New reports show that New York City's subway stations is not doing so well

Christina Drill
October 03, 2014

We'll start with some numbers and then get to the details-- the Wall Street Journal has just announced that out of the 488 subway stations in New York City, only 51 of them are said to be free of structural defects.

Now. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, considering that we reported back in the summer about how the New York City subway system is almost at disrepair.

This is based on a report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, which is based on collected data from a yearlong survey conducted in 2012. DiNapoli states:

“New York City Transit reports it is making progress on repairing stations, but the pace is too slow and much more work needs to be done. Worn or damaged stairs and platform edges pose risks for riders, while broken tiles, lights and peeling paint leave riders with a low opinion of the transit system.”

This information is definitely good to know, but is the MTA going to do anything about it? The answer is...welp... probably not. The report noted that repairing all of the subway stations would cost more than $5 billion and would take over 20 years to complete. Over the past 30 years, New York City Transit has spent $4.5 billion to renovate 241 stations. So, those are more numbers for you to digest.

Among the subway station stops that are in most need of repair are the Aqueduct Racetrack A train station in Queens (100% of its architectural components need to be fixed), the Castle Hill Avenue 6 train station in the Bronx, and the Wilson Avenue L train station in Brooklyn.

However, don't freak out! Although much upkeep needs to be done, there is not a single subway station that has been deemed unsafe for the 5.8 million daily riders of the subway to sit around waiting for their train to arrive.

“Subway platform edges are safe,” an MTA spokesman told the WSJ. “Any unsafe condition on a platform edge is repaired immediately, just like any unsafe condition anywhere else in the subway system.”

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