A Stairway to Heaven Returned

Quite quietly escalator ES416 returned to service this week at the Roosevelt Island subway station connecting the lower mezzanine to the upper mezzanine. It was slated to reopen September 19th a date that came and was gone with no fan fare or explanation as to why service had not been restored. The escalator had been taken out of service I believe in early to mid July from what I recall.

No big fuss was made by this blog as generally ES415 right next to it was up and running most days allowing riders to make their way up towards street level (or at least half way there).

All I can say is we generally take the escalators for granted until that time or two when they are out and you are carrying more bags than you would want to climbing the steps out after a long day.

Does this post have any real point other than to thank the MTA for finally finishing this project? Not really.

Out of Service But Under Construction?

Has anybody actually seen Escalator ES 416 at the Roosevelt Island subway station (F Train) being worked on by an MTA escalator repair crew? The escalator connecting the lower mezzanine to the upper mezzanine has been out of service for at least 2 to 3 weeks already but I have yet to see any work being done.

One morning I saw a few workers taking measurements but that was it. As long as the adjoining escalator ES 415 is working for rush hours allowing travelers to avoid walking up the steps we are ok. But it does get crowded sometimes. I can't complain too much but was curious to ask if during off hours anyone has seen work?

Escalators Reversing Directions or Not Working ?

What’s the deal with our local Roosevelt Island subway escalators?

ES 414 which normally runs down from the Upper to the Lower Mezzanine alternatively shut down for repairs to running "up" to being shut down again.

ES 415 which normally runs up from the Lower to the Upper Mezz has been running as a down escalator and is now also out of service.

ES 411 which normally runs down and ES 412 which normally runs up are both reversed. (They run between the street level to the Upper Mezzanine).

And weren’t we promised some time ago that two of the four escalators which run between the Lower Mezzanine and the platforms would run down to the platforms during the morning rush hours? I think that was in effect for what maybe two weeks. The idea was that the station agent would use their key and put all four back into an up mode after the rush hour concluded.

Down Escalator ES 411 Out of Service until June 9th

At least when we found the down escalator out of service this morning they had one of the normally UP escalators running down for the morning commute.

B is for Boarding

When we moved in 2006 to Roosevelt Island on April 18th the Tram went out of service so we did not step foot in the elevator at the Manhattan tram station until service returned in late August. Once we did we were momentarily perplexed as to what the "B" stood for on the control panel. As we never thought to ask it was some time before we learned that "B" was for Boarding.

If you travel with a child ask them to guess what the "B" stands for. I am guessing you will get a few interesting responses if they don't know the answer.

Lower Escalator Update: 2 Up & Now 2 Down

Ok, this may be good news for morning rush hour Roosevelt Island commuters but some commuters at night may not be happy with me.

Based on my November 25th post of last month, Paul Curtis, the Community Liason / Legislative Aide to Assembly member Micah Z. Kellner, asked the MTA why all four of the lower escalators are continuously running UP from the subway platforms to the lower mezzanine and not an even split of two up and two down.

Well, according to Mr. Curtis, the MTA finally got back to him and they expect, with the exception of rush hours, to now split the four escalators up with each platform having one escaltor running up and the other down. we'll see how well the station personnel do at switching the directions before and after each rush hour.

I can now see a number of evening commuters being unhappy with me as their sbway car empties by the escalator, not yet switched, going the wrong way as they see it.

Do all the lower escalators have to go "up"?

A reader commenting on our last post questioned why all four of Roosevelt Island's subway station escalators that run between the platforms and the station's lower mezzanine are running solely in the "up" direction:

"Why do both escalators from the platform to the mezzanine go in the up direction 24/7? Before the replacement we had one escalator going down and the other one up. Can we have this back?"

It is a good question. My kids have also been asking me why they can't take any of these escalators down to the platforms as well. Granted the stairs work fine to walk down to the platforms but they keep asking.

For them it's fun but for an individual that can't walk down stairs easily and for whom the escalators are a necessity having all four running in the "up" direction must be very annoying. Perhaps someone at the NYCTA figured walking up was harder so they arbitrarily set them all to "up"?

