The MTA has a new subway map, and it’s directly inspired by a design the agency retired in 1979 after riders complained it was hard to read.
That old map, created by the late Italian designer Massimo Vignelli, remains beloved by design aficionados. Nearly 50 years after its retirement, the map’s core elements – like wide lines that clearly identify which subway routes share tracks – are getting a second life. The new map was created by designer Steven Flamm, who hopes it’ll make the subways easier to navigate.
What do we call the new map? Not a map.
Don’t call it a map, Flamm warns. He said it’s a “diagram,” because it’s not drawn to scale. And while the 1970s edition is often referred to as the “Vignelli Map,” Flamm doesn’t want his name attached to the new design.
“ I cannot accept credit for it even though I designed it,” Flamm humbly declared. “We've taken key features of all of our historical maps and combined them with the introduction of the bolder lines with the black bullets. So, I'm calling it the new MTA subway diagram.”
The 'black bullets'
Courtesy of the MTA
Flamm said the new map fixes a problem that made its predecessor harder to read. The names of subway lines are shown using black bullets over the routes. The previous version listed the lines next to the station. Flamm said the new design creates “maximum contrast” for people with vision problems.
A new background and clearer airports
The background of the new map is white, which is another way to create more contrast. The previous version has a beige background. Flamm’s map also strips a majority of the details displayed in the background of the MTA’s old map, including the locations of major streets and landmarks. He said they would make the design too cluttered.
The map also makes it easier to understand how to take a bus to LaGuardia Airport or the AirTrain to JFK. The new version goes so far as to leave out airport terminals that are currently closed for construction.
Maps are political
In a move that resembled President Donald Trump’s attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” MTA officials also considered making a political statement with the new design. Flamm said a top official at the agency tried to get all references to Amtrak removed from the diagram. MTA Chair Janno Lieber has repeatedly feuded with leaders at the national railroad over the last eight years. He’s blamed them for delays to the agency’s East Side Access project and fought with them over the future of Penn Station.
“Somebody, and I'm not gonna tell you who, questioned ‘Why are we showing Amtrak?’” Flamm said. “And the answer is, well, you want people to come to the city. It's a huge connection, the Northeast Corridor, you have to show Amtrak.”
A bold decision on parks
Courtesy of the MTA
Central Park has been condensed to a square, much like in the old Vignelli map, even though the green space is a rectangle. At least Flamm made the parks green, not gray, which was the case in the 1970s map.
There are also far fewer parks in Flamm’s map than in the version the MTA is now putting out to pasture. In the new version, the only park shown in Brooklyn is Prospect Park. Just two are in Queens: Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and Forest Park. Staten Island has none. The Bronx has three: Van Cortlandt, Pelham Bay and Bronx Park.
“ We selected the parks that you can access by subway,” Flamm explained.
Free transfers
Courtesy of the MTA
The new map highlights the only two places where riders can get a free out-of-station transfer, showing a walking man icon between the Junius Street and Livonia Avenue stations in Brooklyn and the 59th Street and 63rd Street stations in Manhattan.
The accessibility problem
Courtesy of the MTA
The old subway map showed a station as accessible even if only a portion of its platforms had elevators. Under Flamm’s design, those stations get an arrow identifying which direction of travel is accessible for people in wheelchairs. As the MTA makes more stations accessible, the map will be updated.
The “Oddball”
Courtesy of the MTA
Flamm created a unique arrow for the Aqueduct Racetrack station on the A line, the only stop in the city where riders can get on or off a train in one direction but not the other.
Updates ahead
What happens if Hochul’s pet project, the Interborough Express light rail line from Brooklyn to Queens, gets built? It’d be the city’s largest transit expansion in more than 70 years, and could require an overhaul of Flamm’s design.
“ We'll find a way,” Flamm said. “But there are also some other planned changes, which I won't reveal, which will really create a bit of work to rearrange.”
Curious Commuter
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“Why doesn't the NYC Ferry system connect Staten Island with any borough besides Manhattan?”
- Carl from Manhattan
The current NYC Ferry route between St. George Terminal and Lower Manhattan nearly mimics the route of the free Staten Island Ferry. Councilmembers Kamilah Hanks of Staten Island and Justin Brannan of Brooklyn have for more than a year called for Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which runs the NYC Ferry service, to add a connection between St. George and the existing ferry stop in Bay Ridge. I
n a letter to Adams last year, the pair argued the option would offer a new transit connection between the two boroughs. They noted the route would also connect to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed Interborough Express light rail.
But the EDC earlier this year said they have no plans to connect the boroughs by boat. In a statement to the Staten Island Advance, the agency wrote that it isn’t “actively pursuing” any new NYC Ferry routes, and is instead focused on maintaining the existing system.
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