One of the deepest subway stations in one of New York City’s busiest areas is now home to underground hiking.
All three escalators at 181st Street station on line A, located 80 feet underground, have been shut down since Monday. The Metropolitan Transit Authority said it had been removed from commission as part of a scheduled shutdown and would not resume operations until February.
Inside the station this week, the escalators are walled, with orange signs at the top and bottom letting commuters know they have two options: Take one of three elevators at the opposite end of the courtyard. station, or climb six flights of stairs – for a total of 89 steps.
“This is unacceptable,” said Miryam Lakritz, 27, as she carefully made her way down the stairs.
Of the subway system’s 85 escalators, 32 are currently closed for repairs, according to Tim Minton, a spokesman for the MTA.
Jamie Torres-Springer, the agency’s president of construction and development, said the escalators at 181st Street, a busy station in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, have long been deserted. All three, he said, only work about 85 percent of the time, and one of them only works about two-thirds of the time.
But they are all powered by the same engine, which means that to repair even one of them, all three must be stopped at the same time.
The station’s elevators, while still operational, are located at its north end, on 184th Street and Fort Washington Avenue, requiring pedestrians to walk three blocks just to use them. On the ground, they are located on top of a steep hill, so reaching them requires hiking.
As a result, many New Yorkers are choosing to take the stairs only – a frenetic walk they will face for the next nine months, assuming they can physically afford it.
New York City Subway
Riders climbed at different speeds throughout their commute to work on Thursday morning, with some climbing the stairs with ease and others clutching the handrails, pausing to catch their breath.
The decommissioning of the escalators highlights a larger problem in a subway system that has long been criticized as being inaccessible to people with disabilities. Advocates say the system’s lack of accessible stations has forced thousands of riders with mobility problems.
Jennifer Van Dyck, a member of the Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group, which has called for increased wheelchair accessibility in the city’s public transit system, said: “I see, there’s a lot of it. many problems on the MTA’s disk. “The fact of the matter is that accessibility is constantly being pushed to the bottom of the list.”
At 181 Street, even with the escalators operating, the station is not particularly accessible. Accessing the escalator or elevator from the platform involves climbing stairs, which is impossible for some people with physical disabilities.
People passing through the station on Thursday said they were startled by the extent of the escalator’s blackout, reported by NBC New York.
“I read somewhere that it was coming, but I didn’t know they had to do all three at once,” said Cade Calder, 46, a musician, as he walked downstairs with his 6-year-old daughter, Ellington.
“Getting to this platform is hard enough,” he added. “A little more notice would be helpful.”
Mr. Minton said the MTA first started posting signs of upcoming construction on May 11. But he and other officials said they agreed they could provide more advance notice.
“This communication did not meet our standards,” said Mr. Torres-Springer. “This is part of improving the way we work. That’s a fair criticism and we apologize for not announcing it sooner. ”
People who can take the stairs smoothly said they were trying to find silver linings.
Timothy McGonagle, 51, said: “I’m looking at it as a solid step forward.
But others said the shutdown poses unnecessary challenges, both for those with mobility problems and for anyone selling groceries or young children.
Ms. Lakritz, a teacher, said she usually brings papers to class, gym equipment and a packed lunch.
“I came here as a physically fit person,” she said. “This was tough, carrying all the things I needed for work and going upstairs.”
Craig Clarke, 39, slowly led his daughter Isla, 3, down the stairs with one hand while the other struggled with her stroller. Upon reaching the bottom, Isla leaned against the wall to rest, swept by the wind from below.
They actually live closer to the entrance with the elevator, he said. But having been used to riding the escalators for years, he had forgotten that morning that they would no longer work.
“If it’s broken a lot, it’s a good thing they’re fixing it,” he said. “But I don’t know why it took so long.”
He and other frequent riders said they knew the escalator had been unreliable for years, but expressed disappointment and distrust in the time it took to repair.
“Why does everything in New York take so long?” Sonia Kemp, a 32-year resident of the neighborhood, said. “February? Really? Is the part coming from Germany? What’s the point?”
Mr Torres-Springer described the nine-month timeline as “typical” for the type of repairs being done. The old engine needs to be demolished and taken out of the station to be replaced, he said. After construction is complete, each escalator will have independent motors.
But the MTA, which is trying to attract riders it has lost during the pandemic, is likely to scare people away with disruptions like these, said Danny Pearlstein, a spokesman for Riders Alliance, an advocacy group public transport said – especially if it doesn’t. t inform them of alternative public transport options.
Instead of telling strays their only options are to find the elevator or take the stairs, he said, the MTA could place signs explaining that riders can consider other routes, such as such as getting off at 175th Street, or changing to a bus. stop.
The agency needs to make it clear that New Yorkers can still use the system to get where they need to go, he said, rather than leaving drivers with limited, inconvenient options that they can choose from. Abandon public transport altogether.
“That needs to be a priority for the MTA — not losing people to taxis or Ubers, or isolating people because there are detours in their route,” he said.
Ana Ley contribution report.
