The New York City subway system is a maze of obstacles for people who have difficulty walking. Approximately one in 15 New Yorkers has an ambulatory disability, according to Census Bureau data, but the vast majority of stations lack elevators and ramps, making much of the city difficult to access for the hundreds of thousands of residents who depend on them.
New York has lagged far behind other major US cities in building access points for people with disabilities. Upgrading the entire subway (the largest transportation network on the continent) will take decades and cost billions of dollars. And the MTA’s promises with long and uncertain terms have diminished the faith of many disabled passengers in the authority’s ability to deliver.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Yimbert Remigio, 24, who lives in the Bronx and has always depended on a wheelchair.
Today, only 27 percent of the system’s 472 stations are considered accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, meaning they can accommodate passengers with a variety of disabilities and can be navigated without climbing stairs.
The authority promised last year to add lifts and ramps to 95 percent of stations by 2055 as part of a settlement agreement in two class action lawsuits over the issue. Forks latest capital planwhich was approved in early 2020 and sets construction priorities through next year, called for 67 more stations to be ADA accessible.
But so far, the necessary upgrades have been completed at only three of those stations. At 19 more stations, lifts or ramps will be completed by the end of this year and over the next three years. There is no timetable for when construction will start on the remaining 45 stations, the authority said.
“A lot of us won’t be here in 2055,” said Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a Google software engineer and disability advocate who was left partially paralyzed after a rotting tree branch fell on her in Central Park 14 years ago.
“The number of wheelchair users you see on the subway is far less than the number that would use it if all stations had working elevators,” he added.
Tim Mulligan, who oversees the authority’s capital programs, stressed that the agency was completing many other lift and ramp expansion projects outside of the current plan, adding improvements to a total of 81 stations.
“The rate of construction awards for ADA is five times the rate of awards for ADA stations prior to 2020,” Mulligan said, referring to contracts for improvement projects. “Once the contract is awarded, the station is built. Period.”
A 2019 New York Times analysis found that there were 550,000 people in the city who had difficulty walking, and that two-thirds of them lived far from an accessible subway station. At the time, that meant about 4 percent of New York’s 8.3 million residents they were largely unable to ride.
The Bronx has some of the highest concentrations of these residents (more than 122,000), but only 15 of the 70 stations in the municipality are accessible. Ten more are planned to be upgraded under the current capital plan, including one at East 149th Street on the 6 line, where elevators will open in September, lagging behind the previous July target.
Several more elevators are planned along that line, near Mr. Remigio’s home in Mott Haven.
Currently, only one of the nine stations within a kilometer and a half of his house has capacity for his chair, so he travels mainly by bus.
To commute to a summer internship on West 168th Street in Manhattan, he first had to take a bus south to an accessible station in Harlem before heading north again.
It would go up using a ramp, which could not be deployed if parked cars were blocking the sidewalk. If the bus was too full for his wheelchair, he would have to wait for another.
Wheelchair users and disability advocates have long urged the MTA to work faster to make the system more navigable, often packing public meetings to confront transportation leaders with their frustrations. .
MTA officials said the authority was working as fast as it could without drastically disrupting service for millions of riders. To build safely, crews must close sections of the subway, said Quemuel Arroyo, who oversees accessibility efforts for the MTA.
“Everyone wants it done faster, but not at the expense of their commute,” Arroyo said. “There are only two things New Yorkers really hate: the status quo and change.”
Transportation experts and advocates say making the system more equitable is not only a moral imperative, but also a crucial step in saving it from a crisis of declining ridership.
Bringing New Yorkers with disabilities, as well as tourists and other visitors with accessibility issues, to the subway could increase fare revenue for the system, which has yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels.
“For the MTA to be financially viable, it will continue to depend on its ridership,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the transit authority’s Citizens’ Standing Advisory Committee, a watchdog group. “And the number of passengers has to be able to get in and out of the system.”
Jessica Hsieh, 33, who uses a wheelchair and lives in Queens where she works at a non-profit organization, said it “would mean a lot” if the subway had more elevators in operation.
“Definitely one of my biggest challenges is memorizing the wheelchair accessible stops,” said Ms. Hsieh. “You have to have a plan A and a plan B.”
One day about 12 years ago, when the 7 train was not running its usual route, Ms Hsieh said she got stuck at Queens Plaza station while looking for an alternative route. Six police officers lowered her motorized wheelchair so she could get home.
Hsieh said the system had become easier to navigate.
Many riders with disabilities and advocates have urged the MTA to more diligently repair existing elevators, which the agency says are holding at about 97 percent rate.
but a report prepared by two City Council members found that 7 percent of elevators were marked “out of service” in the MTA elevator. status page on sample days last January.
The report also found that elevators maintained by third parties were out of service three more days, on average, than those operated by the MTA.
Tamara Morgan, 38, a wheelchair user who lives in Queens and commutes to work in Manhattan, said if the system were easier to navigate, she would be able to visit family in Brooklyn more often.
Much of your life is dictated by the state of the accessibility features of the transit system. She lamented that while she planned to attend a friend’s wedding on Long Island earlier this summer, she and other guests who use wheelchairs became concerned about getting to the venue on time and without incident.
“It’s a time for celebration and joy,” said Ms. Morgan. “We worry: ‘Can we get there safely?’”
When Remigio takes the train, he allocates at least an extra half hour of travel time to account for downtime and elevator delays.
He remembered traveling to a job interview at City Hall one day when the Fulton Street elevator was out of service. She had to bypass the station, change to a train going in the other direction, travel until she reached a station with a working elevator, and roll from there in her wheelchair to the interview.
Despite the obstacles he faces navigating public transportation, Remigio said he loved New York and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
“In a perfect world, I could move around the city like anyone else,” he said. “There wouldn’t be as many obstacles that I would have to overcome.”
