To Tuck Into a Stocking: A Portal to Dreams of NYC

Mapmaker John Tauranac (a part-time resident of Cornwall, Conn.) has taken the iconic New York City subway map (which he designed) and made it, if possible, even a little better. 

This new version, published in August, is published by Tauranac Maps and can be purchased locally at The Wish House in West Cornwall, Conn. (www.wishhouse.com) for $5.95. 

When Tauranac, a Cornwall, Conn., resident and a fairly low key gent, was asked if it lives up to its billing as “ultimate subway map,” he modestly confessed, “I am so vain as to believe that it is.” 

The very first New York subway map was produced in 1904 as an advertising postcard issued by Wanamaker’s Department Store in Manhattan, which could be accessed by a subway station stop on its lower level.

Many map iterations followed, but it was the 1979 version that introduced the concept of color coding the subway lines. 

Tauranac was already achieving acclaim for his 1972 and 1973 “undercover maps” of Midtown and Lower Manhattan, tracing the underground walking passages that thread through and under the city’s buildings. 

He was employed by the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) and in 1974 was working on creating an official travel guide and introducing a geographically accurate subway map.  

By 1978, he was the chairman of the MTA subway map committee but had been unsuccessful in gaining approval for his ideas for the color-coding system. 

That same year, though, bolstered by the support of socialite and powerhouse Phyllis Cerf Wagner, Tauranac’s concept of the quasi-geographic, color-coded system was approved by the MTA president.

The 1979 MTA map has provided the bones for all subsequent maps, Tauranac said. But with each new edition, the map has incorporated changes that render it more confusing.

Tauranac’s new MTA pocket map pack is self-published and conveys even more information in a clearer, color-coded and keyed presentation. For example,there is now a separate map on the reverse side with information about late-night service. 

For any riders who have ever discovered that they were traveling north on a line when they meant to go south, Tauranac has added a no u-turn symbol to indicate stations where riders cannot cross the tracks without paying to go the other way. If you don’t see the symbol, you can use that station to correct your directional error.

The new map also answers the question of where the subway station is in relation to a station stop, particularly helpful when avenues are positioned diagonally to the normal street grid. To promote clarity, Tauranac explains that exercising geographic license makes the map “quasi-geographic.”

With the aid of a key guide printed at the top of the map, riders can tell a lot about a station by the color, its intensity and the geometric shape representing the subway line.  

Access for handicapped riders is noted with a visual cue — although Tauranac notes that ease-of-access information is also helpful for riders with luggage or baby strollers. 

For the first time, there is an index of stations within the subway system, with bus connections noted for each station, for example.

As for where the lifelong interest in the details of New York City transit and architecture began, Tauranac credits his childhood years when his father, who was the manager of a major hotel, took him on regular city walks in the 1960s. 

Tauranac’s mother had died when he was very young, so these walks with his father were especially important. His father would often pause to point out who lived where along Fifth Avenue, for example.  

“It sort of stuck,” Tauranac said.

To put together a more substantial gift of New York City lore, there are additional Tauranac works that offer a deep look into the city and what lies beneath its surface, including a poster version of the new map.

Although all authors love all their books, as parents love their children, Tauranac was especially pleased with a review of one of his books, from the New York Times. About “Manhattan Block By Block: A Street Atlas,” the paper said, it “offers just about all the critical information a site-seeker might need — and then some.’”

Sometimes more is more. 

To find out about John Tauranac’s books and insights into New York City, go to his website at www.johntauranac.com.