Today’s trans-San Francisco Bay transit network is, in many ways, a shadow of what it once was. For over a century, from not long after the Gold Rush until just after World War II, a dense network of ferries and, later, interurban streetcars criss-crossed the bay. In the 2020s, we have fewer and smaller ferries, and fewer rail lines, although those trains — BART — are bigger, faster and go farther inland (with one notable exception). We also have express buses descended from the old streetcar routes, although they mostly run only during rush hours, and there are fewer of them now than even a few years ago, before people largely stopped commuting (RIP B Trestle Glen).

Notes on Design

This map is obviously highly stylized, and arguably a bit hard to make out. The choice is intentional: In our world of customizable map apps, the primary purpose of a static, standalone transit map is no longer to give directions. It is to raise awareness of transit options by demystifying complex systems. For details, one can always turn to one’s phone. The typeface is Kievit.

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