The tricks and workarounds you need to employ add up to countless hours, if you want a transit map that doesn't induce the viewer to gouge both their eyes out with a screwdriver. In the end, those hours could be spent mastering a program capable of professional-looking results.
Before anyone retorts, "Well, what do you expect for free?", here's the catch: so is Inkscape! In fact, transit schematics are kids' stuff compared to what Inkscape can pull off. So I'm giving it a try, slowly gaining familiarity with its interface, as much of a learning curve as that may be. After baulking at learning the ways of Inkscape for the longest time, what pushed me over the edge was Cameron Booth's excellent work, which makes any other transit map, official or otherwise, look like a crayon drawing by acid-crazed chimpanzees in comparison. My own diagrammatic efforts have been akin to trying to bring home a lounge suite on the tray of a child's tricycle; when for no extra cost, you have access to a B-double and a driver to perform the same task.
