What's wrong with the NYC subway map?
It didn't take that long as a tourist in London to figure out that the tube map has very little grounding in geographic reality. The Circle Line certainly does not run in a straight line except for some wide 90-degree curves, and the distance between any two stations on the far end of the Metropolitan Line is far greater than on the Central line through the heart of London.
But the New York subway map is different: It takes far more lines and lays them on a fairly geographically-accurate map of New York City, complete with neighborhood names, points of attraction and connections to other modes of transport in far more detail than the little National Rail symbol on the tube map.
Sure, it's big, but so is the city. Of course, MTA could offer a Manhattan-only subway map for tourists, but why should we deny them the right to block up outer-borough streets with their slow walking, five-abreast groups?
Which brings me to a guy who has a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
"The last sore thumb is the subway map," Eddie Jabbour was saying, excitedly. "This is from Ed Koch. It's been 25 years, man. Like, hello!"
Maybe because there haven't been major changes to the geography of New York or its subway system since Ed Koch. London has had the same format for its map since the 1930s, and it's worked out fine for them, even with the addition of new lines.
Of course, it's not like Mr. Jabbour or Newsday is going to show us the new map or anything.
Here's my rule on the subway map: If you can't understand the map, you probably won't fare that well in the actual system. Consider it a gatekeeper to prevent packs of hungry and scared Nebraskans from permanently roaming the tunnels.
UPDATE:: Welcome Gothamistas! Feel free to check out the Thirdrail front page and sister-blog DCSOB, which is like DCist, but different.
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rj3 | 11:42 AM |
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And the most important thing to remember - the colour DOESN'T MATTER! I don't know how many times I cringe when I see a tourist staring at the map and metioning something about taking "the red line."
If every line had its own color... Jeebus.
hello
here's a link to view this map
http://community.webtv.net/hey-paul/BetterShotofEddie
Eddie Jabbour
Tourists in the London do that stuff about the colour of lines too and talk about the red line (The Central Line) and the blue line (confusing cos we have two blue lines - Piccadilly and Victoria)
The geographical one of London would look far worse than the current version and loads bigger.
http://www.goingunderground.net/geog.gif
