Monday, December 13, 2010

Developers fail to keep subway escalators working


From Fox 5:

City Council Member Jessica Lappin has been fighting to get subway escalators and elevators fixed in her Upper East Side district for three years. Fox 5 met her at the 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue subway station, where we found a broken MTA escalator.

The pregnant councilwoman had to walk down 60-plus steps to the E train platform to see the other broken escalator at this station -- the one that has been broken for two years, according to the MTA, and infamous with East Side subway commuters.

The escalator is privately operated by Denver-based owner Miller Global. Building developers got a deal from the city in exchange for running the escalator -- a deal Miller global is not honoring.

Lappin introduced a City Council resolution calling on the MTA to investigate maintenance of subway escalators and elevators. The council does not control MTA funding, so the resolution would simply draw attention to the problem.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While the repairs should be made by cost to the developers, the real problem is the animals that use these stations all the time that make such heavy maintenance required.

In order to travel by the MTA, when buying a metrocard, they should require you to show a pay stub or a school schedules.

Anonymous said...

My. how stupid you are...pay stub to ride the sud..really you are the stub.

The problems with these and all escalators have to do with the fact that they are mechanical devices that run 24/7 and many such as Main ST, 353/Lex and 14th St are exposed to the elements.

Dirt, water and massive temperature swings all cause advanced wear.

Stay in your car.

Anonymous said...

I think the problem is substandard maintenance, substandard equipment, and yes, the typical pigs that inhabit NYC and have to toss garbage everywhere. I have lived in Europe and spend substantial time in Asia and Russia, and the fact is that escalators to the subways are ubiquitous and rarely out of service in those places. The problem is that what we use here is not particularly robust and seems to get damaged from the usual accumulation of garbage, debris and filth, or the maintenance is just not regularly performed.