As anyone who has been stuck in L hell knows perfectly well, the MTA's weekend ridership keeps hitting new highs—despite that being the time when the Authority, for various reasons, has to do the majority of its track work. But as much as it might feel like it, the MTA isn't trying to screw your life over. And so, as an apology of sorts, today it launches its new, online-only, "Weekender" map which tries to make it a little easier to understand what in the world is going on underground on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Bonus! It should really excite the graphic design snobs out there.

The Weekender Map (not to be confused with those "Weekender" commercials the Times likes to run) is set to premiere on the homepage of mta.info today 3 p.m. and will take over the front page each weekend going forward. Though it offers a number of functionalities, the star of the show is an updated version of Massimo Vignelli's beloved-by-designers (if not necessarily by riders) 1970s-era subway map which will now highlight (with blinking lights!) the weekend's planned service changes. What's more, you can also with the click of a button check out service disruptions by subway line, by borough and even by station.

“With The Weekender, we are presenting weekend service diversion information in a visual way and an interactive way for the first time,” Paul J. Fleuranges, Senior Director of Corporate and Internal Communications for the MTA, said in a statement. “We’re very excited to introduce this new feature for our customers today, but we also know it’s going to evolve over time.”

As fans of the Vignelli map (and of being forewarned about subway disruptions) we're really looking forward to playing around with this new tool—and we're relieved to see the MTA admitting up front that it will be evolving over time. Plus, the map couldn't be coming at a better time, what with there being lots of service disruptions planned for this weekend including another round of no L service between Broadway Junction and 8th Avenue, no F trains between Jay Street and 18th Avenue and no G trains between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue.