Who Thinks Subway Maps Can Be Controversial? This Guy!

MTA mapmakers battle it out in the geekiest of geeky subjects:

One day not long ago, in a sunlit apartment on the Upper West Side, John Tauranac could be found examining a large, taped-together draft of a subway map.

Mr. Tauranac, a 66-year-old New Yorker with mussed gray-black hair and gold-rimmed glasses, used to design maps for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, until he was, as he put it, “declared redundant” in 1987.

The draft on his coffee table, published in June, differed from the M.T.A.’s current map in obvious ways. It had separate pages for daytime and late-night service, and stops were marked with tiny box-enclosed letters that interrupted the line. Like Mr. Tauranac himself, it was chatty: in the bottom left-hand corner was a well-written little guide to the subway system that began, “The coin of the realm is the MetroCard.”

. . .

Then a tall, fierce-browed Italian graphic designer named Massimo Vignelli entered the picture. In 1972, Mr. Vignelli designed a completely new schematic map for the M.T.A., one that showed New York’s subway routes as rich, contrasting stripes of color, marching in lock step across a white background, and turning only at 45- or 90-degree angles. In contrast to the brilliance of the subway routes, aboveground New York was almost invisible: the outlines of the boroughs were stubby and squared-off; the parks were gray boxes; and the water was tan.

The map defiantly ignored the city’s geography: the Broadway line was shown crossing the Eighth Avenue line at 42nd Street (they actually cross at Columbus Circle); Bowling Green appeared above Rector Street (it’s below); and Central Park was a small square rather than a tall rectangle.

“Of course I know Central Park is rectangular and not square,” Mr. Vignelli said the other day, sitting at a green marble table in his studio on East 67th Street. “Of course I know the park is green, and not gray. Who cares? You want to go from Point A to Point B, period. The only thing you are interested in is the spaghetti.”

As it turned out, New Yorkers were interested in more than the spaghetti. Almost as soon as Mr. Vignelli’s map arrived at stations, people started complaining about its failure to describe the city’s geography. Tourists were getting off the subway at the bottom of Central Park and trying to stroll to the top, for example, expecting a 30-minute walk.

Mr. Tauranac, who at the time was writing guide books for the M.T.A., criticized the Vignelli map for throwing out what he called the “cartographic verities.” “You can go to any kid in grammar school and ask, ‘What color is water?'” In falsetto, he mimicked the response: “‘Water’s blue.’ ‘What color are parks?’ ‘Parks are green.'”

. . .

Neither Mr. Tauranac nor Mr. Vignelli was eager to revisit the fight. Nonetheless, Mr. Vignelli offered a parting thought. “Look what these barbarians have done,” he said as he examined his copy of the current map. “All these curves, all this whispering-in-the-ear of balloons. It’s half-naturalist and half-abstract. It’s a mongrel.”

See also: The non-mongrel 1974 Subway Map.

Uniform Color Code Honors Alice Walker With The Color Purple

The Queens Gazette decodes asphalt graffiti:

Most native New Yorkers know the scrawls mean their streets or sidewalks are about to be torn up by some municipal agency or by the cable company, but few know which agency the colors represent.

Before the first shovel goes into the ground in any repair or development project, city homeowners, architects and developers are required to perform a survey to determine the location of “underground facilities.”

The surveys are performed by workers dubbed “locaters”, who measure and mark the distance of water, gas, electric and cable lines that lie precariously close to projects requiring excavation, a representative of the City Department of Design and Construction said.

A red mark denotes an electric project dealing with power lines, cables, conduit and lighting cables, Tony DeRoma, a manager at NY 1 Underground, a private firm hired by the city to provide project markings using New York’s Uniform Color Code, said. Yellow refers to gas, natural gas, oil and steam utilities. Orange markings refer to alarm and cable systems. Blue markings mean the job is related to water mains and other potable water systems. Pink paint is used to mark for temporary surveys-a “preliminary mark”, DeRoma said.

Markings in green paint mean a street is in line for new sewers or a new drainage system, and white paint indicates an “imminent excavation” near the marking.

Interesting, but what’s new here? In short, purple:

The city recently added a new color to the spectrum of its Uniform Color Code, DeRoma said. Purple markings refer to reclaimed water systems, irrigation and slurry lines, which could mean that work is about to begin on lines connected to a nearby car wash.

