ENTRANCE EXAM
Stringer: Study use of long-shut subway stairs
Long-closed subway stairs could be an untapped solution to overcrowding on train platforms, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has shut hundreds of subway entrances across the city. In some places, the closings squeeze straphangers into tight bottlenecks as they enter or exit stations, Stringer says.
Stringer sent a letter to NYC Transit President Andy Byford demanding to know why the access points are closed — and when the agency plans to reopen them.
“As of 2015, NYC Transit reported that 298 street stairs were closed to the public at 119 unique stations,” Stringer wrote. “Many were shuttered in the 1970s, a period of dramatic decline for the city and the subway system. It is far past time to move beyond that era and invest in a more equitable and accessible transit system.”
Stringer’s concerns center on entrances like the southern stairs to the MyrtleWilloughby stop on the G line — which since 1978 has only been accessible via stairs on Myrtle Ave. and not
Willoughby Ave.
Another station with closed entrances is the bustling W. Fourth St. stop in the West Village. Its entrances on the southern corners of Washington Place and Sixth Ave. have also been closed since 1978.
Stringer argued that longclosed stairways should be reopened to avoid overcrowding.
The MTA in October reported that subway ridership was on the rise for the first time since 2015, a statistic that reinforced Stringer’s position that subway stations should have as many entry points as possible.
MTA spokesman Tim Minton said transit honchos “will be happy to work with the comptroller to assist his understanding of the process” of shuttering entrances.