Michelle
07-31-2007, 11:55 PM
MTA puts elevator outages online (http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-mta0801,0,1227965,print.story?coll=am-local-headlines)
By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
MNaanes@am-ny.com
August 1, 2007
Straphangers who need elevators and escalators during their commute can now check for outages online before they leave home.
New York City Transit Wednesday is launching online alerts, updated three times a day, for the subway's 158 elevators and 169 escalators. The alerts, found on www.mta.info, will improve in the fall when they will be updated 24 hours a day.
For now, the alerts will be updated at 6 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. Disabled access groups lauded the future round-the-clock updates, and said they'll take what they can until then.
"We're absolutely thrilled that the TA is taking this positive step," said Michael Harris, executive director of the Disabled Riders Coalition.
Harris' trips to Manhattan from his Sheepshead Bay home are often delayed or thwarted when an elevator is out because he is in wheelchair. He is counting on the real-time updates, and praised transit's plan to update commuters about a specific elevator or escalator's outages if they subscribe to a future e-mail service.
Transit already alerts commuters on its escalator and elevator telephone hotline, which is updated about four times a day. But disabled access advocates have long complained that the phone line is not updated often enough, and Harris said it is sometimes difficult to understand the messages.
Recently, transit officials adopted a better attitude toward disabled access, said City Council transportation chair John Liu (D-Flushing).
"The attitude before 2007 was that elevators were just simply not part of the transit system," Liu said.
Transit began a scheduled elevator and escalator maintenance program this year that replaces equipment on a regular basis instead of waiting to repair broken equipment. New leadership at the MTA is partly to thank, Liu said. Disabled access advocates recently lauded Transit President Howard Roberts after he spent more than two hours following Harris in his wheelchair to see the barriers he encounters in the subway system.
Transit needs to continue to push forward, Liu said.
"The goal here is not to have information on which elevators are down -- that's a necessary evil," he said. "The goal here is to make sure the elevators are working."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork Staff Writer
MNaanes@am-ny.com
August 1, 2007
Straphangers who need elevators and escalators during their commute can now check for outages online before they leave home.
New York City Transit Wednesday is launching online alerts, updated three times a day, for the subway's 158 elevators and 169 escalators. The alerts, found on www.mta.info, will improve in the fall when they will be updated 24 hours a day.
For now, the alerts will be updated at 6 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. Disabled access groups lauded the future round-the-clock updates, and said they'll take what they can until then.
"We're absolutely thrilled that the TA is taking this positive step," said Michael Harris, executive director of the Disabled Riders Coalition.
Harris' trips to Manhattan from his Sheepshead Bay home are often delayed or thwarted when an elevator is out because he is in wheelchair. He is counting on the real-time updates, and praised transit's plan to update commuters about a specific elevator or escalator's outages if they subscribe to a future e-mail service.
Transit already alerts commuters on its escalator and elevator telephone hotline, which is updated about four times a day. But disabled access advocates have long complained that the phone line is not updated often enough, and Harris said it is sometimes difficult to understand the messages.
Recently, transit officials adopted a better attitude toward disabled access, said City Council transportation chair John Liu (D-Flushing).
"The attitude before 2007 was that elevators were just simply not part of the transit system," Liu said.
Transit began a scheduled elevator and escalator maintenance program this year that replaces equipment on a regular basis instead of waiting to repair broken equipment. New leadership at the MTA is partly to thank, Liu said. Disabled access advocates recently lauded Transit President Howard Roberts after he spent more than two hours following Harris in his wheelchair to see the barriers he encounters in the subway system.
Transit needs to continue to push forward, Liu said.
"The goal here is not to have information on which elevators are down -- that's a necessary evil," he said. "The goal here is to make sure the elevators are working."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.