Straphangers call for accountability on privately-owned escalators
The Straphangers Campaign called on NYC Transit to make a public accounting of all the broken escalators and elevators in the subway system that are privately owned like the ones at Union Square.
“First, the failure to list these escalators and elevators undermines the credibility and usefulness of New York City Transit’s reporting,” Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign wrote in a letter to NYC Transit president Howard Roberts. “From the public's point of view, a broken escalator is broken, no matter who owns it. Second, posting the status of these facilities could help put pressure on the independent operators to fix them.”
Russianoff said the letter followed a group of stories in amNew York that detailed long-standing problems with broken escalators at Union Square and at 53rd and Third Avenue that are all privately owned. Broken for years, it seemed that no one was being held accountable for repairs.
The devices were part of deals that the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority struck with real estate developers giving them lucrative expansions to their buildings above the stations in return for building and maintaining amenities to the subway stations below.
Russianoff said Roberts deserves credit for the MTA web page that keeps a running list of transit-operated escalators and elevators that are out of service.
“It’s hard to believe that 14th Street isn’t on the list because it’s privately owned,” he said.
A transit spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment Monday evening.
