Submitted by Max, who says:

I was at the newly redone 110 Street/Cathedral Parkway stop the other night and caught a glance of this new map for the B/C trains (sorry for the low-quality photo, but because of the new train arrival countdown clocks, time pressures made me take it from the other side of the turnstile). It makes some sense to see these both on the same map as they’re both part of the IND system, but it doesn’t seem that useful outside of the area around where I was because the lines are so far apart in Brooklyn. I think the best single feature may be that the lines crossing that should happen between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Lafayette and DeKalb and Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center doesn’t happen.

Transit Maps says:

I think you’re missing the point of this map a bit, Max. The map makes sense not because the B and C are old IND lines, but because they’re the only lines that actually stop at 110th/Cathedral Parkway. Thus, the map depicts where you can get to directly from that station. From other photos I’ve seen, similar digital maps down on the platforms would “grey out” the stations in the opposite direction of travel. In effect, this is really just two intertwined strip maps for each line.

However, I personally don’t find the map particularly attractive. It looks like it’s attempting to channel the Vignelli diagram, but it’s not totally successful. The severe angles, especially around W4th/Washington Square, are too harsh for my liking, and the dashed route line for the rush hour extension of the B is also pretty ugly. I do wonder whether a dynamic display would work here: during rush hours, the extension is “on” and shown in full, while in non-peak hours it’s simply turned “off” and not displayed at all. The map is digital after all, and almost certainly connected to a network in order to also display advertisements. (Unless this is what it already does: it’s hard to tell from a static image!)

I also wonder why it was thought necessary to display the labels for the terminal stations on the left hand side of the lines when all the other labels are to the right. It’s specially a problem at the southern end of the B, where the label for Brighton Beach clashes with the adjacent labels on the C. Ugly and unnecessary – it’s completely visually obvious that these are the last stops, and there’s plenty of room in all instances to move the labels to the right where they belong.

Our rating: Meh. Tries to evoke Vignelli but falls somewhat flat. Two-and-a-half stars.