The Joke Of Subway Accessibility

Okay. Now what?

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society's New York City Chapter invited a group of elected officials (and me) to accompany five disabled riders on a subway trip yesterday morning. The idea was to show us how hard it is to navigate even the so-called accessible stations by wheelchair or electric scooter — or even with a trick leg and a cane. By the time the group finished its tour at the 14th Street IND Station and was preparing to disperse, the point hit home.

The elevator up from the A train was broken. The group was stranded underground.

Unfortunately — and this is part of the problem — no elected officials were inconvenienced by this problem because they weren't there. Only one had shown up, the chairman of the City Council's Transportation Committee, John Liu (props to him), but he ducked out after the first blip: an elevator at Grand Central that took one of the wheelchair riders down to the subway level but then just stayed there, its door stuck open, as the rest of us waited upstairs.

"We're all here about the lack of maintenance in the elevators," a Manhattanite who has been using a scooter to get around since 1984, Anne Davis, said. Although the city is actually on target with its federally mandated plan to make at least 100 key subway stations accessible by 2020, broken lifts remain a problem.

They remain such a problem, in fact, that the whole idea of calling our subway system accessible is almost a joke. It's accessible if you happen to be using one of the 56 (out of 468) stations with an elevator, and if that elevator happens to be running. A study by the office of Manhattan's president last year found that 78% of all subway elevators in Manhattan didn't receive their mandated inspection each year between 2002 and 2005. By comparison, the Health Department's rat patrol looks like it's on speed.

Subway elevators break down so often, there's actually a number for riders to call to see which ones are kaput (800-734-6772). Unfortunately, a call to that number yesterday morning mentioned nothing about the 14th Street elevator being on the fritz. (The announcer on the hot line also speaks reeeeeeally fast.)

All this unpredictability begs the question: Are we ever going to have a subway system that works for the disabled? Or should we admit that this is a quixotic quest and take the mega-millions such a program would cost and plow them into something more workable — say, a gold-plated version of Access-A-Ride? Or making sure all taxis (not just the 100 or so to date) are accessible, the way they are in London, and then subsidizing them for the disabled?

"There's a certain logic to that," Marc Fenton said. The 42-year-old father of two has been getting around by scooter for the past four years, but yesterday on his way home from the Multiple Sclerosis Society excursion, he had the kind of experience that generally keeps him out of the subway. "I was at West 4th Street and said goodbye, and figured I would just be able to exit. But if there was an exit, I couldn't find it. I rode up and down the platform and no one could direct me to it, even a subway guy. So I ended up taking the train up to 34th Street." From there he scootered about a mile and a half in the freezing cold to his apartment near Union Station.

Fenton has gotten used to scooter marathons, but he also takes the bus. He's grateful that all city buses are now accessible.

Obviously, upgrading the bus fleet was a lot cheaper — and easier — than upgrading the subway system. Some stations "are so complex that it costs almost $20 million just to move the utilities," an MTA spokeswoman, Deirdre Parker, said. And that's before the cost of putting in the elevator.

So, before we figure out whether to expand the subway accessibility program beyond 2020's goals, it makes sense to reexamine whether this is the best way to help the disabled get around the city. One thing, however, is already clear: The elevators that we do build, we've got to maintain a whole lot better.

Maybe our elected officials will figure that out if they ever come on a trip like the one they were invited on yesterday. Then again, maybe they can't spare about two hours to get from Grand Central to West 14th Street and back again.