New York, NY

In the style of 1979-Mid 2000s NY Subway Map by Michael Hertz Associates

The New York City Subway map, which replaced a critically praised but publicly unpopular abstract design by Massimo Vignelli, was extremely popular because it represented one of the first attempts to combine the design sensibility of an abstract map with the comfortable, recognizable geography of a traditional map. While the cartography slightly resembles the real geography of New York City, it has been carefully and extensively manipulated to improve legibility in congested areas. Much of the design work was done by the fine artist and designer Nobu Siraisi.

Michael Calcagno recreated the New York City Subway map in the style of the 1979 NYC Subway map design:

There are 2 maps, on the left is the original 1979 map depicting 1979 service  map and the other map shows current map in that style.

In the style of 1967-1971 Raleigh D’Adamo-designed NYC Subway Map

Raleigh D’Adamo designed NYC Subway maps between 1967 and 1971

Michael Calcagno recreated the New York City Subway Map with today's services in the style of NYC Subway's Raleigh D’Adamo map design: There are 2 versions, on the left is the current service with current colors, and on the right, it has the current service but with old colors

In the style of 1970s New York Telephone Company-designed NYC Subway Map

New York Telephone Company published their NYC Subway Map in their phone books.

Michael Calcagno recreated the New York City Subway map in the style of the New York Telephone Company map design:

There are 2 versions, on the left is black and white, and on the right is the colorized version.

(HBLR) In the style of 1967 NYC Subway's Chrystie Street Connection Map

In 1967 NYC Subway opened the Chrystie Street connection in lower Manhattan, it brought together several BMT and IND lines with numerous routing changes. This brochure with a unique map design had several route changes affected by the new connection. This is where he can recreate many maps in that unique style.

Michael Calcagno recreated the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail map in the style of NYC Subway's Chrystie Street Connection map design:

Blended MTA's 1979 base map with 1970s New York Telephone Company phone book NYC Subway Map (as current 2024 service)

Michael Calcagno designed the current (2024) New York City Subway map blended with a base 1979 MTA subway map with New York Telephone Co. phone book map design cues + additional design ideas.

2024 April Fool Map of MTA "Prototype" 1979 New York City Subway Map

Michael Calcagno mischievously recreated everything from his original 1979 subway map recreation file and this is what the map would look like if MTA kept the original line colors instead of the current trunk colors we see today. He saved this map for about 7 months (with frequent edits and making sure everything looked "Real" and posted it on April 1, 2024, as an April Fool joke ;-) 

MTA Prototype 1978 New York City Subway Map

I recreated this unique map, which was proposed to replace the Vignelli map of the 1970s. I highly recommend that you read the interesting story by Peter Lloyd of how this map was discarded in favor of the trunk colors that John Tauranac wanted.

Here are three maps: the first is based on the 1978 version, the second shows what the current service looks like in red lines, and the last one shows it with black lines. I decided not to include Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn inset.

2025 April Fool Map of MTA's return to retro Subway line colors of the 1960s/1970s New York City Subway Map

On April 1, 2025, Michael Calcagno mischievously posted on all social media platforms to unveil a recreated version of the modern NYC Subway maps—complete with retro colors! In this update, the B train returns to black, the 7 train switches back to orange, and the R train ditches its yellow for green, just like the old days.

These map files are available as full-size hi-res JPG files: Current Map , Night Map , and Weekender Map

©2025, Calcagno Maps Company