The color purple indicates water rated a degree below drinkable, but usable by a private business through a “holding tank.” The water, though “non-drinkable,” can be used in irrigation systems or in a filtered system that takes out suds, making it perfect for use by a car wash, DeRoma said. Such systems must be drained and maintained on a scheduled basis-a process that requires excavation.

Slow Trains To Astoria And The Bronx — You Don’t Say!

Don’t ever let them tell you that it doesn’t save time to board cars close to the stairwells because it does:

At 6:06 a.m. yesterday, 24 hours and 2 minutes after setting off on their quest to pass by all 468 subway stations, Dan Green and Donald Badaczewski pulled in to the end of the No. 6 line — a full hour faster than the record two other pals set in 1998.

“I feel satisfied, I feel tired, and I can’t think straight,” said a yawny Green, 26. “I just wanted to get the hell off of the train.”

First on the list of things to do was a bathroom break, followed closely by strong coffee.

After traveling all of the 230 miles covered by the train system in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, the new subway champions were greeted by Badaczewski’s girlfriend, Chris Kelly, and a bevy of TV cameras.

“I know this sounds really weird, but I’m so proud of them,” said Kelly, 24, who was waiting with a hug, balloons, and a sign proclaiming victory.

She also bore gifts of burritos and water for the weary champions.

Early in the evening before, the duo was running about 40 minutes behind schedule after boarding slow trains to Astoria and the Bronx.

But a few lucky late-night transfers and unexpected shuttle service to Bay Ridge had them back on track by 4 a.m.

After a sprint up the stairs at the Lexington Ave./53rd St. station to catch an uptown 4, the last leg of the journey had arrived. The pair transferred to a 6 at 125th St. and cruised into Pelham Bay Park before the sun came up.

Former college roommates, Green and Badaczewski, 24, planned their trip so meticulously as to know which train cars were closest to station staircases.

. . .

They aren’t planning on submitting their time to the Guinness Book of World Records, which only tracks a record for a person visiting each station.

But Michael Falsetta of the East Village, who did a similar ride in 25 hours 11 minutes with his college buddy eight years ago, conceded defeat.

“Even Babe Ruth’s record fell eventually,” said Falsetta.

See also: Will Records Fall?, But What If You’re The Sick Passenger?

Pour A 40 Out For Our Fishy Friends

Not only will nature not win the game but we can force it to carry its weight around these parts:

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection says it is using bluegills to detect changes in the water quality at its reservoirs.

The fish are kept in holding tanks and the system detects tiny electrical signals the fish generate as they swim.

“It’s kind of like the old canary in the coal mine,” said DEP spokesman Ian Michaels.

“These are fish that are particularly sensitive to changes in water quality. You can monitor the fish for their level of agitation and for other changes in their behavior.”

Michaels said the fish have proven adept at detecting problems, including reacting to a diesel spill two hours sooner than any of the agency’s other early-detection devices.

But What If You’re The Sick Passenger?

If you’re the kind of person that obsessively figures out in advance the best car to board in order to make the most efficient connection, this might appeal to you:

Fueled by a mountain-climber’s determination to push oneself to the extremes of endurance — and by beef jerky — two New Yorkers plan to circumnavigate the subway system.

Matt Green, 26, and Don Badaczewski, 24, plan to set off tomorrow at 6 a.m. from the shuttle train stop at Rockaway Park in Queens and arrive at Pelham Bay Park on the 6 train in just under 24 hours. That’s what’s needed to beat the current record: 25 hours, 11 minutes, set in 1998 by Michael Falsetta and Salvatore Babones, both 28 at the time.

“We figured, [the subway] is there and someone should do this, so why not us,” said Badaczewski, a University of Michigan law student interning here this summer. “We’ve spent a lot of Saturday nights devoted to this project.”

For five months, they’ve poured over subway maps to find the route with the fewest transfers and they’ve fine-tuned their strategy with this week’s service advisories. (For instance, they’ll ride the L train during the day so they won’t take any shuttle buses.) They’ve visited the roughly 60 transfer stations to check which car is closest to the stairway for their next train.

“I’m not going to push any old ladies out of the way, but I’m going to run,” Badaczewski said. “When you’re doing something like this, you’re not worried about looking more stupid.”

What about bathroom breaks?

“This is an endurance test,” said Green, a transportation engineer from Bay Ridge. “We’ll be holding it in as long as possible and drinking as little as possible. I think we’ll only eat beef jerky in hopes it will be both meager and constipating.”

Let’s pray for a safe journey with no unavoidable delays . . .

The history: Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee.

The MySpace page.