London Underground Tube Map

London Tube map 'sends people the wrong way', says research

It is considered a design classic but the topological map, designed in 1931, greatly distorts the  distances between stations.

That means up to 30 per cent of passengers are taking the ‘wrong’  route between stations, a study by Zhan Guo, a professor of urban planning shows.

Using data collected by London Underground, the New York University academic compared the actual journeys made by passengers with routes the travel time data showed they ‘should’ have made.

He used the example of a passenger wanting to travel from Paddington to Bond Street station.

There are two potential routes, the first involving a change at Baker Street and the second a change at Notting Hill Gate. Although the second route is considerably slower (by about 15 per cent), some 30 per cent of travellers chose it.

‘Passengers often (mis)trust a transit map more than their actual experience; they often take a path that looks shorter on the system map but is longer in reality,’ he said.

For example, travelling between Embankment and Charing Cross stations may look like it requires a Tube journey, but in reality it is a 3min walk.

Likewise, using the map, the most direct route from Chancery Lane to Farringdon stations by Underground requires two changes and four stations. But you can walk it in less than 10min.

In his paper, Mind The Map, Prof Guo writes : ‘Passengers often trust the map more than their own travel experience on deciding the ‘‘best’’ travel path. That is true even for the most experienced passengers.’ The map was designed by Underground employee Harry Beck, in 1931 and has been copied around the world.

Futurity.org – London commuters 'mind the map'

“In other words,” he writes, “Underground passengers trust the tube map two times more than their own travel experience within the system. The map effect decreases when passengers become more familiar with the system, but it is still greater than the effect of the actual experience, even for passengers who use the Underground five days or more a week.”

The study has implications for both riders and those who work to ensure that transit systems perform optimally.

“Transit maps can have a profound impact of passengers’ travel decisions and system performance. Both individual passengers and transit agencies should ‘mind the map’ in order to make their best planning decision,” writes Guo.

More news from NYU: www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications.