The New Subway Map

So the MTA just announced that the new subway map will be unleashed to the world in June and I for one am excited. See for me it's not about the new subway map as much as it is about getting rid of the old one which looks like a plate of food-colored spaghetti. The present map is so cluttered that you can't even identify the useful from the useless. It includes this time schedule at the bottom which might be the biggest waste of print-space ever plus so much bus information you might confuse it for a bus map. The issue is that with the abundance of service changes any printed edition lacks any usefulness on a typical weekend day and the mere size of the copy they hand out requires a dining room table to fully unfold.

The report I read about the new design does point to improvement. For one they have gotten rid of a lot of the clutter which was totally needed because who gives a crap about all those bus-line transfers, has increased the size of Manhattan and cut Staten Island by 30%. The other thing they have done is brightened up the colors a bit making the parks greener, the water bluer and the homeless people less visible but I wonder that in this age of smartphones why we aren't concentrating on an MTA app for your Iphone which constantly updates the closures and rerouting.
The biggest issue though is that the MTA does an annual dance with the city where they reveal that they are hopelessly over budget and will have to raise fares, cut service, limit maintenance and eliminate lines, so I do wonder how they found money to pay for this new edition. I'm surprised that the map has not been commercially sponsored yet, the MTA should really be tapping into this market for a little extra revenue. I see it now, the new Citi Subway Map featuring the Bank Of America B train, the AIG A line, the Chase C line and the Staten Island Fidelity Ferry.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry