Should the NYC subway map include N.J.? This man thinks so, and he's not alone

Stewart Mader wants to put New Jersey on the map. The New York City Subway map. Mader, a 34-year-old Hoboken resident who takes the PATH and the subway to his digital media job in lower Manhattan, wants to add Jersey City and Hoboken, including their PATH stations, to maps of the city subway system. Mader's campaign for Garden State recognition, "Subway NY NJ," has a page on the website he edits, GothamHudson.com. "Including PATH on the Subway Map in a manner that better reflects its role as New York's 'second subway' improves knowledge of cross-Hudson rapid transit among the largest audience of transit riders in the New York area," Mader states on the site. While the subway and PATH both accept the MetroCard as a form of payment, and Mader is one of about 40,000 commuters estimated to use both rail systems, the two are run by different agencies and are not directly linked, either in terms of shared track or free transfers. So far, at least, the (MTA) , which runs the subway system, has been cool to the idea of including New Jersey and its PATH stations on subway maps, which (MTA) spokesman Kevin Ortiz said, "would confuse our customers." PATH's two lines and six stations in Manhattan -- the World Trade Center, Christopher, 9th, 14th, 28th and 33rd Streets -- are indicated on the subway map in a faint light blue, similar to the Metro-North, Long Island Railroad and NJ Transit lines indicated on the map. But like those other railroads, the PATH system is easily lost amid the bold and vibrantly colored squiggles representing the subway's (1) , (2) , (3) , (7) , (A) , (D) , (F) , , (N) , Times Square shuttle and other train lines. And although the PATH tracks are shown heading west into the Hudson River, they disappear off the western edge of the map, with New Jersey completely out of the picture. Someone looking at a subway map who was unfamiliar with the PATH system would have no idea he could arrive just steps from Washington Street in Hoboken or right on Grove Street in the middle of downtown Jersey City. It's a missed opportunity, Mader said, to illustrate just how conveniently the two sides of the Hudson are linked by rail transit, and how appropriate the term "sixth borough of New York" is for that part of Hudson County. "Anytime we can take a more regional approach to transit, it's a good idea," Mader said. By their nature, Port Authority PATH maps include both sides of the Hudson. But they don't include NYC subway lines, even those with stops adjacent to PATH's. Janna Chernetz, New Jersey coordinator for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a transit advocacy group, said Mader has a good idea. "Tri-State supports the concept of a more regionalized map including, NJTransit, PATH, , Long Island Railroad, and Metro North," Chernetz said. "It doesn't necessarily need to be the 's responsibility or a modification to the existing New York Subway Map. However, a larger map showing how the different systems link regionally would be beneficial." But the need to enlarge the subway map if New Jersey were included -- or to make the rest of the map smaller in scale -- is just one of the reasons the (MTA) has no plans to include the Garden State, Ortiz said. "We would have to shrink the map quite a bit to fit that in – and it's not in our service territory," Ortiz said, adding he agency is aware of Mader's campaign. "We want our subway map to be large and legible with less clutter." Referring to Mader, he said, "his plan makes PATH stations look too much like NYC Transit subway stations and implies free transfers at 14 St, 23 St and 34 St. Additionally, if we amended the subway map, PATH would also be more prominent on the map than our sister railroads – Metro-North and LIRR." Cheryl Albiez, a Port Authority spokeswoman, said Mader's idea was "something that has been bounced around for years and is something that we will look into." Albiez estimated 15 percent of PATH's 250,000 daily riders, or nearly 40,000 commuters, also ride the subway to work, a transfer that requires paying the additional subway fare each way. Less than 1 percent of PATH riders use (MTA) buses, she added. Mader, who grew up in Connecticut, said New Jersey had appeared sporadically on subway maps in the past, but have been gone since the early 1990's. He has collected historic maps that date back to before the PATH system existed, even as the old Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, completed in 1908 and taken over by the Port Authority and renamed the PATH in 1962. "In fact, the 1906 IRT maps, they had New Jersey on the map," Mader said. "They had Hoboken and New Jersey labeled, the H&M hadn't opened yet -- it was under construction -- but they had ferries."