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I don't know if it's because of the rainbow and light spectrum, (sort of like an alphabetical order for colors) but when color is talked about, red just seems to be first.
I think transit agencies also stay with easily distinguishable colors, so blue, green, and yellow/gold are often next. But, in Cleveland, where there was already a red, blue, and green line, their new BRT line was made silver, instead of yellow/gold. So, who knows?
Not for those who are color blind. Red/Green difficulties are some of the most common.
Red attracts attention. So it makes sense when a new line is built to color it red to stand out. Just like your teachers did when grading papers. The color red appears rarely in nature, which is why red is used for "stop."
It seems that when cities start to color code rail lines after expanding their rail systems, usually the original line gets designated as the Red Line.
I wonder for what reason. Usually the four most common colors for rail lines are Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow, however, of those four colors, what is the reason why the original line is usually Red?
It’s not. Usually they start with blue. Because that’s the most popular color. Some times yellow and green even come before red. Toronto doesn’t even have a red line.
Atlanta Area Subway system - Marta - had to rename the Yellow line when they gave them colors few years back. Yellow line became the Gold Line.
Seems no one thought it would be offensive to have the subway train that run to the Asian area called Yellow line. ... Opps ...
That's ridiculous. But it's probably also why there is no "black line". Can you imagine the stereotypes and stigma associated with that?
Also, for a long time, the worst (most ghetto) line in the DC Metro was the Green line. It's kind of gentrified, but still. Of course most of the DC Metro goes through some bad areas except the Orange line OUTSIDE of DC Limits and the Red Line OUTSIDE of DC to Rockville
That's ridiculous. But it's probably also why there is no "black line". Can you imagine the stereotypes and stigma associated with that?
Also, for a long time, the worst (most ghetto) line in the DC Metro was the Green line. It's kind of gentrified, but still. Of course most of the DC Metro goes through some bad areas except the Orange line OUTSIDE of DC Limits and the Red Line OUTSIDE of DC to Rockville
I know the way Boston color coded it was
Red-ends at Harvard (Crimson)
Orange- used to run under orange street
Blue- under the harbor
Green- along the emerald necklace.
That's ridiculous. But it's probably also why there is no "black line". Can you imagine the stereotypes and stigma associated with that?
Also, for a long time, the worst (most ghetto) line in the DC Metro was the Green line. It's kind of gentrified, but still. Of course most of the DC Metro goes through some bad areas except the Orange line OUTSIDE of DC Limits and the Red Line OUTSIDE of DC to Rockville
If you have seen my past threads both in this forum and in the Phoenix forum, I would admit that there is nothing wrong with rail line colors being politically correct. My dream system of light rail and streetcar lines for the Phoenix area are color-coded with that in mind - the Brown Line is routed intentionally through an area with a lower Hispanic population (Scottsdale), the Pink Line is routed through an area that is mostly politically conservative (Chandler/Gilbert/East Mesa) which means a likely lower than average gay population, and my system has a Gold Line instead of a Yellow Line as with MARTA in Atlanta.
I actually didn't want to bring up the issue of politically correct rail line colors in this thread due to some users not liking the idea as in my past threads about the issue, but apparently someone brought it up.
Interestingly, Chicago's Yellow Line serves Skokie, which has a fairly significant (though not majority) Asian population. Otherwise Chicago's rail line colors seem to be fairly politically correct, since the Brown Line serves mostly white neighborhoods and neither of Chicago's two gay districts are along the Pink Line.
Orange isn't usually one of the colors that gets assigned early; usually after Red the next color that gets assigned is Blue, followed by either Green or Yellow. Indigo is almost never used, and Purple is generally used instead of Violet.
Albuquerque was red first with the Rapid Ride buses. Also, if the Phoenix area light rail lines get color coded, I wouldn't be surprised to see the current line be designated as the Red Line, since prior to the construction of the light rail, there was a bus route known as the Red Line that served almost the same corridor.
Yes but the PATCO line from New Jersey is shown in red on the maps.
My guess about the OP's question is that red shows up most distinctly on most maps, so the planners for each system picked red for what they thought was the most important line.
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