When the MTA cut service last June, they took the opportunity to refresh the subway map as well. The changes were, by and large, cosmetic. The giant bus callouts were cut down in number and size while the colors were changed to better highlight the the subway lines. Yet, with parks turning light brown and a shadow tracking the route lines, the changes were not met with great acclaim.
Recently, though, the MTA has rolled back some of the changes to the old map. Without much fanfare, the latest iteration of the map returns the parks to their green color. While the route lines still feature that shadow and station names run off at odd angles, the colors are looking a little more vibrant and lifelike.
I got wind of the changes earlier in September and saw the excerpt you see above. I asked the authority if they had a comment on the redesign. This is their statement:
We reprint the map several times a year, and we are continuously trying to make it easier to use. In June 2010 we issued a fairly significant redesign aimed at reducing clutter. Most of the changes we made as part of that redesign were successful and remain in place for the September edition of the map. One exception to that is the background land color.
In response to feedback we received after the 2010 redesign, we’ve returned the background land color to the more traditional beige. (For those with a detailed interest in graphic design, the underlying land color in the new map is a slightly screened back Pantone 468. The green-shaded land color had been a Pantone 614 with extra black added.) The colors of water and parks have also been adjusted slightly in concert with the new background land color. Also to continue to build on earlier clutter reduction, we’ve removed some streets and cemeteries that were not directly served by the subway.
The September 2011 map is posted online in jpg and pdf formats, and is being distributed to station agents for individual distribution to customers. The maps posted in stations and trains are updated less frequently, and will not receive this version of the map.
Meanwhile, I have also seen a full-fledged PDF with the following in the upper right corner. I can’t share the whole thing, but take a peek here:
All I know about this map is that it is apparently based upon a few old ideas. Back in the mid-1990s when Manhattan Bridge service changes caused radically different peak and off-peak service patterns, the MTA printed a few maps that had featured both service offerings. In April of this year, one blogger offered up his own version of the night map. “It’s the MTA’s,” he said, “if they want it.”
The MTA would not confirm to me that this night map could become a reality. Oftentimes, the authority produces internal documents for testing that do not see the public light of day. Some projects — like the Weekender map – are launched; others are left as good ideas on the cutting room floor. Perhaps this is one of them. Still, it strikes me as a useful representation of the subway system late at night when some trains do not run and others run truncated routes. At least someone’s thinking about.
30 comments
I was away for 2 weeks last year, dealing with a death in the family, when the maps were switched over last summer. When I got back, finding the weirdly colored new maps everywhere was surreal and unnerving, like I’d stumbled into a parallel universe.
The line shadows are gone too:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/subwaymap.pdf
It looks like the bus boxes are gone – except in Staten Island! An error in the online PDF?
Too bad the service guide isn’t back.
Night map? Exciting news!
I’m all for the night map, but I actually think the map looked better with “shadowed” subway lines, and the ‘olive green’ parks.
The color of the parks was more a hideous “I-was-just-sick” green than olive green. The current green is so much better!
I thought the shadow lines were just a confusing attempt to pretty-up the map. The shadows used nearly the same gray as the L line, so I always wondered if an inattentive tourist might confuse the shadow for a possible transfer to “the gray line”.
Anyone notice that on the night map, the top box says it is for “morning to evening” service? I hope they fix that before it is released.
At first the shadows were kind of jarring for me, but now I don’t even notice them. It also strikes me as a lateral change.
I just hate dropshadows of all kinds… way too 90’s looking.
Such a confusion did happen to an inattentive tourist who I was travelling with. Confused me no end when he said “take the L to Penn Station” and then looked puzzled when I said “sure, and transfer to the A?” The shadow made him think that the L turned north at 8th avenue.
The yellow, or Broadway – BMT line, still has some light shading on its edges. Maybe instead of the shadows, the lines can be thickened some? A night map is a very good idea because the regular map is in no way a reflection of night service. Can you imagine waiting for the Lex Express at 3AM? Or the R via Tunnel to Prospect Ave from Prince St?
Subway signage inside the stations do a reasonably good job of pointing out late-night service. Seriously, you’ll find zero tourists riding the trains at 3am. Anyone riding the Lex Ave or B’way lines at that time of night will be well versed in what train is running local or express.
