But nowhere does it obviously tell you that the diamonds are express and the
circles are local; if you look very closely in the corner of the map, in
very small print, you may notice that the word 'express' tends to be seen
near diamonds, but it's far from obvious. The squares seem to be
terminating points, but I'm not certain about that. The previous poster
said "The map is huge and confusing", I would say that is an understatement.

Diamonds are used rather inconsistently - they simply denote a
part-time service, which often happens to be the express. Obvious
examples of diamonds which aren't any more of an express than their
circle counterparts are on the 5 (where it simply denotes that it's
running to Nereid Av instead of Dyre Av) and on the B (although this
hardly ever appears on the trains - denoting that it's running local
to Bedford Park Blvd whilst the D train, which remains a circle, runs
express).

There are maps on at least some platforms, but they tend to be positioned
behind seats, so when someone is sitting there you can't see them! This
also seems to be the case with the maps inside cars. These maps seem to be
the same size as the ones you can get in folded form brom the booth at
stations, about 50x80cm. This map really could do with receiving the
attention of Mr. H. Beck. This map shows land masses and areas of water,
there's a lot of water around New York, and other features, such as parks
and some streets. It's not a diagram like the London one, but it's not a
true scale map either. If you don't have some idea of where the station
you're trying to reach is, geographically, there's no easy way to find it on
the map. To be fair, the Subway is a much larger system than the
Underground, and producing a really clear map would not be easy, but I'm
sure they could do better than the present one.

Maybe not H. Beck, but that treatment has appeared in print in Metro
Maps of the World. It was the work of British academic Max Roberts.
You can access his map online:

http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~mjr/N...-c-mjr2004.pdf
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~mjr/N...-c-mjr2004.pdf

My one criticism of Max's map (which I didn't notice until he himself
pointed it out to me) is the mispositioning of Hoyt/Schermerhorn Sts
on the A/C/G in Downtown Brooklyn.

The signs on the side of the cars are difficult to see as the train pulls
into a crowded platform, there are no London type 'Next train' indicators on

If you've ever waited at Liverpool St Met Westbound in the rush hour,
you'll realise why NYC doesn't adopt these - there are difficulties on
a branching system in predicting quite which train will be next.
Furthermore, just because a train says it's a 7-diamond at Times Sq
doesn't mean the dispatcher isn't going to send it local at Queensboro
Plaza.

Some stations have more than one name, if youare on the N, R ow W line, and
want the Staten Island ferry terminal, you need to get off at Whitehall
Street. This is shown on the map as being by the ferry terminal, but the 1
and 9 lines terminate at South Ferry station, which appears to be some
distance away. In fact, as you leave Whitehall Street station the New
entrance to South Ferry station is only about ten seconds walk away, and the
old entrance, closed since 9-11, little further. To confuse things further,
some of the previously mentioned signs on the columns at Whitehall Street
actually say South Ferry. The 4 and 5 lines serve nearby Bowling Green
station, all three stations being closer than exits from some single London
stations.

What's really amusing is that until the demise of the Lo-Vs (the last
cars equipped with door isolation mechanisms), there used to be a
Shuttle from Bowling Green to South Ferry. It used the platform on the
inner loop (the track the 5 train turns on), which, as you may have
guessed, had no pedestrian crossover to the outer loop platform (the 1
train)! Was anyone really lazy enough to use this?!?

The map seems to represent tracks, or at least routes, rather than services,
the 1 and 9 lines are represented by a single red line, the N,R and W by a
single yellow one as are the Q, Q diamond and another branch of the W which
branch off at Canal Street, and turn East to cross the Manhattan Bridge,
this re-joins the other yellow line at DeKalb Av., something like the Bank
and Charing Cross branches of the Northern line, but the whole thing just

Except it just functions as a regular express run (although the trains
are LETHARGIC over the Manny B). The only confusion lies in the fact
that they drew it on the map and in that some expresses (B, Q) stop at
De Kalb whilst others don't (D, N - except of course that the N train
runs local at night - this is beginning to sound like Mornington
Crescent!).

looks a mess on the map. Somebody has drawn a London style map of the
Subway, and put in on their web-site; I can't remember the address, but
Google will find it. The creator recognises some problems, mainly caused by
the number of stations. New Yorkers seem to prefer their style of map for
some reason.

Presumably you mean Max's map I've posted the URL for.

I see nothing wrong with the plastic seats; ok, they're not as comfortable
as the London ones, but it's not as if people normally spend hours on end
sitting on Subway trains, and at least they're easy to keep clean.

They're a symptom of the sad fact that if you put padded seats on,
some scrote would rip them to shreds with a stanley knife within
minutes.

In terms of passenger information, including the map, and siignage, London
is far better, but in most other ways I think New York is better. The
stations I have seen, admittedly quite a small number were clean, at least
parts likely to come into passengers were, both stations and trains were
more larger than typical London ones. Most ticket machines seem to work,
and unless you are making a short journey, the $2 flat fare is good value,
there was a major outcry last year when it was increased from $1.50.

I think a flat fare would work quite well in London. It would
certainly discourage people from piling onto packed Northern (Charing
X) Line trains in rush hour to ride two stops (ever heard of walking?
I guess these guys would have ridden the Bowling Green shuttle!). Oh
and sod passenger information - if you don't know what you're doing by
the time you're on the platform, you never will.

Metrocards are available in unlimited ride, like Travelcard, and stored
value pre paid types. Free transfers are available to buses, and between
certain nearby stations, though strangely, not in the case of Whitehall
Street/South Ferry. For a single $2 fare it is possible to travel from the

Free transfers to buses would definitely be a cool idea in London - it
would make riding the Northern Line (ever thought this was a
misnomer?) to Morden to change for the 293 to Epsom an extremely
attractive prospect for cheapskates like me.

As for Whitehall St / South Ferry, it would kinda be useful for
Brooklynites wanting to get to somewhere on the 7th Av Line South of
Times Sq! If I understand correctly, this will be possible once the
new South Ferry station is built (and will also be possible two stops
up the line when both Cortlandt St stations and WTC on the E are
linked into the Fulton St complex).

It's a pity that the Metrocards are not valid on the other rail systems in
the area. The Subway is operated by the MTA, I think the suburban rail
lines in New York are too, but cross the Hudson, and you're in New Jersey.

There's a new initiative on the LIRR and MNRR called CityTicket, which
allows you to ride the railroads within the city limits for $2.75 at
weekends. Far Rockaway LIRR is of course excluded, and you can only
buy CityTicket on the day of travel from stations. It sucks compared
to what you can do with an all zones travelcard in London, but at
least it's progress. You're still screwed if you want to cross the
City Line though.

Linking the two are the old Hudson Tubes, now known as PATH, operated by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, this links the World Trade Centre
and 33rd Street in New York with Newark and Hoboken in New Jersey. This
charges $1.50, but you can buy a card with 11 rides for the price of 10.
You cannot however use Metrocards, though there has been talk of it for the
future. It shouldn't be difficult, fit Metrocard readers to the gates,
record the number of triips made with them, and allocate the apppropriate
revenue to the Port Authority.

IINM they've now done exactly that.

Once in New Jersey the suburban rail lines are operated by NJ Transit, as
are two light rail lines, the newly-built Hudson-Bergen, and the Newark city
Subway, which has recently received new vehicles, and been extended. All of
these systems have their own tickets. It's rather like needing one
Travelcard type ticket South of the Thames, another one on the Waterloo and
City, and different tickets on each underground line in the North.

Nah, you just have the annoying situation where certain suburbs are
beyond Zone 6 and you can only get a travelcard valid that far out if
you start from the outer end!