Note: The escalators in question here are not the six escalators that run between the street level down to the lower mezzanine.

Escalator Update: ES 412/415 Almost Open

The barriers are down and Roosevelt Island resident can see the gleaming new escalators installed as ES 412 and ES 415 but residents don't yet have acess as the yellow gates in these photos can attest to. I saw first hand yesterday evening the tease awaiting the morning rush hour commuters.

Except for the pics from the street level taken by myself each of the following pics is provided courtesy of Judy Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society. As noted by the Roosevelt Islander the MTA escalator and elevator outage page still lists this escalator set as under construction. Unfortunately that same MTA page lists EL 404, the Queens Bound elevator as out of service which I also noticed tonight from the platform level.

Our Escalators Are Alive !!!!

What happens when the MTA subcontracts the restoration of the Roosevelt Island escalators to Dr. Frankenstein and the ghost of Dear Abby? The escalators come alive and have a penchant for giving advice and we are not just talking about holding the hand rail. Who knows perhaps singles from all over will come here wondering if the escalators will make them a match?

The above YouTube video was directed by Jeffery Lee and is quite funny. I think we all have heard those voices but were just afraid to admit it to anyone.

Update: Up and Down Escalators !!!

As of this morning Roosevelt Island has two sets of operational escalators, up (ES 413/416) and down (ES 411/414), from the street level to the lower mezzanine. Cool.

Escalator Update: Construction Pushes Thru 9/19 Morning Rush

Perhaps by the commute home they will have Roosevelt Island escalators ES 413/416 back on line but from this picture it sure was not the case for the morning rush hour despite MTA expectations that this escalator set would be back in service by today.

Correction:

In my last post I indicated that a 9/19 return of ES 413/416 would be 6 days earlier than originally planned by the MTA. I was incorrect the posters all along indicated 9/19 was the expected return to service date. The ES 413/416 went off line again on 8/25 to be joined up with ES 412/415 and the "25th" just got stuck in my memory when I wrote that post.

Escalator Update: Early and Delayed Returns

Escalators ?

Good news and bad news regarding our Roosevelt Island subway escalators. According to the advisory posters the remaining two sets of escalators were slated to both return on September 25th but that is no longer the case.

According to Deirdre Parker, NYC Transit spokeswoman, the ES 413/416 set is scheduled to re-open on September 19th, six days early. The ES 412/415 set however is expected to return to service in mid-October two weeks late. No reason has been reported at this time for the delay.

Weekend Service Disruptions ?

Unrelated to the escalator construction, Ms. Parker indicated that there are no scheduled service disruptions scheduled for any weekend affecting the 63rd Street Tunnel stations, including Roosevelt Island, through the end of October. So we can expect approximately 6 weeks of full weekend subway service to run through Roosevelt Island.

Morning Commute – Schools Open, More Feet in Local Subway

Today is the first morning that theoretically should subject the recent Roosevelt Island elevator / escalator / stair configuration to a full test as most schools are back in session and very few people are still taking Summer vacations.

My older child wanted to be at school early so we arrived at the station by 7:55 am and it was a fairly quick wait for the elevator, the pkatfirm was not crowded, and the trains were not yet packed. No seats but standing was not a hassle and a half.

The Stairs Down Roosevelt Island's Subway Station

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For those of you wondering how bad the stairs at the Roosevelt Island subway station could possibly be I have prepared the above video.

If the elevators go out this is what our residents have to deal with as long as the lone pair escalators from the Street to the Lower Mezzanine are locked as "up only".

Now don't get me wrong, I'd rather walk down this never ending stairway than up it and I just putting this video out there so people can see how deep the stairs and escalators have to go.

First Morning Rush - No Down Escalators

Today, 8/25, is the first morning rush hour that the Roosevelt Island subway station will have no down escalators for the next three weeks. Now this may sound like no big deal but when that means descending 8 sets of stairs each about 15 stairs in length just to get to the lower mezzanine, not even the platform, when about 6000 residents commute through the station in the morning it's a big deal.

