Wayfinding
Project overview
Key benefits
- Consistent and easy-to-follow visual messages
- Make using public transport easier for customers, particularly when changing modes and taking unfamiliar journeys
Transport for NSW is delivering a new integrated approach to wayfinding and signage for the NSW transport network.
The new signage provides consistent and easy-to-follow visual messages to make public transport easier for customers to use, particularly when changing modes and taking unfamiliar journeys. The new signage also continues the roll-out of icons and mode colours used in maps, timetables, the transportnsw.info website since November 2013, real-time smart phone apps, electronic signage at ferry wharves and train stations, and social media including live updates through Twitter.
The signs have already been installed across Sydney’s ferry and light rail networks and at a number of train stations, bus stops and coach stops, with further upgrades progressively continuing across the transport network both in Sydney and beyond.
Testing the system
Wayfinding trials in 2013 tested the smarter use of signs and information to provide clearer direction for customers when travelling on the network and connecting between transport modes.
Trials at Circular Quay, Martin Place, Milsons Point and Springwood helped determine to what degree the new signage improves a customer’s wayfinding experience and informed further steps to support easier navigation of the system in the future.
Specialist research was also undertaken with a range of customers, including people with impaired mobility, and customers for whom English is not their first language.
A new way to identify transport modes
In transport systems around the world, letters, number codes and logos are commonly used to identify transport services. These cities ask visitors to learn and understand these simple, consistent symbols in order to use their transport systems.
Cities that use letters, codes and symbols in this way include Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York and Paris.
One objective of the 2013 wayfinding trials was to see how this international example could work within NSW’s large, multi-modal transport system, and how it could be used to connect information across digital devices and the built environment.
Decisions around the colours for each mode took into account the Opal and Transport brands and existing vehicle colours across the four transport modes.
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Feedback
Customer feedback is helping to guide Transport for NSW’s information and wayfinding strategy, to meet the needs of customers now and in the future.
If you would like to comment on the Wayfinding Program, please write to TfNSW via the feedback page or if your enquiry relates to Program delivery and is urgent please contact us via the TfNSW 24-hour Construction Response line on 1800 775 465.
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