NEW DUBLIN MAP

Well it is about time, but it finally looks like Dublin is going to get a quintessential transportation map and would you believe it turns out it is a German who designed it.

Graphic Design student, Aris Venetikidis, arrived in Ireland eight years ago and noticed that it is difficult to navigate your way around Dublin City especially if you are not from the city.

So he set about putting together a complete map of all transport links on one map. He used the iconic London Underground map as the template and after initially finding it difficult to get backing has put together, what the Grand Canal Hotel thinks, is the best and most use full map produced.

Essentially, the map Venetikidis designed includes all bus services and stops, as well as existing and proposed Luas stops, existing Dart stations and the proposed Dart Underground link between Inchicore and Docklands, with intervening stations at Heuston, Christ Church, St Stephen’s Green, Pearse (Westland Row) and Spencer Dock.

Everything is colour-coded, and the 10 bus rapid transit lines proposed by Leahy are given names such as Beckett, Larkin, Stoker and Yeats.

These are shown on a large format map of the public transport network as a whole, then in detail on a separate map of the inner city area, so people can see exactly where they are going.

“Every stop is on it, because you can’t assume that every new user has a working knowledge of Dublin’s geography,” Venetikidis told the Irish Times. “So even Dubliners invited to a friend’s party, for example – all they would have to do is to identify the nearest stop on the map, which is not something they can do now, and then work out the route they need to take.”

As the London Underground map had shown, “a successful integrated public transport map is the key to motivating people to leave the car and make the switch to a sustainable transport mode. Couple that with a modern network of rapid transit and you have the solution to congested city centre streets and an absent infrastructure.”

Check out www.aris.ie for a look at the designs.