Air Carrier Captain believes that either the airport diagram should be updated to match the taxiway signage on the airport at SFO; or that ATC should be informed to update the verbiage to avoid confusion.

Date: 2022-05 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing · Phase: taxi

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|ground-incursion-taxiway

Synopsis

Air Carrier Captain believes that either the airport diagram should be updated to match the taxiway signage on the airport at SFO; or that ATC should be informed to update the verbiage to avoid confusion.

Narrative

During taxi out we were given a reroute of our initial taxi instructions. We were initially assigned Taxiway A; A1 to Runway 1R. We were then given a different taxi instruction which took us on B; F1; A; A1 to run right [Runway] 1R. This is a marked hotspot on the airport diagram. Being very familiar with SFO; I proceeded to taxi the aircraft. Following the airport markings I fall the taxiway immediately preceding the F1 Taxiway sign from [Taxiway] B onto A. At no point did ATC say anything about our taxi. Once we arrived at ZZZ1 airport; my First Officer said he thought we might have made a taxi deviation. He pulled up the SFO airport diagram and showed me the insert for the hotspot at that intersection. Looking at how the insert is drawn I see how he came to the conclusion that we may have made a taxi deviation. That being said; after hundreds of taxis in SFO as a Captain and First Officer; and instruction I received from ATC in the past; I do not believe we made a deviation. I believe that the airport diagram is confusingly drawn when it comes to making the change from the B Taxiway onto the A Taxiway when ATC assigns you to use F1 for that transition. In my experience we took a taxiway that ATC was expecting us to take; but I do not blame my new First Officer for believing that a deviation may have been made based solely on the taxi diagram.The cause of this event is due to my new First Officer's lack of experience with SFO and the confusing airport diagram. I know from experience that the taxiway I took is the one that ATC was expecting us to take; and the one when following the taxiway signs that would be taken. That being said; from a purely analytical point of view; when looking only at the airport diagram I see how my First Officer made the conclusion that he did.I believe that either the airport diagram should be updated to match the taxiway signage on the airport at SFO; or that ATC should be informed to update the verbiage to say transition from [Taxiway] B on F to A instead of saying F1.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.