{"id":1838848,"date":"2025-04-02T15:22:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T19:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1838848"},"modified":"2025-04-02T15:23:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T19:23:35","slug":"new-york-city-subway-map-gets-a-complete-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/04\/new-york-city-subway-map-gets-a-complete-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Subway Map Gets a Complete Makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
Marc A. Hermann\/MTA<\/abbr>. CC<\/abbr> licence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the first major redesign of its system map since 1979<\/a>. The new map<\/a> adopts a diagrammatic style, in common with most other transit maps around the world, for the first time since Massimo Vignelli<\/a>\u2019s controversial (and ultimately abandoned) 1972 map. Indeed, the MTA is openly acknowledging the influence of Vignelli\u2019s design<\/a>, along with the colours from the replacement maps designed by Michael Hertz<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The new map was designed by the MTA\u2019s Creative Services Mapping Department and, like many major subway systems around the world, utilizes a diagrammatic style, employing bold, straight lines making it much easier for the eye to follow and more suitable for digital users. The white background, bold colors, horizontal writing and use of black dots make the map more ADA<\/abbr>-friendly and easier for people with low-vision or cognitive disabilities to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designers also focused on text legibility, keeping text on one line wherever possible and making better use of open space to alleviate crowding and using a black subway bullet with a white character to provide maximum contrast for easier reading.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
MTA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a complete surprise: the MTA started testing a map similar to this one<\/a> in a few stations back in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be very interested to see how this new map will be received. The design of the New York subway map has been contentious for as long as I\u2019ve been alive. Will it continue to be?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the first major redesign of its system map since 1979. The new map adopts a diagrammatic style, in common with most other transit maps around the… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[1430,194,1486],"class_list":["post-1838848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-transit","tag-mta","tag-new-york-city","tag-subways","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1791914,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/new-yorks-mta-is-testing-a-new-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":0},"title":"New York\u2019s MTA Is Testing a New Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal is reporting that New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority is experimenting with new network maps that adopt a diagrammatic design that harkens back to Massimo Vignelli\u2019s 1972 design, or (frankly) to designs used by most other transit systems. The new maps appear in nine subway stations side-by-side\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MTA Customer Information Pilot Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787813,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/09\/the-new-york-subway-map-gets-more-rethinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":1},"title":"The New York Subway Map Gets More Rethinking","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 September 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"John Tauranac is having second thoughts. Tauranac is the former MTA map designer whose committee replaced Massimo Vignelli\u2019s diagrammatic subway map with a more geographical one in 1979; that map, with modifications and updates, is still in use today. He now thinks the map needs an overhaul, according to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/anh-nyc-subway-map-1024x219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/anh-nyc-subway-map-1024x219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/anh-nyc-subway-map-1024x219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/anh-nyc-subway-map-1024x219.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789624,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/new-york-citys-live-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":2},"title":"New York City\u2019s Live Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority has released a beta of a new digital subway map that aims to solve several problems at once. It shows train positions in real time and provides service bulletins in a single location. It also promises, says Fast Company\u2019s Mark Wilson, to bridge the long-standing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of NYC Live Subway Map (MTA)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788496,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/michael-hertz-1932-2020-father-of-the-new-york-metro-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":3},"title":"Michael Hertz, 1932-2020: ‘Father’ of the New York Metro Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 February 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Michael Hertz, whose design firm created the map of the New York City subway that in 1979 replaced a controversial (though critically acclaimed) design by Massimo Vignelli\u2014a map that today\u2019s map design largely follows\u2014died earlier this month at the age of 87, the New York Times reports. See also BBC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Obituaries"","block_context":{"text":"Obituaries","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/obituaries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"New York Subway Map, 1979","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1817259,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/07\/geographical-on-the-nyc-subway-map-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":4},"title":"Geographical on the NYC Subway Map Debate","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 July 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Geographical magazine has a short history of the New York City subway map and its controversies. This has been a fraught and hotly contested topic for most of the last 50 years, and Jules Stewart\u2019s article can\u2019t go into nearly enough depth to capture it all, but it could serve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1785838,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/07\/copy-of-ratzers-map-of-colonial-new-york-auctioned-for-150000\/","url_meta":{"origin":1838848,"position":5},"title":"Copy of Ratzer’s Map of Colonial New York Auctioned for $150,000","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 July 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"A 1776 map of New York City sold at auction in New York last April for $150,000, the Daily Mail reported at the time. The map is the second edition of the more famous, and rare, 1770 map showing the work of surveyor Bernard Ratzer. It was published in England,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ratzer-new-york-770x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ratzer-new-york-770x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ratzer-new-york-770x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ratzer-new-york-770x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1838848"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838854,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1838848\/revisions\/1838854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1838848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1838848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1838848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}