To: Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President of City College of New York

From: Karol Jablonski, Student at City College of New York  K J

Subject: Impacts and Risks of Broken Escalators
Date: February 17, 2025

The purpose of this memorandum is to bring to attention the issues that arise from inoperative escalators, as well as provide a solution/alternative. 

Summary

The ongoing issues with the escalators may not seem like an immediate issue, as they are just some stairs, but they are an active safety concern and a major inconvenience. Escalator steps are not designed to be used as regular stairs and have a larger, and steeper angled rise. People moving quickly, can easily trip on these and get injured. A broken escalator can also leave misaligned steps, where people’s shoes can get caught and cause injury. The higher than normal step height creates a dangerous environment that hundreds of people have to use. 

Inoperative escalators also pose a major mobility issue as they impact the course that people take to get to class. When one of the escalators isn’t working people rely on the other one, and students have to use the same one whether they are going up or down a floor. This heavily increases foot traffic, as students have to pass each other on the stairs, shoulder to shoulder. This poses a serious issue as students can easily bump into one another and fall, or create even more traffic. Students expect the escalators to work, and when they don’t, we have to take alternate routes, increasing the foot traffic on the elevators and regular stairs, causing big delays. Those with disabilities that rely on these escalators have no choice but to use the elevators which are already packed with people that would not normally be using them. 

With escalators constantly breaking down, the cost of maintenance keeps increasing. Addressing the issue immediately would save the College a lot of money, instead of pouring more and more into the same recurring issue. With each repair and part replacement, the escalator’s lifespan can be drastically decreased. Each time there is a breakdown the technicians have to work on the repairs, which is not cheap, and the parts can be installed incorrectly, which can cause the system to malfunction. Frequent repairs can cost more than a replacement of the escalators altogether. 

Recommendation

With the escalators being such high-traffic areas, I would recommend addressing the issue as soon as possible. Installing new escalators would cost more than a temporary repair but would be a smart long-term investment. New escalators would not pose safety hazards as they would be operating as intended, not breaking down every week. Foot traffic would decrease, and people with disabilities could rely on efficient transportation. These new escalators would be way more reliable as all the parts would be brand new and have no wear on them, allowing them to handle the heavy foot traffic. 

I would recommend getting new standard, electrically-powered escalators from Otis Elevator Company. These are the escalators that the MTA uses in their subway stations, which are highly efficient. The MTA is one of the highest foot traffic areas, and yet their escalators are always working. Whenever one is not, their maintenance teams address the issue incredibly fast and usually have them working again in a day. This shows they have effective escalators and maintenance teams to uphold them. 

With the replacement of these escalators, CCNY students can expect fewer jam-ups on their way to classes. Students’ safety would also increase as there would be less of a risk of falling, tripping, or getting pushed and injured. The cost of maintaining these escalators would also decrease long term, as the maintenance team would be in and out in about a day, rather than having to pay the current maintenance team for weeks of labor, just for them to be down again in about a week. Replacing the escalators may seem unnecessary, but it is a long-term investment that will make the learning experience at CCNY more enjoyable.