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Title: The Retro Subway Map That Design Nerds Love Makes a Comeback
Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/04/0710...
The M.T.A. has unveiled on Wednesday a revamped New York City subway map --
the first major redesign in nearly 50 years. As reported by the New York
Times, the map draws inspiration from the modernist but controversial 1972
Unimark version, prioritizing clarity over geographic precision. It's also a
part of a broader effort to refresh the system's image amid calls for
infrastructure upgrades and political tensions over transit funding and
congestion pricing. From the report: The updated version blends elements of
the Unimark design with a successor known to some as the Tauranac map, after
John Tauranac, a well-regarded New York mapmaker. That design was led by the
firm Michael Hertz Associates. The new map is already being displayed on
digital monitors, and will be posted in subway cars and platforms over the
next several weeks, the M.T.A. said. For Janno Lieber, the authority's
chairman, the occasion was also an opportunity to tie his ambitions for the
system to a critical moment in its past. "This is a linchpin moment, like in
1979, when we started to fix the subway system," Mr. Lieber said, referring
to the year before the M.T.A. debuted its first capital plan to upgrade the
aging transit system. As then, the system is in dire need of new trains and
infrastructure improvements. So far, the State Legislature has yet to fully
fund the latest $68 billion plan. The Unimark subway map released in 1972.
The latest iteration of New York City's map takes cues from the design. Two
of the biggest alterations address the legibility of transfer points at some
of the busiest hubs and the depiction of the system's accessibility features,
said Shanifah Rieara, the authority's chief customer officer. Mr. Lieber
declined to say how much the redesign cost, but said it was paid for
"entirely in house," without a stand-alone budget.
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