Give With One Hand And Take Away With The Other

The problem with all of the new bathrooms the MTA has installed is that they are frequently out of service:

If you needed to use an elevator yesterday at one of the 55 subway stations that have them, there was a 20% chance you’d be out of luck.

For the the third day in a row, the number of stations with at least one elevator out of commission reached double digits, according to the Disabled Riders Coalition, which called the outages a “citywide epidemic.”

Among those not working was one of the elevators at the Yankee Stadium stop – 161st St. and River Ave. — in the Bronx, a major hub for trains on the B, D and 4 lines.

“These outages are leaving disabled riders stranded,” said coalition coordinator Michael Harris.

The Transit Authority’s elevator hotline reported yesterday that lifts at 10 stations were not working. Harris said riders reported an additional six were down. Elevators can be out of service for several reasons, including maintenance, construction projects and vandalism, a TA spokesman said.