This endlessly fascinating (for me) e-card was used to promote Mark Ovenden’s 2007 “Transit Maps of the World”. It’s also the cover of this 133-page coffee-table transit tome. It illustrates, in classic Harry Beck transit map style, all the cities in the world that have their own public transit as if they were one global system unto themselves. In my mind it’s called the Terra Train.

The thing I love about the Terra Train layout is that, just like real transit maps, it’s actually pretty messed up. It totally distorts all accurate sense of distance and in some instances completely fails to connect two locations that are really quite close to each other:

• Notice how apparently Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal have become equidistant.

• It’s a long ass ride from Eshafan to Sydney. Bring a book.

• Oslo and Helsinki are only 787 km apart. On the Terra Train all you’d need to do is hop south on the Oslo-Pyongyang Line until you get to Berlin. Then transfer and head east on the Lyon-Shanghai line until you get off at Ufa Station. This sucks because Ufa is always rammed, especially at rush hour. Brave the transfer there onto the Mumbai-Helsinki line (watch out, ’cause crazy drunk Poles always stumble on at Gdansk Station) until you finally cruise into good ol’ Helsinki a mere 15 stops and 3111 kilometres later. Easy as that.

Yes, I actually figured the distances out. Don’t judge me…

Via Strange Maps