Using Auckland’s Google Transit feed, Chris McDowall visualizes his city’s transportation network in an animation of buses, trains and ferries. The animations usually begin at 3:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. Here’s how he describes it on his blog:

“A pair of blue squiggles depict the Airport buses shuttling late night travellers between the Downtown Ferry Terminal and Auckland International. From 5am, a skeleton service of local buses begins making trips from the outer suburbs to the inner city and the first ferry departs for Waiheke Island. Over the next few hours the volume and frequency of vehicles steadily increases until we reach peak morning rush hour. By 8am the city’s major transportation corridors are clearly delineated by a stream of buses filled with commuters. After 9am the volume of vehicles drops a little and stays steady until the schools get out and the evening commute begins. The animation ends at midnight with just a few night buses moving passengers away from the central city.”

Perhaps this visualization will have another, more useful iteration for the city’s public transit agency. The manager of communications and public affairs of Auckland Transport commented: “Brilliant! We will be in touch!!!”