By Joseph Morales

Escalators are an important part of NYC subway stations. They not only help people get to their trains more conveniently but they also help those with certain mobility disabilities get to the platform at all.  This is particularly true at these 4 stations in the Bronx and Manhattan, Pelham Pkwy(2,5)(IRT White Plains Rd Line), Pelham Bay Park(6), 181st St(A) and 125th St(1), where escalators are being replaced to improve escalator  The repairs are particularly critical at 181st St and 125th St due to their underground depth or height respectively. An escalator outage at the 181st St station could result in one having to walk down an astonishing 133 steps to access the platform. Even though escalators are available at an entrance on West 184th St, they are three blocks from the main commercial corridor on W 181st St and could be an inconvenience for riders trying to get to W 181st St and trying to transfer to buses. The 125th St station is among the tallest elevated stations in the entire subway system, making getting to the platform a challenge via stairs.

              While the replacements are important in the long-term, the project has not been without controversy. Riders at the 181st St station are not happy because while the escalators are replaced they must either walk up and down the 133 steps to get to the platform or walk uphill to the elevators at West 184th St.  The president of  MTA Construction & Development Jaime Torres-Springer said to The New York Times in May 2022 that while two of the three escalators functioned about 85% of the time, a third only functioned about a third of the time. Since all three escalators run on the same motor, all the escalators have to be shut down for even one to receive repairs. Major news sites had interesting titles for articles discussing the walk to the platform at 181st St. The news site Curbed titled its article on the matter “The A Train Commute That’s An Extreme Sport.”The New York Times had titled its article”Getting off at 181st Street? Bring Your Hiking Boots?”.

             The situations at the other stations are not as extreme however. At Pelham Pkwy and Pelham Bay Park, the stations are just about the standard height of elevated rail stations plus there are elevators conveniently located close to the platforms and mezzanine, making getting to the train simpler than not. At 125th St, outside of the escalator being replaced there are still working escalators located directly across the street from those that are being replaced.

            Though some of the work may cause inconvenience for now, this escalator replacement project should bring more reliable escalator service to these subway stations for years to come.

Works Cited

Wong, Ashley, and Jane Barlow. “Subway Escalator Outage at 181st Street Gives Riders a Six-Flight Hike.” The New York Times, 25 May 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/nyregion/nyc-subway-escalator-outage-181-street.html. Accessed 30 September 2022.

Chang, Clio. “The Fort Washington 181st Street A Train Escalators Are Down.” Curbed, 19 May 2022, https://www.curbed.com/2022/05/fort-washington-181st-escalators-down.html. Accessed 30 September 2022.

“Legal Note 2017 draft edits.DOC.” MTA, 23 February 2021, https://new.mta.info/document/28146. Accessed 30 September 2022.