Would The Disabled Get A Congestion Pricing Exemption? (Just Thinking Out Loud Here . . .)

You could tell everyone which of them isn’t working or you could just go ahead and, you know, actually fix them . . . but then that would be too easy, I suppose:

For many straphangers, encountering a broken elevator or escalator can be one of the more unpleasant surprises of travel in the subway system, requiring a long trek up a hot flight of stairs. For riders in wheelchairs, it can be far more than an inconvenience, requiring a lengthy detour to get out of the subway system.

Starting today, New York City Transit will try to eliminate at least some of the surprise — if not the aggravation — by posting a list of elevators and escalators that are out of service, on its Web site, mta.info. The information that will be available on the Internet will be similar to information already provided by the transit agency on a special telephone hotline, (800) 734-6772.

Michael Harris, who leads an advocacy group called the Disabled Riders Coalition, applauded the move and suggested that the transit agency go a step further and make announcements on trains pulling into stations where elevators are not working. That way, he said, riders who use wheelchairs would know not to get off at a station where they might be stuck on a platform with no way out.