New York is a city that never sleeps. Like a person that never sleeps, this city never seems to be in a healthy shape, either.
I commute through the Rockefeller Center Subway station everyday. As one of the only handicap-accessible stations in the city, there is an elevator that takes you down to the platform. But don’t bother if you’re in a wheel chair, because it’s out of service. It’s been under construction since last summer. Or maybe earlier. After months of changing warning signs and caution tapes, they now have replaced the exterior glass windows. The latest flier reads that the construction will be complete at an indefinite date.
I’m no mechanical engineer, but am quite certain that it’s easier to fix a single elevator that goes up and down 20 feet, than to maintain a 24-line Subway system that runs through four boroughs. If the same people have trouble keeping one of the busiest stations accessible, who are we counting on to transport millions of people around? Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
On any given day, traverse through a few NYC Subway stations and I can bet you that no more than 2/3 of the escalators are working. On a weekend, that number is likely to drop below 1/2. When you look at the amount and variety of crap that falls on, in, and under those escalators, you will automatically become more sympathetic of the idling maintenance workers, who shall need an amputation if they ever come in close contact with it. Why the crap never gets cleaned up is a separate mystery.