Subway

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Underground, Underground Railway, Metro Railway, Metro

Category

Transportation, Transport Facilities, Transport Modes, Travel, Public Facilities, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate the location of underground or metro trains

	Source	Description
	McLaren & Braunstein	Front view of underground in the dark on base with rails
	UIC Testdesign	Front view of underground with pantograph in tunnel
1)	UIC Testdesign	Front view of underground in tunnel
	UIC 413	Front view of underground in tunnel, platform on the right
	Erco	Front view of underground in round tunnel
	O'72	Front view of underground in round tunnel
	EJP	Front view of underground on railway line in round tunnel
	ONCE	Front view of underground in tunnel on tracks in perspective view
	Galicia	Front view of underground in tunnel on railway line
	SIS PI	Front view of underground in tunnel on railway line
	MTA	Front view of underground in tunnel on railway line
	Picto'grafics	Front view of underground in tunnel on railway line
	CNIS	Front view of underground in tunnel on railway line
	ISO 7001	Front view of underground or metro train on railway line
	WL 2024	Front view of underground or metro train
	Vuković	Side view of simplified train between two horizontal lines
	Wiener Linien	Upper case letter U inside disk
	DB	Upper case letter U
	NST Portugal	Upper case letter M in outline
	U.S. National Park Service	Upper case letter M
*)	Metro Rome	Upper case letter M
*)	Unknown	Variation of letter m
	Budapest Metro	Variation of letter M inside circle
	Tokyo Metro	Variation of letter M
	Transantiago	Ellipsis with three filled diamonds
	SL	Letter T inside circle

Discussion

Local logos are often used in cities with underground railway systems to communicate information related to the corresponding services. In the collection presented above we therefore also included some logos, especially with similarity to the letters U for Underground and M for Metro. Due to local languages sometimes also other letters are used, as for example the letter T in Stockholm, representing the Swedish word Tunnelbana.

In studies sponsored by the Austrian Railways and the Austrian Standards Institute (Brugger, 1995 a and 1995 b) seven pictograms and logos of the table above were examined using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure. In these tests conducted in Austria, the letter based symbol labeled as DB that is similar to the signs used in Vienna (labeled above as Wiener Linien) performed best, as it is well known in that region. On the contrary, especially the two M based variants marked with *) were judged as rather incomprehensible with mean and median estimation values below 20, as the letter M is not used in Austria concerning any aspects of public transportation. The pictogram labeled as UIC testdesign and marked with 1) reached the best judgement score among the pictorial variants tested. Displaying a pantograph as shown in the other testdesign did not improve or impair judged comprehensibility. The two pictograms from Otl Aicher labeled as O'72 and Erco, in which the tunnel is shown as completely round element, were judged as less comprehensible than renderings of a tunnel with platforms. The round tunnel may be confused with a round framing as used in some guidance systems and applications.

The tunnel rendering of the subway sign from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001.1-2012, Public Information Graphical Symbols, labeled CNIS in the table above, also seems not to convey its message well enough with about 34 % correct responses among Chinese respondents (An & Chan, 2017).

When Fiori (2008) examined a map symbol similar to the pictogram from Erco on basis of a Comprehension Test, 71.5 % of the responses were classified as correct. Wrong answers were Train Station and Tram, among others. Regarding the findings detailed above, comprehension scores for the UIC testdesigns should be even somewhat better.

The public information symbol PI TF 003 of ISO 7001 for Underground, Metro Railway Station, or Trains shows a typical smaller deep-tube train from London Underground that may be well recognized as Subway or Underground in England, but not as well in other places as no tunnel is shown in the pictogram and trains used often look different.

If a specific graphical symbol is to be used to indicate the location of underground or metro trains, the rendering should provide a clear differentiation to the variants used for Railway, Tram, and Bus, an aspect not regarded enough in quite a few of the designs available.

Recommendations

UIC 413 Pictogram B.1.6: Underground Railway

Based on the test results known we recommend the use of a pictogram similar to the UIC 413 variant B.1.6 to indicate the location of underground or metro trains. The design should be improved concerning minimal detail size e.g. by enlarging the front view of the underground train.

Tests of pictograms of referent Subway / Underground Railway

An, D. & Chan, E.H.W. (2017): Investigating the Comprehension of Public Symbols for Wayfinding in Transit Hubs in China. In: Rau, PL. (eds) Cross-Cultural Design. CCD 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10281. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57931-3_24

Brugger, Ch. (1995 a): ÖBB / ON Testserie 1995, Teil 1 Verständnisschätzungen nach ISO 9186. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways) dated January 1995, Vienna.

Brugger, Ch. (1995 b): ÖBB / ON Testserie 1995, Teil 2 Verständnisschätzungen nach ISO 9186. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways) dated February 1995, Vienna.

Fiori, S. R. (2008): Mapas para o turismo e a interatividade - proposta teórica e prática. Tese de Doutorado - Depto. de Geografia, FFLCH-USP.