CenSin

I've uploaded a PDF draft here: http://bayfiles.com/file/2eIN/txymnA/New_York_City_Metropolitan_Area_Map.pdf. It contains my own annotations and comments. (You can edit them.) See if you can draw on top of my map.

Where are you talking about? Name the regions if all the roads you're mentioning aren't in the same geographical area. I'm not really a fan of circuitous route though (like the ), hence soliciting ideas even though there are many obvious ones; I do read the threads here.

I mentioned making one a long time ago in this thread: http://www.nyctransitforums.com/forums/f22/accurate-scale-subway-map-18506.html So a few days ago, I started out with some map data from Open Street Maps and began plotting the lines and station markers. I haven't gotten to typing the station names yet, but I'm already thinking about soliciting good ideas (emphasis on good). Below is a thumbnail linking to a full-sized JPEG map of the subway system as it is currently built and operated. I've highlighted areas that need: faster service in yellow; any kind of additional service in gray; and a lot of service in red. (Click the thumbnail for a full-sized image.) You can probably tell by the image that I do not consider the gray areas very important, but there was empty space there, so if you've got a good suggestion, go right on ahead and mention it. Name the areas you are making a suggestion for and explain your reasoning; the areas are labeled by letter. Make the assumption that the outer borough populations and businesses have grown and places like Downtown Brooklyn have become comparable to Midtown Manhattan. (The is not useless compared to its Manhattan-bound brethren anymore.) There are a few obvious cases already (such as 3 Avenue, Bronx and 2 Avenue, Manhattan being served by a ). I've proposed some extensions already, but they're open for commenting before I commit to them. Here's a full PDF version: New_York_City_Metropolitan_Area_Map.pdf EDIT [2012-02-04]: There will be plenty of errors on the map like missing station markers or markers on the wrong streets. EDIT [2012-02-05]: A PDF with annotations is now available. You can read and add your own comments to it.

The last time I took a statistics and probability class was a year ago (and I've forgotten nearly everything), so I'm not going to go into detail, but: Trains have a schedule, but there are many many random factors that cause trains to deviate from the arrival and departure time including the train conductor and operators themselves. It's safe to say that the intervals between trains will be random and with a high variation since West 4 Street is pretty much many stations away from any terminal along the lines that serve it except for the . If trains arrived and departed instantaneously, #1 would not cause any problems. However, when a train arrives to make a stop at any station, it will always occupy the station for a certain amount of time greater than the time it would take to simply bypass the station. I would put the average dwell time at 1 minute. At around 30 trains per hour, that leaves a gap of 1 minute between trains ideally. And given that trains never arrive on-the-dot…

They should turn back the trains at 96 Street, and terminate the trains at Times Square or 34 Street. Between Times Square and 34 Street, there's effectively one track to turn around trains. At least Grand Central has two.

It's the only instance, and it's not used as much as Roger's Junction. :\

I recall the DeKalb Avenue junction used to be at grade. They changed it to flying junctions. At Chambers Street, the at grade Manhattan Bridge tracks are no longer in service.

The IRT also has the worst line designs of all three. Sharp curves that slow down trains are abundant. There are still useless tracks and switches from the long bygone era of short trains that decrease throughput. An at-grade junction slows down everything on the busiest line in Brooklyn.

The IND lines were theoretically designed for maximum speed compared to the BMT and IRT, though that's been taken away since the unnecessary addition of timers.

I'll stick with what's physically realistic and say… : Astoria/Coney Island; Broadway Express, via Manhattan Bridge, 4 Avenue Express, Sea Beach Local : Midtown/Coney Island; Broadway Express, via Manhattan Bridge, Brighton Express; this'll get me to Manhattan a hell lot faster than any other line

It'll be possible when we get bombarded by some weird particles from some cosmic event which will interact with the atmosphere to emit radiation which happens to appear purple to the naked eye. Such an event has never been documented, but when that happens, it'll probably not be the butterflies, flowers, and peace we so dream about (or so Ftrainfan thinks we dream about), but the end of the world.

The subway bullets use a custom font, so you won't be able to figure out what font it is just by looking there. Rather, you'll have to examine and compare to find the best match. For me, the looks closest to the one from Akzidenz-Grotesk; Arial will also make a fine substitute if you don't have the decades-old font.

Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica I use a combination of them to reproduce the signages. The , for example, isn't Helvetica, but Akzidenz-Grotesk. You'll see the Helvetica R sometime, but that's incorrect, though the MTA makes this mistake often and people see it as a "sanctioned variant." I believe the used the Akzidenz-Grotesk form at one point, but it appears that all the bullets use the Helvetica form now.

In Inkscape, there should be a toolbar to the left (in the default configuration). Select the tool to draw Beizer curves and stright lines. It works identically to the pen tool in Illustrator. You might want to work on drawing it while the map is magnified to make the extension as seamless as possible. In Illustrator, you can snap the lines' end points.

Inkscape is the best free vector graphics editor you can get you hands on. I will have to warn you though: it's not as robust as Illustrator and will become laggy on huge PDF files such as the MTA map (and especially my fantasy map).

