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When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

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Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#11

Post by kccqzy »

Schiendelman wrote: post #8
sharms wrote: post #2

I would love to see more of this mindset - bring something new and unique in to the world, instead of mass produced, least price per unit mentality, like how car colors are trending towards black and white.

Not for transit please. This kind of thing is illegible (not to mention inaccessible) for visitors. Someone comes to your city and they want to ride a train instead of driving their rental car into your downtown. Your transit requires a card. They're not comfortable with your language, they have to find a machine, and the first one doesn't work right. They finally get a machine that works, after standing in line behi…

The way I see it there is a bifurcation here: some people value convenience so they just use their regular credit card to pay per trip with no discounts; others don’t mind the mental overhead of getting a transit card, understanding the fare products, selecting the optimal fare products, standing in line to load the fare products onto the card in order to save money. It’s good to provide both.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#13

Post by clickety_clack »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #10
Schiendelman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for transit please. This kind of thing is illegible (not to mention inaccessible) for visitors. Someone comes to your city and they want to ride a train instead of driving their rental car into your downtown. Your transit requires a card. They're not comfortable with your language, they have to find a machine, and the first one doesn't work right. They finally get a machine that works, after standing in line behi…

Nothing you say is necessarily wrong or bad, but it is why we can’t have beautiful things and only utilitarian shit.

Utilitarians see the utility of everything and the value of nothing.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#14

Post by bluGill »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #10
Schiendelman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for transit please. This kind of thing is illegible (not to mention inaccessible) for visitors. Someone comes to your city and they want to ride a train instead of driving their rental car into your downtown. Your transit requires a card. They're not comfortable with your language, they have to find a machine, and the first one doesn't work right. They finally get a machine that works, after standing in line behi…

Nothing you say is necessarily wrong or bad, but it is why we can’t have beautiful things and only utilitarian shit.

Some things should be a utility. Nice is important but transit should fade into the background while you live life. Don't make them ugly but utility needs to be first.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#15

Post by masfuerte »

sharms wrote: post #2

I would love to see more of this mindset - bring something new and unique in to the world, instead of mass produced, least price per unit mentality, like how car colors are trending towards black and white.

This design also serves a business purpose. You can see at a glance if someone has this week's pass without carefully checking the date. Our local bus company does something similar - the day passes have a random word for the day so you can't just print one at home, at least not without colluding with someone who's already bought a ticket.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#16

Post by Schiendelman »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #10
Schiendelman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for transit please. This kind of thing is illegible (not to mention inaccessible) for visitors. Someone comes to your city and they want to ride a train instead of driving their rental car into your downtown. Your transit requires a card. They're not comfortable with your language, they have to find a machine, and the first one doesn't work right. They finally get a machine that works, after standing in line behi…

Nothing you say is necessarily wrong or bad, but it is why we can’t have beautiful things and only utilitarian shit.

You can have lots of beautiful things. You can't REQUIRE beautiful things. Government services are a requirement.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#17

Post by pibaker »

Schiendelman wrote: post #8
sharms wrote: post #2

I would love to see more of this mindset - bring something new and unique in to the world, instead of mass produced, least price per unit mentality, like how car colors are trending towards black and white.

Not for transit please. This kind of thing is illegible (not to mention inaccessible) for visitors. Someone comes to your city and they want to ride a train instead of driving their rental car into your downtown. Your transit requires a card. They're not comfortable with your language, they have to find a machine, and the first one doesn't work right. They finally get a machine that works, after standing in line behi…

I don't see how your point contradicts GP's. There is no reason why you can't have a reliable machine that sells a reliable daily or weekly pass with a nice design. The rest of your comment about Ubers seems to be just a massive straw man.

Tap to pay may work if you actually use your phone as your wallet. From what I see around me, most people don't. And on this website in particular you have surely seen people advocating for cash over privacy concerns. Nor would I be confident that my card will work flawlessly in another city half a planet away before I get there. I will buy a weekly pass from a machine, though, especially if it looks cute enough that I can bring it home as souvenir.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#18

Post by someperson »

dfxm12 wrote: post #7

Having something as mundane as a transit pass be designed so beautifully installs a sense of civic pride. Plus, it employs artists. Both of these things are important for a community. Transit passes may have been phased out in a lot of places, but there are lots of opportunities for a city to design and display public art.

On this topic, I highly recommend the New York Transit Museum

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#19

Post by mrweasel »

sharms wrote: post #2

I would love to see more of this mindset - bring something new and unique in to the world, instead of mass produced, least price per unit mentality, like how car colors are trending towards black and white.

In general we need to free designers, artists, marketing people, engineers, anyone creative really, from the tyranni of spreadsheet, shareholder interests and risk minimization. We're becoming so incredibly scared of any perceived risk that the world become bland. Business are afraid of offending, or not appealing to some group, or in some way hurting the bottom line. Personally we're scared that our homes and cars will lose resell value or that our choices makes us stick out (that is if we're given a choice, because everything we buy must have the broadest appeal).

If you have children, let them pick colours, they aren't yet scared of bold choices and don't needs to explain why your hen house if some weird shade of pink or why that one rooms is a random shade of mint green. They just liked the colour and thought it would be awesome.

Re: When transit passes were designed by hand (2022)

#20

Post by yard2010 »

someperson wrote: post #18
dfxm12 wrote: post #7

Having something as mundane as a transit pass be designed so beautifully installs a sense of civic pride. Plus, it employs artists. Both of these things are important for a community. Transit passes may have been phased out in a lot of places, but there are lots of opportunities for a city to design and display public art.

On this topic, I highly recommend the New York Transit Museum

Tangibly related - stadelijk in Amsterdam has that exhibit in which you get to experience 90' schiphol, with the pa and the glowing signs. It's really good
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