Wayfinding in New York

 By Katie Buchanan

I have just returned from a brilliant week exploring New York city. This was not only my first visit to the city but also to America. I wondered how I would manage to find my way around. What would the wayfinding experience be like? How easy would the transport systems be to use? How would it compare to London?

Reading my guide book on the way over I noticed the grid system of the Manhattan Roads. People had already told me that once you have your head around this grid, it made finding places simple – and they were right. Within a day or so, I had a good mental model of the city and its different areas. This not only meant that I could find places easier but also that I could fairly accurately know how long it would take me to get to a certain place.

So the experience of finding your way around on foot proved relatively easy, however the same can not be said of travelling on the subway (tube). The usability of the subway map is not a scratch on our tube map (which is somewhat of a design icon). The Manhattan part of the map is extremely cluttered and rather than using names for each of the lines (e.g. like our Victoria or Northern line) a mixture of numbers and abbreviated letters are used (e.g. 1,2,N,R,A). The trouble is that these numbers and letters are just not as memorable. On a couple of occasions I worked out the letter I needed, put the map in my pocket, and then looked up at all the signs with the various letters and numbers on them and immediately forgot which one I wanted.

When you arrive at your platform, there are no maps to reassure you of the line and its stop (unlike on our tube) and I was left hoping I had read the map correctly. The platform also had no countdown boards, informing you of when the next train is due to arrive and what its destination is. I found this particularly frustrating and realised how comforting this information is.

Generally I thought the subway seemed to have less investment than our underground. However the price of travel did reflect this as it was cheaper than our tube, with a simple notion of 2 dollars a ride. I wondered whether this trade off was worth it…would I be prepared to except a reduction in tube fares for a reduction to quality and overall customer experience?