A New Subway Map on the Horizon for New York City

Moving to New York City requires a steel will, patience and a good head on your soldiers or you might quickly find yourself getting swept aside into the gutter amidst the hub bub.  Moving around New York City is a whole other issue, though perhaps you might find a similar result if you are not careful.  Of course, the best way to hitch from A to B is likely underground on the Subway (Full PDF of Current Subway Map).

For tourists and long-standing New Yorkers straying outside their comfort zone, the subway can be confusing enough with the hectic flow of individuals off and onto platforms and in and out of the same turnstyle.  Stops come quickly, and if you aren’t prepared you could get stuck in front of a inflow of people, making departure near impossible (think pumped mud to an oil spill….too soon?).  But with enough fortitude you can quickly sort out the coming and goings of subway etiquette.  Off course, seeing as this chaos is all devoid of daylight through cavernous tunnels snaking around the bowels of the 5 Burroughs, how do you even know where to go?

Thankfully, for as long as there have been subways, there have been maps.  And apparently, there is a new map coming to NYC, so says the New York Times.  The new map will show Manhattan with 30% more girth, Staten Island will shrink, and the service guide along the border will be removed to accommodate more room for the other 3 Burroughs. 

Well how do these changes stack up against the rest?  The website www.nycsubway.org was able to shed some light on the answer, and here you can see some of the old time maps:

 

 

 

 

This last map from 1972 is interesting. The clean lines were supposed to make everything easier to understand. In reality, it was far too abstract and confusing for most commuters, and was subsequently changed.

More information on NYC’s MTA can be found here.