How about a note in the signage that tells you the approximate hour when “late night” service begins and ends? I’ve been living in the city and riding the subway for years and I still don’t really know when “late night” service starts on each line at each station. There’s always confusion about when everything switches over, even among lifelong riders. Take an uptown A at 59th Street, for instance, where the whole train will take off their ipods to listen for an announcement to see whether it’s going to run express or local. Next stop 72nd or 125th? Big difference!
I’ve always gone under the assumption that any train that leaves it’s terminus after midnight is considered “late-night” service. However, if an “A” train leaves Rockaway just before midnight, it’s still an express train even though it gets to midtown well after midnight. Still, I assume otherwise and just listen for announcements and/or see which track the train is on (local/express). It’s not that hard, even if you have to take your iPOD earphones off for 10 seconds.
No, the exact time varies from line to line, depending on ridership. The online schedules should show the exact time. For instance:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/pdf/tacur.pdf
The last northbound express on weekdays leaves Lefferts at 10:18, and the first local follows it by 3 minutes (that grows to 19 minutes by the end of the line).
In response to TP, posting exact times on the signs would be very helpful, but it would also require all the signs on the line to be changed whenever the schedule changes. And if a train is running a few minutes early or late, an exact posted time would cause confusion, since whether the train runs local or express depends on its scheduled interval, not the actual time it arrives at any given station.
Barring any service changes, every A train is either all-local or all-express, so if the train’s been express as far as 59th, it will stay express, and if it’s been local, it will stay local. (And if there are service changes, then what’s on the sign is irrelevant.) At most stations on the A you can tell if it’s running express or local by which track it’s on – ignoring service changes, the only exceptions are Euclid northbound (trains sometimes come in on one track and then cross to the other), Canal northbound, 168th southbound, and Hoyt southbound.
But if they’re already on the train, wouldn’t they know? They’d see if it stopped at 50th Street or not.
Of course, the trains can switch because of a signal problem or something, but as far as late night service goes, it’s easy if you’re already on the train.
Regarding that night-map, it’s got to be a pre-release work-in-progress (or a gross oversight by someone!). See the words beneath “KEY” on the left side of the top box: “The map depicts morning to evening weekday service…”, while the words beneath “SERVICE NOTICE” on the bottom box reads “This map depicts late night service…”.
The map is also unusual in that it has “additional express service” in the legend, which would be hard to find between midnight and 6am.
It would be a good idea, though. I wonder where these maps would appear; the back of the official subway map already has LIRR/MNR routes on it.
To be clear, it is a pre-release work in progress that might not even see the light of day. Consider a concept map. I’ll try to excerpt it so that readers can see what the map itself – instead of the info box – looks like.
You know, if they want to introduce a night map, shouldn’t they adopt the latest approach – i.e. the ‘Weekender’ look and feel – rather than harking back to the previous generation of presentation?
If we’re moving toward a 21st century environment, in which a map can change by the minute to reflect not only scheduled nighttime and weekend differences in service, but unplanned events as well; then a common presentation makes all the more sense.
But the Weekender doesn’t do that – it just shows flashing dots at nominally affected stations.
There is no plan, as far as I know, to adopt the Vignelli map as the general system map.
Or they could keep it simple and leave the service guide at the bottom.
I would like to see thinner subway lines, but a different type of line used depending on whether the line only runs during the rush hour, runs throughout the day but not at night, or runs at all times. Presumably those are the only three combinations. I realize showing the weekend configerations on the normal map is hopeless at this point. I remamber for a while the MTA used dashes to show lines that only functioned during rush hours. Maybe lines that actually ran at nights could be bordered and have a somewhat more solid color, with the normal color and shadings used for lines that run during the day and not at night.
I realize this would mean showing the individual lines on the map instead of the trunk lines, and there are advantages to showing the thick solid color trunk lines, but I think individual lines could be shown without markedly increasing the clutter if lines were much thinner.
I also realize that there are lines that technically run 24 hours, but run really infrequently at night, while other lines like the 6 run fairly often at night, but I’m not sure if there is a clean way to show this.
You’re missing out on variations on stopping patterns: local always, express always, local at night and express otherwise, express rush hours peak direction and local otherwise. I think those are the only variations in use currently; of course, other possibilities may pop up in the future.
I think the system is too complicated to show in full detail on a single map. Either there need to be multiple maps or there needs to be a textual service guide.
Every line that runs at night runs on a 20-minute headway.
Take a *PEEK
Sorry, had to.
We wouldn’t have these problems if the MTA just adopted the Kick Map already. Oh well, guess my dream will never happen.
Vignelli map. Just do it.
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