The MTA has decided to halt its plans to install elevators at more than 20 subway stations across the city, including one in Midtown where a mother died carrying her baby and stroller on the stairs five years ago, Gothamist reported.
The agency’s decision was reportedly prompted by New York City Governor Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on congestion pricing that she announced last month.
After state lawmakers approved congestion pricing and $15 billion in funding for transit upgrades with it in April 2019, MTA officials approved a $5.2 billion plan to add elevators to 72 subway stations through its 2020-2024 capital program.
However, when Gov. Hochul announced that the tolls would not launch as planned on June 30, the MTA scrapped initiatives soon after. The agency canceled 23 of its subway accessibility projects, including the one at Seventh Avenue.
The Seventh Avenue station in Midtown Manhattan is where the death of 22-year-old Malaysia Woodson took place in January 2019. Woodson was carrying her 1-year-old daughter Rhylee in a stroller when she collapsed on the third of three staircases she had to use to get to the platform. Her baby survived, and the city’s medical examiner ruled that Goodson’s death was caused by thyroid issues and an irregular heartbeat, but her family has still expressed the belief that an elevator could have saved her life.
This incident incited a public outcry for more elevators in the subway system, in which more than 300 stations do not have elevators, pushing the MTA to create its most expansive accessibility plan yet. The tragedy became a symbol of the MTA’s failure to make the subway accessible for riders with disabilities and parents who are forced to carry their young children, and sometimes strollers, up and down stairs while commuting.
“What if there was an elevator in the station, and she did get in the elevator and her heart stopped? Goodson’s cousin Dontaysia Turner said to Gothamist. “What if somebody would have been there and would have been able to save her?”
In 2022, the MTA settled a lawsuit over its ongoing failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became federal law in 1990 and requires transit systems to be fully accessible. The transit agency agreed to add ramps or elevators to 95% of the city’s subway stations by 2055.
It’s not yet clear how Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing and the subsequent loss of funding might impact that agreement.
