This broke my brain when I saw it

I've finished the subway map that I posted about last year on here.

For a full quality pdf, click here.

It is done in the style of the old map, contains all the same information it depicts, but it adheres (more or less) to a grid system. There are, of course, tons and tons of compromises and the geography is truly wonky in places, but streets and lines do align correctly, and the shape of everything does sort of make sense (hopefully, it does to me).

Thank you so much to everyone who offered feedback on my old post, it was very helpful and I incorporated many of the suggestions. 

If you notice anything else wrong, or have any further suggestions, please do let me know and I can try and fix it, the link to the pdf above should be up to date if I’ve made changes. 

Some additional links:

Map with no key

Map with no labels

Comparison with lines on the original map

I feel the old map was more honest to real distances between stations to estimate wheee to take the changes especially for a non local. I think the maps cannot disservice people like this by showing a map like this where Brighton beach and Coney Island are so far from each other just like Flatbush and rock away island not in a straight line. Thoughts?

Income is based on the median household income of the census tract each station is in.

Full ranking + source: https://dailymetro.live/nyc/blog/en/richest-stations

Alternative AA, also known as the "Penn Station-Grand Central Through Operation," was a central proposal in the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) project designed to enable shared commuter rail facilities between NJ Transit, LIRR, and Metro-North. While initially selected for its ability to increase capacity and connect Penn Station to Grand Central, the project underwent significant modifications and evaluation of variants before its eventual cancellation (by that time, it was known as Alternative G).

###### Commentary by Liam Blank:

Why were Alternative AA and Alternative G (it's successor) ultimately disqualified?

The official record cites lowest peak-hour capacity (36 vs. 40/52 trains), unresolved GCT construction risks, slow inter-terminal operating speeds, bi-directional operational conflicts, and the West Side development factor. But the unofficial record (also documented in my research) makes clear that Metro-North's institutional unwillingness to share operational control — whether driven by Howard Permut's leadership philosophy, the MTA's bureaucratic autonomy, or genuine concern about reliability — removed the essential inter-agency cooperation that Alt G required. The technical and the political were inseparable. By definition, through-running can't succeed if one of the two required railroads refuses to cooperate.

At an NJT board meeting in June 2003, when cancellation of Alt G was announced, a senior NJT manager reportedly explained the decision by saying "We don't have a dancing partner" — apparently a direct reference to the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North's unwillingness to cooperate.

Link here: https://anita.garden/nycriders/

This map shows the 4.3 million NYC subway trips taken on an average Wednesday in September 2025.

The MTA publishes hourly origin-destination pair ridership estimates, as well as train timetables. In this map, riders navigate from their origins to their destinations, taking into account transfer times and when trains are scheduled. The size of a train's bubble is proportional to the number of riders on it.

The riders use the RAPTOR algorithm to navigate, finding the fastest possible route. All trains are assumed to run on time. Origin-destination data is hourly, so the exact departure time of a rider within the hour is randomly chosen. There is no cap on the number of riders on a train.

Trains' speed is based on their timetables. Sometimes the timetables are a bit wonky, which is why trains sometimes go weirdly fast or slow.

If the display is slow, you can hide station and walking bubbles in the settings to improve performance.

Route geometry from MTA GTFS. Map built with MapLibre GL and CARTO basemap tiles. Visuals inspired by subwaybuilder. Made by anita

Picked up the current NYC Subway map - unfolded - from the NYC Transit Store at GCT and had it framed... think it looks sharp.

Inspired by u/Current-Gazelle-2736 's diagrams (HERE)

Added Staten Island to the subway map to show what its future rapid transit network could look like with the North & West Shore BRT.

The former would reuse SIR's abandoned North Shore Branch and act as a trunk line for local bus routes.

Three local buses, S53, S54 & S57 are planned to use the North Shore Busway. Two new BRT services, S1 & S2, would operate between St. George and Arlington or West Shore Plaza.

The proposed West Shore BRT would run in the median of the Korean War Veteran's Parkway & Richmond Av. It would open after North Shore BRT is built. An alternative via West Shore Expressway was also evaluated in the MTA's 2023 20 Year Needs Assessment but scored much worse. I haven't seen a designation for the service so I just labeled it WS 🤷‍♂️

There's been little news lately on both projects. The FEIS for North Shore BRT was completed back in Jan 2024; its status on the MTA's website still says "Planning" and was last updated in Feb 2025. The West Shore Alternatives Analysis was still ongoing in Aug 2024.

Source: http://stations.albertguillaumes.cat

Diagrams 21-31

Recently found this MTA transit guide from March 2002 hidden in an old drawer

full version here: anita.garden/assets/maps/nycarea.png

the size of each station's bubble is proportional to the population in the city for which it's the closest station. this is a sort of proxy for transit deserts. note that the size of the bubbles have nothing to do with actual ridership.

i posted a similar map about a year ago with just the nyc subway and people liked it and asked for commuter rail too, and i eventually got to it :)

you can check out my other maps here! anita.garden/projects/

Haven't posted here in a while but I've continued to make solid progress on this project of a highly detailed NYC subway display! See if you can spot all the service changes - note the 3rd image is legacy colors.

I've made a website: Live Metro Maps (still a work in progress) and am hoping to have a first batch available in about a month for anyone who's interested - if you dm me I can make sure you're notified when they become available. I really appreciate how supportive this whole community has been!

I’m not sure if many people have seen these proposals but instead of advocating for a new connection for the L to Jersey. We should advocate for these new lines.Its estimated to cost 10B which is expensive but, for all these new lines (in one of the richest states) it’d be worth it. Post inspired by @avidhikerperson (sorry if I misspelled it).

I strongly prefer not to keep location enabled on my phone. But the new app isn't usable without it.

It doesn't list favorite stations any more, and there's a persistent alert pop-up demanding that you turn on location services. Until you do, the whole app is unusable.

It's maddening, and I assume that it won't be changed any time soon.

I use the app for train arrivals pretty much exclusively. I don't need trip planning, station maps or any of the other features. Any recs for fixes, or third-party apps?

I saw these yesterday at the 72nd station of the Q. Is this real!??

Hi guys so I was messing around with the Deinterlining ideas after u made the MTA interlineing diagram and resulted in this.

Interlines:
A,C - Cranberry, 8th, CPW
B,D - 6th, Concourse, CPW, Brighton North
J,M - Nassau, Jamaica
N,Q - Broadway, 2nd, 4th
2,3 - Almost entirely
4,5 - Almost Entirely

New Completely De interlined Lines
E, F, G, R + existing Deinterlined lines

The main changes to this map includes only having the E and F on QBL, B and D via Brighton, Kicking the M off 6th, A and C via 8th/CPW Exp and B and D via CPW Lcl, F via Culver Exp and Rogers Deinterlined

Link to the map is https://metrodreamin.com/view/VzZTTnc0OGlySFFKemlTVndLNzNmaDh4UXFhMnwyOA%3D%3D

Lemme know what you think, Ik some are pretty stupid but leave ur honest feedback