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Massimo Vignelli Dead At 83

Posted by
on May 27th, 2014 at 3:38 pm

The name Massimo Vignelli is a household name to NYC Subway buffs as he created the dramatic NYC Subway map in 1972. While I had read he was gravely ill with little time left, it is still sad to read that he passed away earlier today at his home in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

While his designs have led to never ending debates, we can not deny how is influence is still all over the NYC Subway to this day. Here is more via Douglas Martin of the New York Times:

Massimo Vignelli, an acclaimed graphic designer who gave shape to his spare, Modernist vision in book covers and shopping bags, furniture and corporate logos, even church pews and a New York City subway map that enchanted aesthetes and baffled straphangers, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.

His death, after a long illness, was confirmed by Carl Nolan, a longtime employee of Mr. Vignelli.

An admirer of the architects Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, Mr. Vignelli moved to New York from Italy in the mid-1960s with the hope of propagating a design aesthetic inspired by their ideal of functional beauty.

Mr. Vignelli described himself as an “information architect,” one who structures information to make it more understandable. But when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released his new subway map in 1972, many riders found it the opposite of understandable. Rather than represent the subway lines as the spaghetti tangle they are, it showed them as uniform stripes of various colors running straight up and down or across at 45-degree angles — not unlike an engineer’s schematic diagram of the movement of electricity.

What upset many riders even more was that the map ignored much of the city above ground. It reduced the boroughs to white geometric shapes and eliminated many streets, parks and other familiar features of the cityscape. Tourists complained of getting off the subway near the south end of Central Park and finding that a stroll to its northern tip, 51 blocks away, took more than the 30 minutes they had expected. Gray, not green, was used to denote Central Park; beige, not blue, to indicate waterways.

“Of course, I know the park is green and not gray,” Mr. Vignelli said in an interview with The New York Times in 2006. “Who cares? You want to go from Point A to Point B. The only thing you are interested in is the spaghetti.”

Design aficionados considered the map — Mr. Vignelli preferred to call it a diagram — an ingenious work of streamlined beauty. It earned a place in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection of postwar design.

The map was replaced in 1979 with a more geographically faithful representation. But in 2011, the M.T.A. finally warmed to the Vignelli approach: It asked him to reinterpret his 1972 design for an interactive map on its website. Called “The Weekender,” it tells of changes in weekend subway service.

Click here for the complete article.

R.I.P. Massimo Vignelli

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Multiple Stabbings On The NYC Subway

Posted by
on May 27th, 2014 at 3:26 pm

Many of us enjoy when the weather gets nicer as we feel free & full of energy that we can’t wait to unleash on the world.

However a dark side tends to come with nicer weather as for whatever reason, it awakens the low life in some people. This was the case last night as 3 different people were stabbed in 2 separate incidents on the subway this morning.

Let us first start with the incident which occurred this morning at 2:28 AM when 2 men boarded a southbound Q Train at Atlantic Ave and proceeded to rob a 50 year old male of $25. Not satisfied with this score, they went into another car & demanded the wallet of a 30 year old male. When he refused, they stabbed him in the head & stomach. As of a few hours ago, the victim was in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.

Unfortunately the night of crime continued as nearly one hour later, 2 men were slashed after arguing with 2 others on a Brooklyn-bound 4 Train at the 116th St station. The two victims were taken to an unknown hospital with non life threatening injuries.

I wish the victims a speedy recover from their injuries as well as the quick capture of the people responsible. While crime is nowhere near the levels when it was truly unsafe to ride the subway, one should always remain vigilant.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 05-23-14

Posted by
on May 23rd, 2014 at 3:20 am

Get a head start on your Memorial Day weekend plans as I have just updated the Service Diversions through all of next week.

Make sure to follow @TransitBlogger on Twitter by clicking the button in the sidebar as I am using it more often. Also if you are into indie music make sure to follow @IndMusicReview & @SurgeFM!

Have an awesome Memorial Day weekend!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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East End LIRR Service To Remain Suspended

Posted by
on May 20th, 2014 at 7:46 pm

LIRR service on the East End will continue to be suspended due to a private sanitation truck striking a LIRR bridge over N. Main St in East Hampton. Here are the details for substitute service:

The Long Island Rail Road today announced that it expects that buses will continue to replace trains at East Hampton, Amagansett and Montauk for tomorrow, Wednesday, May 21. The substitute bus service is necessary while LIRR crews work around the clock to repair structural damage to the LIRR bridge over N. Main Street in East Hampton. The bridge was struck by a garbage truck being operated by a private sanitation company at about 9:20 a.m. today, Tuesday, May 20.

(For tonight, buses are connecting with trains at Speonk. Customers for Westhampton, Hampton Bays, Southampton and Bridgehampton as well as East Hampton, Amagansett and Montauk will need to connect to buses at Speonk.)

Tomorrow, customers looking to travel westbound from East Hampton, Amagansett or Montauk will board buses at each station to connect with trains that will originate at Bridgehampton. Buses are scheduled to depart at normal train departure times. Trains originating in Bridgehampton are scheduled to operate at their normal departure times, but will be held at the station to wait for connecting buses if necessary.

Customers looking to travel eastbound to East Hampton, Amagansett or Montauk should board their normal trains and will connect to buses at Bridgehampton.

The force of the bridge impact caused pylons under the trestle to shift position. To ensure the safety of train service over the bridge, LIRR workers are using a crane to shift the pylons and rail viaduct back into their precise location.

The driver of the garbage truck was issued two moving violation summonses by East Hampton Village Police. One was for disobeying the posted clearance of 10’0”, and a second summons related to a vehicle inspection violation.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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NYC Transit 2014 Memorial Day Service Plan

Posted by
on May 20th, 2014 at 7:44 pm

Here is the 2014 Memorial Day service plan info for the NYC Transit:

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, the New York City Subway will operate on a Sunday schedule. Customers are reminded to use the ACD or Q instead of the B and the J instead of the Z. In addition, on Sundays, some subway routes are shortened. The following diversions are in effect on Memorial Day, through 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 27:

• 2 trains are suspended between Flatbush Av and Franklin Av in both directions. Free shuttle buses will make all station stops between those two stations.

• 3 trains are suspended. 2 trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.

• 4 trains are suspended between Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr and Crown Hts-Utica Av. 2 trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.

• A trains skip 88 St and 104 St Queens-bound.

• E and F trains run local in both directions between Forest Hills-71 Av and Queens Plaza and 36 St.

• F trains are rerouted on the M line Queens-bound between 47-50 St-Rock Ctr and Queens Plaza.

• G trains run every 20 minutes between Bedford-Nostrand Avs and Court Sq. Alternate G trains terminate at Bedford-Nostrand Avs.

• J trains are suspended between Broadway Junction and Marcy Av. Free shuttle buses will make all station stops between those two stations.

• M trains are suspended. Transfer between J trains and free shuttle buses at Marcy Av.

• Q trains skip Parkside Avenue, Beverley Road, and Cortelyou Road southbound.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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