Subway Riders Scared Of Rotting Stairs
A lot of subway stations have rotting staircases. This statement comes as no surprise considering the age & state of disrepair of the NYC Subway. So it came as no surprise when I came across a Daily News piece by Natalie Musumeci which talks about how riders of the 
are scared of the rotten staircases at their local stations:
Corroded and nearly 100-year-old staircases at a slew of dilapidated subway stations along the N-line are at the top of straphangers’ list of complaints about the stops.
“The ceilings are falling down and the staircases are horrendous. It’s unsafe,” said Chris Morales, 35, of Bensonhurst who walks down the corroded stairwell at the 18th Avenue station everyday to catch the N to Manhattan.
“They are unstable and shaky. It’s a major hazard. The MTA is not taking care of maintenance,” said Morales. “The ceilings are crumbling. (Debris) could hit someone on the head.”
Built in 1915 , the 97-year-old subway stations last had “full rehab work” in the 1980’s, said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
“We are working on a plan to address the staircases,” said Ortiz in an email, adding that restoration on the stations from 8th Avenue to 86th Street is slated to begin in October 2014 and end in 2018.
The work “will address all structural defects at the station platform areas, including canopies, roofs, columns, back walls… platform edges…and stairways,” Ortiz said.
But State Assemblyman William Colton (D-Bensonhurst) said conditions at the stations are “in serious disrepair and dangerous” and that the rotting staircases are an “emergency.
Click here for the complete article.
The piece as expected contained nothing that millions of subway riders did not already know. The NYC Subway is in a terrible state of disrepair. The reality is riders in all 4 boroughs have to deal with such terrible conditions inside stations.
The only shocking thing if anything is it took so long to see a piece about how terrible the condition is of stations in Brooklyn. When I first started taking transit photos 7-8 years ago, I spent a lot of time documenting how terrible Sea Beach line stations are. The sad truth is not much has changed when I have found myself at those same stations.
I do have a question for State Assemblyman William Colton though? While we can all agree that the stations need to be fixed with some of the repairs being of the emergency nature, where exactly do you think the money is coming from for it? Have you or any of your fellow elected officials come up with solutions to help raise the money necessary for these repairs? I did not think so…….
xoxo Transit Blogger
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