Now Open! The Transportopia Store

We've spent a lot of episodes talking about transit. Now you can hang some of it on your wall.

Today we're launching the Transportopia Store, and we're kicking things off with a lineup from a company we've been fans of for a while: The Design Rules Company, the studio behind Metroboard, a live, moving subway map that's become one of the more unexpected phenomena in the transit world.

The Board That Started It All

If you caught our recent episode with Metroboard co-founders Kirill Safin and Emily Perkins Rock, you already know the origin story. A new light rail station opened outside their apartment in downtown LA. What started as a practical way to skip traffic turned into something bigger: a sense of connection to the city and the people moving through it. That feeling is what Metroboard tries to capture. Little lights trace real transit vehicles across a map of your city, in real time, mounted like a piece of art.

It is not really about trains, though. As Kirill put it on the show, the transit is more of a conduit. What people connect to is the feeling: a sense of place, a memory of a city they loved, a way of watching a place breathe. Emily called it a way to celebrate the infrastructure that quietly shapes our daily lives.

That is the same instinct behind this show, and it is why we wanted them to be the first brand featured in our store.

What You'll Find

Right now, the Transportopia Store carries:

• Metroboard, available for six US cities, with more on the way

• Transit trading cards, a fun, collectible way to celebrate different systems and skylines

• City Sounds, a vinyl record built from field recordings Kirill and Emily gathered on a cross-country Amtrak trip

If you want the full story behind any of these, our conversation with Kirill and Emily is up now. It covers the aerospace-to-transit pivot, the cross-country train trip that shaped the company, and what it's like watching strangers send you photos of your product hanging in their living rooms.

More Is Coming

This is just the first drop. We'll be adding more transit-related merch in the months ahead, from Design Rules and from other makers, artists, and small brands doing interesting things at the intersection of transit and design. If you make something we should feature, drop us a line.

Check It Out

Head to transportopia.org/shop to see the full lineup. And if you haven't listened to our conversation with Kirill and Emily yet, that's a great place to start before you shop. Once you hear how much care goes into every board, you'll understand why we wanted them front and center.

As always, thanks for listening, thanks for reading, and thanks for being part of this weird, wonderful corner of the internet that gets a little too excited about trains.

Be sure to like us wherever you get your podcasts, and visit transportopia.org for show notes, more blog posts, and other resources. Story ideas or feedback? We're at hello@transportopia.org.