On this point, I make an effort to help obviously-lost tourists here in New York, and I find that a significant majority of them are trying to use a certain map. It’s a combination of a fine-detail street map and a low-res/coarsely granular subway map. (Specifically, the subway part displays the routes as very fine, hard-to-read color-coded lines, and doesn’t distinguish between the multiple trains designated by each color.) These maps are evidently widely available, though I believe they’re all copies of a terrific — for locals — map that National Geographic published as a pull-out in the 1980s. Unfortunately, for tourists they’re less than useless; they’re terribly confusing.
So after getting the lost squared away, I always encourage them to take advantage of a little-known service of the MTA. It’s also my number-one general advice to BBers. Namely:
The official MTA subway map is available free, on request, at every subway kiosk. And there’s at least one kiosk in every station. Combined with a street map, it makes the city quite easy to navigate.
So when you’re here, get one. And while you’re at it, get the bus maps for the boroughs you’ll be visiting, too — also free on request. In Manhattan, buses are always slower than the subway, and crosstown buses are often literally slower than walking. But buses are also a cheap way to see Manhattan’s great architecture and observe its colorful people, and in the outer boroughs they’re quick, cheap, and often the only way other than a cab ($$$) to gain access to the neatest stuff on offer.
