Looking for a scale subway map
October 4, 2011 6:41 AM   Subscribe

Can you direct me toward a scale map of the New York City transit system?

I know a wonderfully curious 11 year old who owns a hearty appetite for transit maps. As a recent arrival to the city, he tends to pour over the NYC Subway Map, but being in the logical stage that he is, would like to see what it "really" looks like.

So, do any of you scale maps of the NYC MTA? Subway lines are the most important, but buses are cool, too. It doesn't matter if its online, or in a book, purchaseable, etc.

Keep in mind the 11 year old perspective - I don't know if or how that might affect your suggestions, but thanks.
posted by RajahKing to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (10 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Google maps has a NYC transit overlay which can let you see the real distances between stations/stops.
posted by Captain_Science at 6:42 AM on October 4, 2011


Perhaps a bit spartan for an 11 year old, but here are the Subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale.
posted by caek at 6:52 AM on October 4, 2011 [5 favorites]


Yay map lovers!
This should do it.

This is a scale map of the subway in lower Manhattan, to give him an idea. (Found it on this very cool site.)

MTA used to do neighborhood maps to scale but they seem to have vanished from the website.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:54 AM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


How fortunate. I run a map blog, and just last week I was researching transit mapping with the idea of making a post on this.

It was while researching this that I had the good fortune to come across this guy named Robert Reynolds' labor-of-love, transit-related website. It has an amazing amount of information. The 11-year-old in question might very well be blown away by the weight of the resources presented.

Scroll down or ctrl+f for 'New York City' to find some fantastic PDFs of NYC Bus/Train routes made by the MTA. They were gorgeous, if I'm remembering right.
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 6:58 AM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


You mention 'to scale' maps. And I remember there being an article somewhere (I think it might have even been the NY Times) about how subway maps (as we see on the NYC Subways) are completely not to scale. The island of Manhattan is wider than it should be to accommodate all the subway lines along with some other details like that. Not that this helps you, but it is interesting in terms of map planning, etc. Good luck!
posted by darkgroove at 7:16 AM on October 4, 2011


John Tauranac's New York City Subway Map has a schematic map on one side and a geographic map on the other.
posted by mcwetboy at 7:17 AM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


The MTA's bus maps for each borough are to scale, and include subway routes and walking times. The PDFs are huge and boggy, but the paper maps are great. I recall asking for them in token booths.
posted by hhc5 at 7:29 AM on October 4, 2011


Transit Maps of the World is a pretty neat book. One of the customer images on Amazon shows the MTA map on one page and a normal map with the lines on it on the next, if that's what (I think) you are looking for.

Side note: in the copy I have, one of the signatures is upside-down, so you have to jump ahead a dozen or so pages and flip the book over to see it in the right order. I assume that most are correct though. :)
posted by hankscorpio83 at 7:31 AM on October 4, 2011


Peter Dougherty publishes a book of to-scale track maps. Versions of those maps are on nycsubway.org.
posted by plastic_animals at 7:49 AM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Related to your question: you can buy an enormous (approximately 3 ft × 5 ft) Subway Map poster (not to scale) at the Transit Museum or its shop in Grand Central Terminal. I have one hanging on my wall and it is lovely.
posted by grouse at 11:41 AM on October 4, 2011


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