MTA Failed To Fix Hazardous Subway Platforms
For those of us who ride the subway often, certain characteristics are common place to us at the majority of stations. Some of those things include rats, dirty trackbed, dirty walls, etc…. However there is one more characteristic that is common place & that is hazardous subway platforms.
This is not the first time that a concern about these platforms has come to mind. Back in January 2008, a 14 year old named Avi Katz fell to the trackbed after stepping on a platform edge to see if a 
Train was on its way. The incident led to a co-sponsored report by State Assemblyman Dov Hikind & Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer which highlighted the horrific condition of a high percentage of subway platforms.
Fast forward to the present when a report from the MTA General Inspector’s Office says that the NYC Transit division failed to fix hazardous subway platforms. Pete Dononue of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
NYC Transit failed to fix hazards on subway platforms citywide – despite warnings and instances of riders falling to the tracks, a report released Tuesday reveals.
The MTA inspector general’s office found significant trip-and-fall hazards along platform edges in need of immediate repair at 23 of 27 stations surveyed last year, the report said.
The survey of so-called rubbing boards was launched after a Brooklyn teen fell to the tracks after a board broke under him in January 2008, and NYC Transit promised to improve inspection and maintenance efforts.
“Rubbing boards with safety defects resulting from damage and deterioration pose a serious, predictable and widespread safety hazard,” the report by Inspector General Barry Kluger’s office concluded.
“Yet, despite increased awareness, new procedures and good intentions … a highly significant number of platform-edge conditions sampled were not correctly identified and reported by NYCT as safety defects.”
NYC Transit’s haphazard and unsound inspections “created a false impression of system safety” and significantly delayed repairs, the report says.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” fumed Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn).
Click here for the complete report.
Click here for the complete MTA Inspector General’s Report which is available as a .pdf file.
I agree 100% with Assemblyman Dov Hikind. It is completely unacceptable for MTA NYC Transit to not have done a better job addressing an ever growing platform. I just finished blogging about how the MTA should not be forced to pay for the irresponsible actions of others. The same goes for riders who should not have to pay for the pure negligence that is on display in regards to addressing these hazardous subway platforms.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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