LUCKY
DAY: On a Thursday morning, a man relaxes on the 59th street
subway station escalator, which commuters say works only
half the time. PHOTO: Cecily Barnes
anual Suarez, 39,
rolls into the 59th Street subway station five mornings a
week en route to his wait-staff job at the St. Regis Hotel. The
4 and 5 trains deposit him nearly 100-steps deep in the bowels
of the city's underground. When the escalator isn't working--as
commuters say it isn't between 30 and 50 percent of the time--Suarez
has no choice but to take the steps, all 100 of them.
EXTRA
LOAD: Mothers with baby strollers especially appreciate
broken escalators. It gives them a chance to exercise, one
mother said. PHOTO:
Cecily Barnes
lthough it is said
that what comes up must also come down, and vice-versa, this is
not always the case in New York City subway stations. Commuters
are often forced to trudge up long stairwells that look suspiciously
like broken escalators. Escalators that are notoriously broken
can be found at the Borough Hall stop in Brooklyn Heights, the
Park Place station at City Hall, the Main Street terminal in Flushing
and the 59th Street stop at Park Avenue.
ommuters say it's
a crapshoot whether their station's escalator will be functional
each morning. "About 30 percent of the time you'll find the escalators
broken," says Steve Streiker, 42, a global account manager for
AT&T. "These are really long stairways. I wouldn't want to have
to walk them everyday. Morning commuters, always in need of a
lift of some sort, find the walk especially bothersome. "That's
a lot of stairs to walk up early in the morning," says Stacy,
26, carrying a large backpack and an armload of packages.
anual Suarez, 39,
rolls into the 59th Street subway station five mornings a
week en route to his wait-staff job at the St. Regis Hotel. The
4 and 5 trains deposit him nearly 100-steps deep in the bowels
of the city's underground. When the escalator isn't working--as
commuters say it isn't between 30 and 50 percent of the time--Suarez
has no choice but to take the steps, all 100 of them. 
lthough it is said
that what comes up must also come down, and vice-versa, this is
not always the case in New York City subway stations. Commuters
are often forced to trudge up long stairwells that look suspiciously
like broken escalators. Escalators that are notoriously broken
can be found at the Borough Hall stop in Brooklyn Heights, the
Park Place station at City Hall, the Main Street terminal in Flushing
and the 59th Street stop at Park Avenue. 
ommuters say it's
a crapshoot whether their station's escalator will be functional
each morning. "About 30 percent of the time you'll find the escalators
broken," says Steve Streiker, 42, a global account manager for
AT&T. "These are really long stairways. I wouldn't want to have
to walk them everyday. Morning commuters, always in need of a
lift of some sort, find the walk especially bothersome. "That's
a lot of stairs to walk up early in the morning," says Stacy,
26, carrying a large backpack and an armload of packages. 
