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OPINION: Subway elevators and escalators, nowhere to go but up

December 6, 2017 By Raanan Geberer Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Michael Harris, founder of the Disabled Riders Coalition, waits for a subway elevator at Grand Central several years ago. AP file photo by Tina Fineberg
A subway elevator at Grand Central Terminal. Photo by Tina Fienberg/AP
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The topic of elevators in the subway system has often been a sore spot for the disabled community. It most recently surfaced as a hot issue when the Prospect Avenue, 53rd Street and Bay Ridge Avenue stations on the R line were renovated, but no elevators were installed.

The move produced dissatisfaction among members of the disabled community and renewed pressure to include elevators at four more stations on the R line: 59th Street, 77th Street, 86th Street and 95th Street. MTA has amended its capital plan to include them at these stations.

“Eighty-sixth Street is a very important station because so many buses stop there. People have been promised an elevator at 86th Street for a long time, and there would have problems if an elevator hadn’t been included at that station,” says one community resident.

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Some observers might think that because of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, MTA is obligated to place elevators in all stations being upgraded. I myself thought so until I learned that instead, the MTA instituted the Key Stations Plan, under which stations are rated by ridership level, transfer between lines, transfer between subways and buses, closeness to major institutions and whether they are at the end of the line.

MTA is now concentrating on a plan to create 100 key stations by 2020. In Brooklyn, outside of the Downtown area and terminal stations, stations that are currently accessible are few and far between. Among them are Jay Street-MetroTech, Court Street-Borough Hall, Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College, Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, Kings Highway on the Brighton Beach line, Utica Avenue on the 4 and 5 lines, Church Avenue on the F line and a handful of others.

In another part of Brooklyn, the issue came to a head a few years ago when the Smith-9th Street station on the F and G lines, the highest above-ground station in the city’s transit system, was reopened. The station was full of improvements, but not only did it not have elevators, its banks of new escalators stopped one level short of the platform, and passengers have to walk up on more flight to the trains.

MTA has countered, with some justification, that many of the stations were built years ago, typically with narrow passageways, and that some of them just don’t contain enough extra space to install ADA-compliant elevators. Moreover, putting in an elevator means that the MTA must temporarily reroute utilities and close off sidewalk space while construction proceeds. On the other side of the coin, there are some stations, such as the 7th Avenue station in Park Slope on the F line, with huge amounts of little-used mezzanine space in which an elevator could easily be installed.

Another problem is the frequency of elevator, and especially escalator, breakdowns. While this is a minor annoyance to most people, it’s a major problem for those with a disability. In one station that I frequently use, the High Street station on the A-C lines, at least one escalator seems to be out frequently, and I often see technicians working on the system.

Of course, there are alternatives to the subway system. All New York City buses are now wheelchair accessible, and there is a separate city-funded system, Access-a-Ride, that serves the disabled exclusively. Still, Access-a-Ride vans often arrive late, and the system itself seems to acknowledge this when it counsels riders to factor in 30 additional minutes for vans getting stuck in traffic and so forth. At any rate, one cannot blame the disabled community for wanting to be able to choose from as many alternatives as possible.

One more word on subway elevators and escalators: They’re not only for the severely disabled. For example, I have asthma. I can climb one or two flights of stairs in a subway station leading to the street, but there’s always the risk that I’ll become short of breath and I’ll have to stop and use my inhaler. A few months ago, I led a hike through Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx into Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers. By the time I finished and had gotten back to the Bronx, I had hiked 5 miles and didn’t have that much breath left. I wasn’t thrilled when I found that the Van Cortlandt Park elevated subway terminal has neither an elevator nor an escalator. Yes, I walked up the stairs, but stopped to catch my breath every 10 steps or so.

The disability community is pressuring MTA to make every station accessible. MTA, on the other hand, is racing to complete its 100 Key Stations by 2020. Whatever happens, there’s no way to go but up.

 


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