Up and Down: Traveling on New York City's Subways

HARD DAY'S NIGHT: A woman returning to the Borough Hall subway station in Brooklyn Heights climbs a long stairwell. The station's escalator has been shut off—again. PHOTO: By Cecily Barnes

he ominous, treacherously long escalator at the Borough Hall subway station in Brooklyn Heights has stopped in its tracks--again. The likely culprit? The emergency stop button. pproximately one-third of escalator stoppages at New York City subways are due not to major technical problems, says MTA program manager Joseph Trainor, but to riders pressing the Emergency Stop button. They press it for fun, for a prank, on accident or as an alternate way down when the stairwells are filled.

HEADING DOWN: Commuters are used to walking down stairways. Up is another story. PHOTO: Cecily Barnes

"When there's a flood of passengers on the stairs, a person will stand there and think, 'if I hit that emergency stop button, that escalator will stop and I can walk down it,'" Trainor says. "I know because I've seen it happen."

Other times teen-agers hit the button to show off, or a person may jump off the escalator and trigger the emergency stop response. This automatic reflex kicks in when the escalator senses tremendous pressure. It was designed to protect passengers who may get their foot or pant leg caught in the machine. Once the escalator has stopped, a second problem ensues. The longer it goes unreported, the longer it sits still.

"If it's reported, it can take just five or 10 minutes to fix," says New York City transit spokesman James Anyansi. "But if we don't know about it, it might stay out long simply because it hasn't been reported." Commuters don't report stopped escalators for a host of reasons.

Some can't be bothered and are in a rush, and others incorrectly think their station's escalator is a lemon and requires more intensive maintenance than the flip of a switch. Either way, MTA maintenance can't fix the escalator until it knows about the problem. It may be an extra minute to tell the person in the booth, but it's also a long way up the stairs.