Mapping out a new route on Metro station names

By Editorial,

WHERE IN THE world is the White House? If you’re a tourist aboard the D.C. area’s Metro system, that’s a question you may find yourself asking.

As it should, the multicolored map in subway cars features miniature images of American landmarks, such as the White House, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. But the titles of many of the stations, such as McPherson Square, don’t relate to these symbolic and much-frequented destinations.

McPherson Square is close to The Post’s headquarters. But we concede there’s a slightly larger-than-life institution just down the street from us. Shouldn’t McPherson, or the Farragut West stop, be renamed to reflect that it’s only a few blocks from the Oval Office?

Moreover, station names are lengthier than they should be and in some cases highlight outdated facilities or locations that are, in fact, quite far from their actual stops. The result can be confusion for visitors, newcomers and sometimes even longtime inhabitants among the system’s weekly 800,000 riders. (Metrorail is the busiest subway in the country outside New York’s.)

Metro board members recently endorsed a plan to simplify station names. Thanks to user-generated feedback and focus groups, Metro is recommending that no name extend beyond 19 characters — and that no transfer station name run over 13. We’re not sure what the right length is, but certainly Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan is a lot to take in — and should be shortened to ax the reference to Adams Morgan, a neighborhood very much on the outskirts of the station area.

Naming Metro stations will always involve tensions: readable brevity vs. fuller information, the closest landmark vs. the best-known, maybe even common sense vs. the names we’ve all grown used to. But Lance Wyman, creator of the original Metro map, agrees that there is plenty of room for improvement: “We should strive for shorter and more appropriate names.” He also calls for more effective icons and visual identifiers to be affiliated with each station, which also makes sense.

We look forward to a modernized — hopefully cleaner, sleeker and more accurate — Metro map.