I loved this video from Rory Sutherland about the power of “making something visible”.
Sutherland starts by poking fun at North Londoners and our inability to get around without the tube map. This part is true—I’ve been a North Londoner for eight years and I mostly rely on the tube map. South Londoners on the other hand are much more adept at London travel as they frequently use trains that aren’t on the tube map.
The London Overground is the bright orange line on the London Tube Map. It’s a convenient way to get from North London across to the east side of the city, as well as down to south of the river. However, for 20 years it was called Silver Link Metro and it wasn’t on the tube map. But when it received a name change, a paint change, and was included on the London Tube Map, its usage tripled.
Very little changed to the actual train line, almost all of the uptick in usage came from making the thing visible. I love that.