Thomas Griebel Graphic Designs - Rochester Rail System

For my senior capstone project, I imagined a fictional light rail system in Rochester called the Rochester Rail System that transports passengers in and out of Rochester. While Rochester once had a trolley and subway system, the city and surrounding areas have become very car dependent, and the bus system isn’t the greatest in the area. This light rail system is designed to help people who may utilize the system the most by focusing on lines that goes through areas of high poverty, as well as other areas such as colleges and universities, and high retail/employment areas such as Henrietta and Rochester Tech Park. This capstone features a system map, line map, wayfinding signage, ticket machine screen, transit card, and a long-term PSA announcement.

Research and Development

Initial Research

Poverty map of Rochester, NY. These areas would be my system's main focus.

Some notes from an RTS report about ridership.

Pittsburg Rail System visualized.

San Diego trolley system

Buffalo Research

I traveled to Buffalo as they have a light rail system, and Buffalo as a whole is similar to Rochester. I rode on their system and took some notes on what I liked about the system (such as the system being fully handicap accessible), and what I didn't like about the system (such as no Apple Wallet support)

Station under construction during my visit in November, 2023.

Overview of a station in Buffalo. The Buffalo Light Rail System is fully handicap accessible, making it a good base for this project.

Map and system information. The map does it's job, but it feels stuck in the late 90s. I wouldn't have known this was a modern poster if it wasn't for the "FACE MASK REQUIRED" message on it.

Station signage

Kiosk Stations for Transit Cards.

Small station signage with braille on it. However, it looks kind of worn out.

Interior of a car.

Notes I took during my adventure about the system.

Overall, I thought the system does it's job, but it would be a good base for Rochester's Light Rail System I had in mind. The finalized station mockups in this project do come from Buffalo's Light Rail System.

Development

Sketches of the overall design of some branding elements

Sketches of Transit Card

Some logo designs, including Station markings, similar to Boston's T system (this idea would later be abandoned).

Some line and arrow ideas I tried and experimented.

Early wayfinding station signage

Early signage that would appear to guide people to stations

First rough idea for the map layout. The red shaded areas represents the area in Rochester with a high poverty rate.

Near final map layout, with the lines more connecting while at the same time branched out, inspired by a documentary about Boston's T system.

Early designed map, with all directions going vertical, horizontal, or a 45 degree angle.

Updated map design from the previous image. In this version, the Orange Line's code was changed from "O" to "U" due to concerns it would've been mixed up with zero. I also made it so some line directions turn at an angle that's divisible by 30 degrees.

Final Versions