Inaccessibility at Key NYC Subway Station Focus of Meeting

The most recent Elevator Lobby meeting on October 7 focused on the continued battle for accessibility improvements — namely, an elevator and modernized escalators — at a key Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) subway station in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, NYC, the Columbia Spectator reports. One of the highest above-ground stations in NYC, the 125th Street and Broadway station has no elevator, and its escalators often malfunction. The MTA’s US$68.4-billion 2025-29 Capital Plan, approved in September, does not include Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant vertical-transportation (VT) upgrades at the station. Meanwhile, MTA is striving to complete construction of ramps or elevators at 95% if its stations by 2055 to comply with ADA requirements. Less than one-third of MTA subway stations are ADA accessible currently. The Elevator Lobby is a joint initiative of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, Morningside Heights Retirement and Health Services, local institutions, civic organizations and residents. MTA Deputy Chief of Staff Sean Fitzpatrick told those at the October 7 meeting that 125^th and Broadway remains “a priority station,” and that the “funding picture (for VT upgrades) needs it be resolved. . .through reactivation, congestion pricing or through an alternative funding source.”