No more ‘subway spaghetti’! New Yorkers adjust to first new transit map in 50 years

The first major overhaul since 1979 seeks to simplify the map’s old illegible squiggles – but faces opposition from change-averse New YorkersThe New York City subway map has always been tricky to decipher. Unlike those in cities from Boston to London to Tokyo, the longstanding New York map hews fairly closely to the image of the city aboveground.Central Park is clearly depicted, as are the individual bodies of water within it; you can see the shape of each borough and the rivers and ocean framing them. Overlaid across it all is a tangled web of subway lines, daunting to the first-time visitor – especially when it comes to distinguishing between local and express trains. Continue reading...

Apr 28, 2025 - 13:17
 0
No more ‘subway spaghetti’! New Yorkers adjust to first new transit map in 50 years

The first major overhaul since 1979 seeks to simplify the map’s old illegible squiggles – but faces opposition from change-averse New Yorkers

The New York City subway map has always been tricky to decipher. Unlike those in cities from Boston to London to Tokyo, the longstanding New York map hews fairly closely to the image of the city aboveground.

Central Park is clearly depicted, as are the individual bodies of water within it; you can see the shape of each borough and the rivers and ocean framing them. Overlaid across it all is a tangled web of subway lines, daunting to the first-time visitor – especially when it comes to distinguishing between local and express trains. Continue reading...