Still Life with Robin: Mind the Map!

by Peggy Robin

The Cleveland Park Listserv is subscribed to the Metro news email list and we strive to keep our readers updated with all the announcements that affect the Red line running through the heart of the neighborhoods covered by this Listserv. We last covered the system just two weeks ago, with a column critiquing the five new names chosen for old stations, including one on the Red line that was being rebranded with the geographically confusing loconym, "North Bethesda." (See the Still Life with Robin column of September 10, 2022)

Yesterday, Metro sent out a press release announcing the creation of a new Metro map, with the addition of six new stations on the Silver line (Reston Town Center, Herndon, Innovation Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Loudoun Gateway, and Ashburn), plus one planned but unconstructed station, Potomac Yard, on the Blue/Yellow lines. And of course, this new map shows the renamed stations that I dissed in my earlier column. 

But I'm ready to get over it. Now that the new maps are out, it's time to accept change with grace. Besides -- as I am something of a "maphead" -- I like to see map designs keeping up with the times. According to Metro's press release, it's the biggest overhaul of Metro's iconic map since it was first unveiled 40 years ago. It's a great design -- clear, good colors, readable at a distance, conveying a whole lot of info both aesthetically and concisely --the Metro map may be the single best feature of the entire Metro system. And it's good to see it's been kept up to speed (well, maybe that's the wrong cliche to use?)  with Metro's changes. 

Here it is:

According to the Washington Post, it will take Metro up to a month to replace all the old maps in all the stations and all the trains in the system -- the number is somewhere around 5,000. And then there are all the printed brochures and websites where the updates are needed. So don't run down to the Cleveland Park Station today and expect to see everything changed. If there's one thing I've learned in dealing with Metro over all these years, it's that things always take a whole lot longer than they say it will. If I'm wrong about that, and the new maps are already up in the Cleveland Park Station, somebody please let me know and I will happily take back that last little diss!

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Still Life with Robin is posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.