The Elizabeth Line Is an Opportunity for a London Tube Map Overhaul
The opening of Crossrail has added complexity to an already crowded map. Critics say it’s time to start over with a new design.
The newly updated Tube map.
Credit: Transport for London
On Tuesday, May 24, London launched the long-awaited Crossrail, or Elizabeth Line, which crosses the capital from Shenfield in the East to Reading in the West. The £18.9 billion railway line will slash travel times for many Londoners and should help alleviate crowding on the underground network.
But one thing that hasn’t been met with enthusiasm is the new release of the Tube map, revamped for the occasion with the new line and its additional stops. The update adds more information to a cacophony of colors, grey zebra-like fare zone representation, and awkward interchange stations. It also added Ikea logos, as the Swedish retailer sponsored Transport for London (TfL) to have the location of its stores on the official Tube map for a year. According to TfL documents, it paid £800,000 for it. (Free and potentially not fully accurate Pret-A-Manger and Greggs maps made by disenchanted Twitter users are much more entertaining.)