As discussed in previous posts the reason for the change is the current escalator rehab is now marrying up the most recent new escalators (ES 412/415 - not yet open) with existing set ES 413/416. For this three week period ES411/414 are locked in a perpetual up direction.

Overall from 8:00am through 8:30am there were no issues to deal with. A number of residents appeared caught off guard despite the number of signs put up the last two weeks. As expected the elevators down were a bit backed up but cleared out rather quickly as the red buses and Q102s did not get to bunched up dropping off riders at the station.

Starting Aug 25th - Down Escalators Closed

Staring next Monday, August 25th the escalators (ES 411 and 414) normally locked in the down direction will be locked as "up" escaltors for three weeks and the only down to the platforms will be the stairs or the elevators. G-d help us if the elevators are out of service.


The reason for this temporary inconvenience is that the curent "up" escaltors, ES 413 and 416, are being closed so that the adjacent escalators, ES 412 and 415, currently under construction can be completed.

No word yet when ES 413 and 416 will be taken out of service for long term construction. Presumably after ES 412 and and 415 are fully back on line.

NY1: Video of Variable Speed Escalators on Roosevelt Island

Bobby Cuza from NY1 has a much better video piece shot here on Roosevelt Island than I can possibly shoot showing how the variable speed escalators change speeds from slow to standard.

Link HERE.

Videos of Escalators: Variable Speed and Standard

The first video below is a quick video showing the difference in speeds between slow at 15 feet per second to that of the standard 100 feet per second as taped on Roosevelt Island. I was not yet able to capture the transition from slow to standard. Direct YouTube link.

The second video is a quick tour of the upper escalators without venturing down to the track level. Watch for future updates. Note that construction currently is blocking off one pair of escalators ES 412 and ES 415 from the street down to the lower mezzanine.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

MTA Unveils Variable Speed Escalators Today

I did not get the chance to commute through the Roosevelt Island subway station today to gauge reactions to the new variable speed escalators but I suspect most commuters did not notice as I am sure it was a rare instance during rush hour when the escalators would slow down to the 15 feet per second speed.

I am unsure what directions the escalators were running this morning but a street view of the escalators this weekend indicated that the escalators closest to the Manhattan elevator (ES 413) was turned off and the escalators closest to the token booth (ES 411) were running “up” from the lower mezzanines.

As of August 25th when four escalators in total will be turned off and blocked for construction ES 411 and ES 414 (closest to the token booth and Queens elevator) will be locked on an “up” position leaving only the stairs and elevators available for riders looking to descend to both the Queens and Manhattan / Brooklyn bound tracks.

UPDATE 7:00 PM:

Rick from the Roosevelt Islander happened to be heading through the station this morning and is quoted in a late afternoon NY Times piece regarding day one of Variable Speed escalators. Some of Rick’s comments were misquoted and the woman discussed was his mother-in-law not his mother. Ricks’s quote was referring to the on-going escalator problems we are having on the island not just the variable speed escalators.

MTA to Test Variable Speed Escalators at Roosevelt Island

According to a NY Times City Room blog post this evening starting this Monday the MTA will be switching four (4) of the new escalators at the Roosevelt Island station onto a variable speed system. When each of the escalators has no riders on it the system will switch to an energy efficient 15 feet per second as opposed to the standard 100 feet per second. Conversely after a previously empty escalator has a new rider the system will speed up gradually over 10 seconds from 15 feet per second to 100 feet per second.

My initial reaction is one of concern. The energy efficiency goal is a great one but I am concerned if there ever could be a point where the system may not wait for the full 10 seconds and may lurch from 15 fps to the 100 fps speed without warning shaking unaware transit riders into possibly falling.

Already Roosevelt Island residents have been notified that as of August 25th we are to lose another pair of escalators (ES 413 and 416) to construction for a month to hook up with the current escalators off line (ES 412 and 415). To now turn the remaining escalators ES 411 and 414 into a test situation when they are the only working pair from the lower mezzanine to the street is scary. I am hoping maintenance is on call.