Mapless

 

I took the train yesterday and I was idly looking at the ads on the walls when something occurred to me.  There are no Merseyrail maps on the 777s.  There are plenty of spaces where there could be one - where there used to be one - but they haven't bothered at all anywhere on here.  And it's not because they're drowning in advertising revenue either, because those "owned by you" posters are still all over the place.

You could argue that having the electronic line diagram means there's no need for them any more, but that's not true.  The diagrams above the door tell you where to change trains for the Northern or Wirral or City lines; they don't tell you what's on those lines.  If you're on a train from New Brighton planning on getting to, say, Cressington, there's no way of planning your route.  Until you reach Central or Moorfields you won't know which direction to get a train in. 

This seems to me to be a basic piece of wayfinding information that should be everywhere.  On top of that, the Merseyrail map is a piece of local iconography that should be shared.  I'm not sure why they're missing; it seems like a really daft thing to overlook.

If they're unwilling to give up the valuable ad slots - though, as I say, they don't seem to be snapped up - then these hatches in the carriage ends seem like a perfect slot for a sticker with the Merseyrail map on it.   A small piece of info to make the traveling experience easier and more comfortable.  You can't have too many maps.