I'm a big fan of the strip maps. I'd far prefer them on line 1 paired with a system map nearby. I just returned from Madrid and was reminded how simple their strip maps are on some lines - just applied as stickers. They have a very large and complex metro system but their car and station signage is excellent so it's easy to navigate.
I found Tokyo easier - even though I don't speak the language (I think they have some complicated system where you have to pay different fares to switch to certain lines, but for tourists it's all included in one price). They give each line a letter (and colour) and each station a number. Each platform tells you whether the train will head in the direction that the station number is increasing or decreasing. No need to memorize the name of the terminal station - which is difficult to do when in a foreign language.
Let's say you want to go to Takadanobaba station. I'd forget that name in no time. But it's station is T03. Looking at the map, the Tozai (T) line is teal blue. All I need to do is locate the line on the map and find one station. The I know to move up or down the numbers until I locate my station. When I reach the platform, it doesn't say the direction as "away from downtown" or "westbound" or towards Nishi-funabashi, it just shows a sign for number getting bigger (ascending) or smaller.
In Madrid, if I want to go to Atocha Renfe, on line 1, again I look for the teal line, but I need to scour it from one end to the other to figure out exactly were that station is. With the labels of many lines being written quite close together, I likely miss it on the first pass and have to re-scan. Then when getting to a platform on the correct line, I have to remember which terminal station I am heading towards. Names like Pinar De Chamartin or Valledecarros are much harder to memorize than (I need to go up - ascending order, or down).
Once your on your train, it's much easier to figure out that your on the wrong train in Tokyo. When you see the numbers getting bigger when you had hoped they would get smaller, you know your on the wrong train. In Madrid, odds are you did not memorize the adjacent station names where you got on, say Puenta de Vellecas or Nueva Numancia, so either you wait a few stops and realize that you station did not arrive, or you are constantly fumbling with your map to ensure you are going the right way.
Once your on the right train, right direction, the Tokyo method is better again because it's easy to do the math to figure out how many station stops you have to be on the train for - it's simple math (hopefully everyone can do subtraction).
The line map portion does work, an I believe Tokyo has it too.
If the signage is for the everyday commuter, they could put up almost anything and they would figure it out. The signage is there for the occasional passenger or tourist.
The above explains why if Toronto was smart, they would have lettered their lines instead of numbering - and why I refuse to refer to Toronto transit lines by number. Each line already had a name, so using "Y" line and "B" line would have been so much easier to transition, and more logical too.
