Temporary Subway Platforms Don’t Get The Job Done
If you might recall, 9 months ago a 14 year old named Avi Katz fell to the trackbed after stepping on a platform edge to see if a 
was on its way. The incident helped fuel 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. The MTA attempted to address the situation by spending almost half a million dollars on temporary fixes. Unfortunately according to most riders, these repairs are not enough & a permanent solution needs to present itself fast. Marlene Naanes of AMNY has more in this report:
Temporary repairs to the most rickety subway platform edges are almost complete, though many of them remain splintered and wobbly — or worse, continue to pose a hazard — straphangers said.
“I had a few incidents where I tripped on them,” Januvis Ayala, 27, said of the wooden planks placed over the dangerous platform edges at the Kings Highway F train station.
“It’s basically just a band-aid,” she said. “If the train wasn’t there, [her kids] could fall onto the tracks.”
After a Brooklyn teenager fell through a rickety wooden subway platform edge about nine months ago, New York City Transit launched a systemwide survey of all 1,122 platforms in the system and placed a priority on repairing 134 of the edges found to be in “poor” condition. Those edges will all have wooden boards covering them by the end of next month, according to transit officials. Permanent repairs, which include replacement of the edge and its supports, is not expected to be complete until December 2009.
Click here for the complete report.
Well I know the first thing many would say is no one should be standing on the platform edge. Yes, you are 100% correct in saying that. However this does not change the fact that the MTA seriously needs to address this issue asap! The next person involved in such an incident might not be as lucky as Avi Katz & none of us want to hear or write about that story taking place.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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