Nearly a decade after New Yorkers with disabilities sued the MTA in federal court over allegedly insufficient upkeep of subway elevators, the two sides have reached a legal peace — as the in-service rate for lifts has climbed to nearly 98%.
The pact comes after the 2023 approval of a landmark settlement in two separate cases, and will require almost all of the city’s nearly 500 subway and Staten Island Railway stations to be equipped with elevators or ramps by 2055.
Currently, 161 stations are accessible, up from 112 when the elevator-maintenance lawsuit was filed in 2017 and the MTA has committed to spending more than $7 billion on station accessibility as part of its nearly $70 billion 2025 to 2029 capital plan.
“As availability has improved, the issues in that dispute narrowed…” said Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive. “We were able to find common ground with our disability activist colleagues, partly by the MTA promising to continue doing a lot of what we’re doing already.”
The latest truce, which must be signed off on by U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels, was made public Wednesday during the MTA’s July board meeting. It requires the MTA to more clearly alert the public when elevators are out of service and coincides with the accelerated installation of lifts across the transit system.
The settlement marks the latest twist in a long-lingering case that was revived by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court had ruled in favor of the MTA.
“There have been plenty of stops along the way, but we’re glad our elevator maintenance case has finally reached its destination — a promise of better service for disabled people and anyone who else needs an elevator in New York City’s vast subway system,” said Joe Rappaport, executive director of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, an organization that is among the plaintiffs.
Jessica Murray of the Rise and Resist Elevator Action Group said the existing alert system on elevator outages is not enough, adding that the lawsuit should not have taken so many years to settle.
“People that I know who use the system regularly check the MTA app before they leave their house and the information is not updated,” she said. “They often don’t find out until they have already paid their fare and made it all the way down to the mezzanine and see that an elevator is out of service.”
Plaintiff Sharon McLennon-Wier, who is blind, said the authority’s legal commitment to clearer alerts on long-term elevator outages is a significant step forward for riders with disabilities.
“In signing this settlement, we are going to learn that notifications will be put in place and someone doesn’t have to be stranded or spend more time during their journey during that day to get to where they need to go,” said McLennon-Wier, executive director of Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York.
For several years, people with disabilities have protested prior to the monthly board meetings about the MTA’s insistence on fighting the long-running and costly lawsuit that is centered around alerts to the public over out-of-service subway elevators.
“If it wasn’t for us yelling, screaming, rallying, saying, ‘Hey, when are you going to have an elevator out today…’ we wouldn’t be here today,” McLennon-Wier said.
There was no protest on Wednesday.
“I’m glad that we are putting to bed, again, the whole history of disputes,” Lieber said. “And I really do hope that we can continue to achieve great things for disability but more through collaboration and hopefully, a little bit less litigation.”
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