Worst Subway Escalator Hasn't Worked In More Than A Year: Report

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The subway system's worst-performing escalator has been down for longer than a year and fixes may not come until fall 2020, according to new reports.

The escalator — which connects to the E and M platform at the Lexington Avenue and East 53rd Street station — broke down on Jan. 20, 2019 and hasn't been working since, THE CITY first reported. The target date for its return is Sept. 30, 2020, according to the report.

Angry subway passengers shouldn't be blaming the MTA for the escalator's shoddy performance, though. The equipment is actually the responsibility of a private company called Metropolitan 885 Third Avenue as part of a 1983 agreement to allow the firm to build a 47-story building near the station, THE CITY reported. The private company took over maintenance duties on the escalator in exchange for additional development space, according to the report.

In 2011 the MTA encouraged Metropolitan 885 Third Avenue to fully-replace the escalator, but the company went with a short-term fix instead, according to a letter sent by the MTA to the firm last year. Notices on the escalator posted by the MTA read: "This privately owned, non-NYC Transit escalator is out of service for rehabilitation work."

The Lexington Avenue and East 53rd Street station performed worse than any other escalator in the New York City subway system in 2019 with a shoddy 24-hour availability rate of 4.9%. On average, privately-maintained escalators perform worse than those maintained by the MTA, THE CITY reported.

Read the full THE CITY report here.