Subway accessibility plan passes Borough Board, disability advocates remain skeptical
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The Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility plan, which would encourage developers to build elevators in subway stations, passed the Borough Board on Monday, June 8, 2021. Photo by Marc A. Hermann/MTA New York City Transit
By Jacob Kaye
In an effort to make transit more accessible, the MTA and Department of City Planning continued to push a plan that would encourage private developers to build elevators in the city’s subway system.
The two agencies pitched their Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility plan, which would offer benefits to developers if they build elevators or other station improvements, to the Queens Borough Board on Monday, June 8. The board voted to approve the plan with 14 in favor and three abstentions.
In Queens, 22 of the borough's 82 stations are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the new plan, 14 more stations would come into compliance with the law, according to the MTA. There are around 130,000 Queens residents who either use a wheelchair or have difficulty walking due to a disability.
But despite the new effort to make the system more accessible, disability advocates remain unconvinced that any real change is coming.
“I don't know anyone who is wholeheartedly for it, whether they're disabled or not,” said Jean Ryan, the president of Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York. “We're skeptical that this will make a difference.”
The plan would involve a multi-pronged approach to building elevators and other accessible measures that would vary from development to development. In some cases, developers building near a subway station in a high density area – like Long Island City – would build and maintain an elevator or subway entrance in exchange for a 20 percent density bonus. In other situations, the developer would give the MTA the rights to a section of their land and the transit agency would make the accessibility improvements.
During Monday’s Borough Board meeting, members voiced concerns about the specificity of the program and the lack of opportunities to bring the plan into lower density areas – which also tend to be transit deserts.
“We’re totally ignored,” said Vincent Arcuri, the chair of Community Board 5, which covers Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood. Arcuri voted in favor of the plan.
The bonuses given to developers would only apply to new developments built within 500 feet of a station or within 1,500 feet of a station in a central business district. Queens’ only central business district is Long Island City.
Board members also expressed concern that the plan isn’t far reaching enough, even in the areas where it would apply.
“There is so much development in Community Board 2, we couldn't help but focus on all of the development that woefully fails to be able to contribute to accessibility improvements in this proposal,” said Lisa Deller, the chair of CB2, who also voted in favor of the Zoning for Accessibility plan.
Advocates say they’re worried that the privately maintained elevators built under the new system – not all will be maintained by private developers, but some will – will operate worse than those maintained by the MTA.
“We're really disgusted with the maintenance of the subway elevators in general,” Ryan said. “Some private ones are just horrible.”
In 2019, the worst performing escalator in the subway system – inside the Lexington Avenue-53rd Street station – and the worst performing elevator in the system – inside the Aqueduct Racetrack A train stop – were both owned and maintained by a private operator, according to a report by THE CITY.
Ryan also worries about the accessibility of subway entrances that are built in private developments.
“We're skeptical about what hours and days those entrances will be open,” she said. “Because there are private subway entrances that are closed sometimes, like, nights and weekends. And because they're in a private building – how would that help us?”
The MTA and Department of City Planning are nearing the end of their efforts to get the plan approved. Should it be passed citywide, the plan will kick into gear in fall of this year.
