With difficulty, Antonio Pérez climbs the steps at the Corona Plaza subway station every day to get on the 7 train and go to work.
After passing the turnstiles, there are still more steps until you reach the platform.
“Really, sometimes my foot hurts and if it’s true, as I tell you, I work six days a week and then someone comes in tired, do you understand me? Someone comes in tired from work and then it’s very difficult.” really,” said Pérez, a disabled subway user.
Like Pérez, 13% of New Yorkers who use the subway have disabilities, making it difficult for them to access 70% of the stations because they lack ramps or elevators.
-Does it make it difficult for you to climb the steps every day?
“Yes, because I walk a little more on my feet and it would be very good if there was an elevator, because there is a lot, a lot of people traffic here,” said Blanca, another subway user.
For this reason, the University of NY and specifically the Rudin Center for Transportation, has carried out a study that ensures that the money that would be collected from congestion charges in Manhattan would give the MTA the funds they need to be able to achieve the MTA’s goal of making 95% of stations fully accessible to riders with disabilities.
“They are going to make all the stations have elevators and ramps… hey, that would be a great help for everyone, really. I hope that is approved and they help us. Well, I wish they would do this too. As I say “I’m like that, but that help would really be nice,” Pérez added.
Since 2020, the MTA has managed to build the necessary infrastructure such as ramps and elevators at an average of 6 stations per year… and they have not advanced faster, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has noted, due to the lack of economic resources.
“It is correct that they make those ramps or elevators. In some places it is complicated for disabled people. I have sometimes had to help elderly people like you say who walk with their purchases or walk with a cane,” said Belén. Grace, another user.
Many mothers with baby strollers need help climbing the steps.
“It is difficult for us who do not have any kind of disability. What will it be like for that person? He is crippled, incapacitated. I mean, it is extremely impossible,” said Tibisay Villalobos.
And to maintain the pace of construction of the infrastructure necessary to make 95% of the stations accessible, the MTA has indicated that it will need $15 billion of the $52 billion it will collect from congestion pricing. .
2024-01-24 20:56:00
#congestion #pricing #MTA #stations #accessible
