planline.org

Planline.org is a non-profit project with the goal of endorsing good public transport in all of its facets like planning, representation and accessibility. Created as a for-fun endeavour to share our love for public transport – its rolling stock, maps & diagrams and everything beyond – we will report on our everyday life as avid transport users, comment on events & news from all around the world and try to contribute to better public transport systems in any way we can.

The planline.org team currently consits of only me: Fabian Düsterdiek.
I graduated with a master’s degree in urban planning at the university of Kassel and have had a keen interest in public transport, network maps and urban development since I was a child. Since 2017, I am also working for a public transport provider of a major German city, foremost in operations, sales & ticketing, and customer service. I started this project to share the personal work I do in my free time, creating transport diagrams and exploring transport systems worldwide.

Feel free to contact me if you are interested about this project, or would like to contribute in any shape or form.

Write to: fabian@planline.org

For billions of people, using public transport is part of their daily routine. It enables them to take part in everyday life, social interactions outside the own space of living and frankly get them to work and earn a living – without the need for other means of personal transportation.

Public transport takes a central role in public services, providing mobility in the general public interest and is therefore essential for an accessible and liveable society.

Beyond its social impact, public transport benefits the greater good in even more ways. In terms of environmental sustainability, encouraging public transport usage is imperative for reducing carbon emissions, as the transportation sector in general (and personal vehicles specifically) takes a large share in overall CO2 emissions worldwide.

Furthermore, the negative impact that individual traffic had on liveability, walkability and development is unmissably present in nearly every city on the planet, small and large alike. And without disputing the need for personal vehicles in certain situations – foremost in rural communities – it is clear, that only a good, reliable, and accessible public transport network can bring desirable and necessary changes to the urban fabric as a whole.

Yet, there is a large percentage of the urban population that doesn’t have access to adequate public transportation or has barriers thrown in their way that won’t or can’t let them have such access. These barriers are often – but not limited to – political, cultural (aka. “Car culture”) or socioeconomic reasons.

Hence advocating for good public transportation now is very much necessary and will become even more relevant in the near future, as environmental sustainability as well as economic resiliency are gaining a lot more traction in public discussion.

Let’s face it: transport systems can be confusing and hard to navigate – even for everyday users.

Therefore, good communication is key to make transport networks understandable, user friendly and accessible.
Be it maps & diagrams, digital or printed information or even on-board announcements. It is essential to not only offer a reliable and comfortable transport service, but also to provide all necessary information to a broad target group of riders. Accessibility does not stop at structural or architectural obstacles.

More often than not, there is a vast gap of knowledge in what riders need to know to navigate a system easily and the complexity of the available or given information. Fare systems can be overly complicated, maps & diagrams hard to read or information inaccessible for certain groups due to language and communication barriers. That all play into the user experience and through that can immensely impact ridership and public endorsement. 

In the future, there will be a segment on this website exclusively dedicated to communications and information marketing. So, watch out for more!