New System Map Helps You Get Around
Monday, June 25, 2007 4:52 PM
You could call her our human global positioning satellite.
Sheila Robbins, a 7-and-a-half-year veteran at METRO, designs all our maps and public guides. Without her, both riders and drivers would be lost.
Her latest work: our new system map that shows up to 92 routes on one page.
It took her 120 hours to produce our new map, available to the public on the Internet since June 14 and in RideStores since June 15. The bright green map includes smaller maps on the back that show larger details of areas where we have a lot of riders: The Texas Medical Center, the Galleria/Greenway Plaza area and Downtown/Central Business District.
"They're fun," says Robbins. "It's a fast pace. What I really like is knowing that I can take different aspects - operators' maps or a flat area - and create something that is usable to the general public. And they depend on them."
Robbins uses Illustrator software, a drawing and design program, but she also draws the routes freehand. First, she starts with a base map. Then she creates a color palette.
"I choose something that's pleasing to the eye that is not going to cause any strain - usually bright colors," she says. "The purples, pinks, blues and reds are nice - and some of the golds."
She looks at all the route maps - also called operator maps which she created before - and freehand draws those onto the base map.
"It's a lot of detail," says Robbins. After the drawing is completed, it goes through a rigorous proofreading process before going to the print shop and the Internet.
Before coming to METRO, Robbins worked 16 years as a graphic designer at the Port of Houston Authority, designing brochures and maps. At METRO, she says it's most gratifying when she sees one her maps in the hands of a bus operator or passenger, using it to get around.
"I do all the kiosks on the rail stations, and when people are looking at them, I think, ‘That's one of my maps. I hope they can read it!' ‘
Check out Sheila Robbins' newest map here. If you want a hard copy, drop by one of our RideStores and pick one up. We'll be updating it three times a year.