Commuters Frustrated By Broken Escalators At Busy 53rd Street And Lexington Avenue Subway Station
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Broken escalators brought this morning's rush hour to a chaotic halt at one subway station on the East Side Monday morning.
The outage left commuters stuck on hot platforms underground, searching for a way out.
Commuters packed the platform at the busy 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue subway station, from the Lexington Avenue exit all the way to Third Avenue, where the problem all started.
"The escalator, which is oftentimes broken down, was broken. But the other escalator they weren't working on was blocked, so there was no means to get out of the subway. It was a bit of a scary feeling," said Phil Jakeway of Manasquan, N.J.
An MTA employee eventually showed up to funnel riders into a staircase at the other end, where a fed up commuter tweeted that the stairs were overcrowded.
"Took 15 min to walk platform w/ 5 train loads of commuters shoving," J. Mark de Palma wrote on Twitter.
By noon, a gate was removed from one of the non-working escalators and confused commuters could at least walk the long climb to the top. Many were exasperated by the hike in nearly 90 degree heat, reported CBS2's Tara Jakeway.
"It's nerve wracking. I'm tired," said one woman.
Even the most active New Yorkers were derailed by the detour.
"I'm totally out of breath and I do triathlons," said Sami Groff of Long Island.
So were the littlest New Yorkers.
"It was very, very... I'm so tired," one youngster said.
With over 230 escalators to maintain in the city subway system, one rider was sympathetic to any maintenance delays by the MTA.
"I would rather have them fix the escalator then the dang thing break down on me when I'm on it," said Upper East Side resident Richard Cranwell.
Posted signs say the escalators should be fixed by Wednesday, but some say they'll believe it when they see it.
"These escalators? They're out for half the year. I would say three months to half a year to be more honest," Upper East Side resident Alex Hoe said.
Signs are posted inside the turnstyle, so riders won't know the escalators are broken until you've already paid the fare.
Monday evening, the MTA said two of the escalators are back up and running, and the third is expected to be working Tuesday.
