AMNY: An additional 12 NYC subway stations will get elevators and other accessibility features as part of the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan, the agency announced on Tuesday.
The dozen stations are in addition to at least 60 others set to become ADA-accessible under the $68.4 billion five-year budget plan. According to MTA officials, the announcement, made near the Franklin Av-Medgar Evers College station in Brooklyn on July 22, will “ensure that nearly 70% of all subway rides will take place to or from” accessible stations.
“We made a promise to the advocates when we came to that historic agreement settling longstanding litigation about ADA and the subways. We are determined to deliver,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “Accessibility is a legal right.”
In addition to speaking with disability advocates, MTA officials used a public tool that allowed customers to let the agency know about their accessibility concerns.
“This was also the first time we engaged, in addition to our disability advocate community, we engaged directly with riders,” Lieber said.
The agency received about 2,000 responses across the city.
“Every New Yorker deserves an accessible, safe, and reliable transit system, and today’s announcement represents real progress towards a better subway for everyone,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “Thanks to record investment in the MTA’s current capital plan and funding from congestion pricing, dozens of station accessibility projects across the city are already underway.”
MTA officials said they are using congestion pricing funds to invest in transit improvements, including ADA upgrades at 23 subway stations with new elevators and reconstructed platforms.
Transit advocates cheered the accessibility upgrades.
