new design.
The book was published in 1990, so you'd think that Amtrak would have picked up on these recommendations and adjusted their design. However, when LT and I made a trip to New Haven, unbelievably, the schedule still looked the same. I clearly remember my confusion about following that snaky path, and the 'bold-means-p.m.' visual syntax. LT, conversant in urban matters, took the matter out of my hands and said "Yeah, ignore that, the train's at 2:33 ".
2 Comments:
Yes, LT knows what time the trains leave. Perhaps the New Haven line likes to keep its schedule cryptic. If you can't figure out when the trains leave, then you don't qualify to be on one. :)
oh, bold means peak trains, indicating higher prices during rush hour. I was too focused on eating devil's food cheese cake to explain at the time.
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