Roosevelt Island Elected Officials Lappin And Kellner Want MTA To Insure Proper Working Of Subway Elevators And Escalators - Seek Answers To Latest Incident of Stuck Roosevelt Island Subway Elevator

As reported in this post, during last Monday's morning rush hour, the Roosevelt Island Subway elevator got stuck somewhere between the station's street level

and Manhattan bound platform.

 

Gothamist reports:

... a group of 15 adults and two children squeezed into the elevator in the F train station on Roosevelt Island. And there they remained for a full hour until the FDNY came to their rescue....

Quicker than you can shout get me outta here, Roosevelt Island's New York City Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced a Council Resolution to ensure the the NYC Subway elevators and escalators work properly. According to the December 9 NY Post:

Subway elevators and escalators are going nowhere fast -- and the City Council is trying to fix the mechanical mess.

Councilwoman Jessica Lappin yesterday introduced a resolution that leans on the MTA to investigate poor maintenance work on the subway's lifts, two days after 15 people -- including an infant -- were trapped in the Roosevelt Island station's elevator for a terrifying 30 minutes.
"It's a perpetual problem across the city, and it's one that can be dangerous," Lappin said....

Ms. Lappin's office advises that the resolution was in the works prior to the latest Roosevelt Island subway elevator incident. Ms. Lappin adds:

We shouldn’t be, but all Roosevelt Island straphangers are familiar with the sight of out-of-order escalators and elevators at subway stations.  For some of us, that’s an inconvenience and means we need to walk.  However, for senior or disabled riders, these outages can mean the difference between getting into or out of the subway – or not.  The MTA has an obligation to ensure that its elevators and escalators actually work.  Roosevelt Islanders and New Yorkers across the city deserve to know that the escalators and elevators they rely on are going to be functioning.  They need to do preventative maintenance to reduce the number of breakdowns and they need to fix things quickly when something does go wrong.  The bottom line is that the MTA needs to maintain its subway stations, and that includes the elevators and escalators.  New Yorkers aren’t interested in excuses.  We’re interested in results.  So far, we aren’t seeing very many of those.

Roosevelt Island's Assembly Member Micah Kellner expressed his concern as well. Below is a letter dated December 8, 2010 Mr. Kellner sent to MTA New York City Transit President Thomas Prendergast asking for answers regarding the recent incident in which a number of passengers were stuck in an elevator at the Roosevelt Island subway station.

I am writing on behalf of residents of and visitors to Roosevelt Island, which is located in the district I represent, regarding a recent elevator breakdown.

As you may know, on December 6, 2010 an elevator at the Roosevelt Island subway station broke down during the morning rush hour, stranding fifteen adults and several children in the elevator for over an hour. Several reports have indicated that the trapped passengers’ repeated calls for help to New York City Transit staff did not result in a timely response, and that it was not until after a passenger contacted 911 on a mobile phone that assistance was received.These reports are highly disturbing. I am concerned that there were not appropriate emergency measures in place prior to the incident, and that NYCT staff apparently did not respond effectively to the passengers’ calls for help. Given the depth of the Island’s station, it is unlikely that residents will be able to use their mobile phones in most emergencies.

The elevators and escalators at the Roosevelt Island station have been a recurring problem, with frequent outages that restrict Islanders’ already limited transportation options. Particularly given the large number of Island residents who are elderly or have disabilities, it is important that the station’s elevators are kept in a state of good repair. Indeed, it was in part because of the ongoing problems at Roosevelt Island that I introduced legislation to require timely maintenance of elevators and escalators throughout the MTA’s facilities.

Please provide a detailed explanation as to what measures the MTA will take to improve the reliability of the elevators at the Roosevelt Island station and elsewhere to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future. Additionally, what will be done to ensure a more effective response to any future incidents? What steps were taken to assist the stranded passengers at Roosevelt Island? What policies and procedures are currently in place for such situations, and what changes will be made to these policies and procedures in light of the Roosevelt Island incident?

Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you would like to discuss them further, please do not hesitate to contact me at (212) 860-4906.

Mr. Kellner sponsored legislation in 2009 to require more frequent maintenance of escalators and elevators in the MTA system:

 Requires the city of New York or county within the district to make maintenance of escalators, elevators and other facilities in passenger stations a priority; requires daily inspections, reports to MTA inspector general and the management advisory board, emergency repair order after two consecutive daily reports of inoperable facilities, and annual reports by the management advisory board.

The MTA maintains an Elevator and Escalator Status Page as well as the email for F Line General Manager.

Here's an eyewitness account of being stuck in the Roosevelt Island subway elevator from one of the unlucky subway riders who reports to Gothamist:

... Yeah, the Roosevelt Island station is a mess and the MTA staff that work there are rude and useless. I’ll take my chances with the tram. At least if that gets stuck I watch YouTube...