It's a shame I didn't keep a copy of the base map after cleaning it, but you can make one from the PDF provided by the MTA. You have to unprotect the PDF first though, and there are services online that do it for you. From there, however, it gets very messy because the lines, bullets, letters, and other graphics are mixed together into a soup and you have to pick out the useful pieces.

The original was done from scratch. This second one was done using Illustrator. Apparently, it handles thousands of objects very well, especially all the dots for the stations, labels, and lines (where Publisher fails completely and OpenOffice.org handles very slowly). You're going to have to pay a hefty amount for Illustrator though, so OpenOffice.org is your next best choice.

Map 2, Draft 2: (PDF) Most of the IRT stations have already been labeled. It's generally not a good idea to split lines between local stations. This necessitates the requirement to run 3 routes over a portion of the line to enable an express or remove express service. Keeping the 2-routes-per-track rule, the Central Park West line would have to carry 5 routes: 2 headed towards Washington Heights and 3 heading towards the Bronx. I might just extend the Y there as a spur line from the Triboro RX, but it's long enough already (hence it's current terminal at Broadway Junction). Just like the extremities of northern Queens, I don't think the east side of Bronx will get additional lines. If it does get a line, it would be a spur from the Triboro RX. City Island may get a subway line, and if so it will probably be and U since they cover the east and west side of Manhattan while the only covers the east side. I've been wanting to extend the somewhere and it might end up paralleling the several blocks north from Utica Avenue to Euclid Avenue on the Fulton Street line. I don't even know if it's possible to build a parallel line so close to the water. 14 Street–11 Avenue is already pushing it. If it gets extended, World Trade Center will be the terminal as it's already quite crowded in Lower Manhattan. See this quote: But I will see what I can do about 6 Avenue access. The is always a candidate for removal from the Queens Boulevard line. In such a case, I might move the current to the Astoria line replacing the Z. The Z will replace the current V and the will replace the current in Queens and run via 53 Street and the Culver line. The local Culver passengers will get their one-seat ride to Manhattan back, but the Astoria passengers will lose it (instead, having the option of transferring to the: in Queens; the , 8, , and at Court House Square; the at Metropolitan Avenue; and the (, , , , , and U. The will not go to Manhattan. In fact, we are in short supply of lines that don't go to Manhattan.

Keep up the responses/suggestions. I'm currently starting to wrap up the map, but I can still add a few more things (as long as it's sane); I've added the station labels for the , , and lines already. Download a copy of the draft here: http://www.4shared.com/document/XMbbqAcF/Fantasy_New_York_City_Subway_M.html

Here's an updated map with some strange new routing flavors and lines. The goes across Manhattan to Astoria and LaGuardia Airport. The returns as the 2 Avenue local.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. You may be right about the Astoria extensions; I am still unsure of the best approach to go about filling in the extension, but I'm sure the is fine. The in this map doubles as a sort of feeder line shuttling people in currently underserved areas to the Merrick Boulevard, Van Wyck Expressway, Jamaica Avenue, and Queens Boulevard lines. The rationale is: if the ran along the entire length of Queens Boulevard as a local, most people would take it begrudgingly and get off at the nearest stop for a transfer. Thus, my decision to make the serve an extension on its own makes it useful. As for the Astoria extensions, I don't think having all the Broadway lines go to the same place is a good idea. I am, however, open to the idea of connecting the Crosstown line to it (a probable expansion), or resurrecting the Queensboro Bridge as a structure for subway traffic (which it formerly was) and connecting the LaGuardia Airport to the 2 Avenue line. I still have a rule against having more than 2 routes per pair of tracks for any line regardless of the headways though, and so I might do something crazy line remove the from Harlem and extend it from under Central Park to the LaGuardia Airport; I always thought the two station stub was useless anyway. By the way, can anyone spot at least 2 mistakes? I was adding, moving, and deleting lines but forgot to move some dots representing the stations.

This is a minor update since the last one (click to enlarge): In the final, the large bullets adjacent to the terminal stations will be replaced with square ones, smaller circular and diamond ones will be placed along the routes, and all stations will be labeled. There are currently no bullets adjacent to part-time terminal stations. See if you can guess the service patterns. I'm still not sure what to do with the Astoria extension. The crosstown line will have a connection to the local tracks while the Broadway line will have a connection to both the local and express tracks. Where the Astoria line branches I'd like the express to serve the longer of two routes (the one not going to the airport), but that would mean I'd have to send 3 different services through the Astoria line. I could always make the airport service a shuttle or make a service have two terminals (like the ).

And here is the first one: This is for Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach on the Brighton line. The extra tracks between Ocean Parkway and Brighton Beach actually rise up to a second level above the current Ocean Parkway station. I figured if the structure was strong enough to carry 6 tracks, there shouldn't be a problem with elevating it a bit further. The Ocean Parkway station seems to have a very sturdy foundation for a station so lightly used so a second level could probably be built over it without any issues. During the evening, the stops running and the assumes the role of the for the Brighton line. The also runs local since express service is unwarranted.