Hi, I’m Stephen Coles.
Writer, editor, typographer.
Oakland and Berlin.

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BAD infographic. This thing is a year old but is getting praised today on Tumblr so here’s a dissenting opinion: it’s another GOOD infographic that isn’t good. Read the comments, many of which rightly complain that the comparisons aren’t useful. This is seriously lacking in a lot of needed data. Firstly, BART is a rail-only system, while the others are multi-modal. Or does the data only take the rail portions? We don’t know! Judging by the average speeds, I’d suspect not. — Nick Aster These are not the largest transit systems in the US. BART isn’t even San Francisco’s transit system…that is called SFMTA. And Los Angeles has the second largest transit system in the US. — Zipsled BART is the Bay Area’s skeletal regional rail connector system. A more accurate comparison between transit agencies would would include MUNI as well as AC transit, SAM Trans and Santa Clara Transit Agency as part of the juxtaposition. — Moy Ace We need to compare apples to apples here. A more informative info-graphic would take into consideration all commuter train ridership for each metropolitan area. — Robert Snyder Even if you ignore the poor editorial decisions behind the figures, the graphic makes no visual comparison between them. Please, Tumblrs, read infographics and ponder the context before slapping that Reblog button and labeling them “cool” and “interesting”. GOOD does great things, but this isn’t one of them. It’s a missed opportunity to inform and enlighten about an important topic.
BAD infographic. This thing is a year old but is getting praised today on Tumblr so here’s a dissenting opinion: it’s another GOOD infographic that isn’t good. Read the comments, many of which rightly complain that the comparisons aren’t useful.
This is seriously lacking in a lot of needed data. Firstly, BART is a rail-only system, while the others are multi-modal. Or does the data only take the rail portions? We don’t know! Judging by the average speeds, I’d suspect not. — Nick Aster
These are not the largest transit systems in the US. BART isn’t even San Francisco’s transit system…that is called SFMTA. And Los Angeles has the second largest transit system in the US. — Zipsled
BART is the Bay Area’s skeletal regional rail connector system. A more accurate comparison between transit agencies would would include MUNI as well as AC transit, SAM Trans and Santa Clara Transit Agency as part of the juxtaposition. — Moy Ace
We need to compare apples to apples here. A more informative info-graphic would take into consideration all commuter train ridership for each metropolitan area. — Robert Snyder

Even if you ignore the poor editorial decisions behind the figures, the graphic makes no visual comparison between them.

Please, Tumblrs, read infographics and ponder the context before slapping that Reblog button and labeling them “cool” and “interesting”. GOOD does great things, but this isn’t one of them. It’s a missed opportunity to inform and enlighten about an important topic.

(via mopostal)

Source: poptech

82 notesShowHide

  1. onearth reblogged this from scottdodd
  2. danhefferan reblogged this from arig
  3. citymaus reblogged this from thegreenurbanist and added:
    Great infographic that compares stats of the five biggest US subway systems.
  4. dbleeei reblogged this from thegreenurbanist
  5. thegreenurbanist reblogged this from smartercities
  6. mopostal reblogged this from stewf and added:
    Yeah—I realized this about two days after I posted it. There’s no actual comparison between relevant pieces of...
  7. stewf reblogged this from mopostal and added:
    BAD infographic. This thing is a year old but is getting praised today on Tumblr so here’s a dissenting opinion: it’s...
  8. argusofinsight reblogged this from smartercities
  9. poobah reblogged this from evangotlib and added:
    ••••• Reblogged for Danno, the Train Guy —BP
  10. thepursuit reblogged this from bigcrush
  11. evangotlib reblogged this from arig
  12. arig reblogged this from katykelley and added:
    Great infographic that compares stats of the five biggest US
  13. janicemomoko reblogged this from bigcrush and added:
    Ha, the MTA really does suck; seriously, the BART is faster?
  14. bigcrush reblogged this from katykelley
  15. katykelley reblogged this from mopostal and added:
    Really super interesting graphic on subway usage.
  16. fuckyeahinfographics reblogged this from smartercities
  17. jonaha reblogged this from smartercities
  18. idroolinmysleep reblogged this from smartercities and added:
    Interesting. The average distance per trip is roughly five miles (except for BART, where geography forces it to cross...
  19. fingerskneesandtoes reblogged this from smartercities