By Gus Saltonstall
Two new elevators opened for riders this week at an Upper West Side train station.
The pair of elevators are now up and running at the 66th Street-Lincoln Center 1 train station.
“66 St-Lincoln Center connects 1 train riders to some of the greatest cultural venues in the city. We’re proud to furnish an iconic station with modern, reliable accessibility infrastructure,” said MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer, in a news release. “These new elevators will give the Upper West Side a station they can be proud of.”
The new elevators were funded by the Federal Transit Administration, and the work included the following:
- Full replacement of elevator cab [the car you ride in] and the shaft, along with two new elevator head houses on the street level.
- Equipment updates to ensure the elevator ride is smoother and more reliable.
- Replacement and modernization of all elevator machine room equipment.
- Upgrades to the remote monitoring equipment, intercom system, and cameras to enhance security and allow crews to respond quicker if the elevator goes out of service.
The 66th Street station did previously have elevators, but they were modernized through a larger accessibility project at the station that has been in the works since January 2024.
The Upper West Side train station was among the first in New York City to receive upgrades, repairs, and a deep cleaning last year as part of the MTA’s Re-NEW-vation Program.
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What’s the over/under on how long it takes before this starts smelling like an urinal? 6 minutes?
The Upper West Side motto … “If you’ve got a balloon, we’ve got a pin for it!” Sigh.
Well said! Let’s just enjoy the good news while there IS some…..
I was wondering how long before it’s/they’re out of service.
Have they thought this would be better than escalators?
it’s called accessibility. Wheelchairs and strollers can’t go on escalators….at least not safely.
Too many Upper West Siders would be trapped on an escalator if its power went out.
Have you even stopped to think how much space an escalator takes up, relative to an elevator shaft? And how useless it would be for people with strollers or people with canes, walkers, and wheelchairs, just exactly the people this project is designed to assist. Huh??
Certainly for people in wheelchairs or with walkers or strollers it is much better than escalators.
let us know when you test ride it
People will be pissed.
JUST IN TIME FOR OUR NEW MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI IN NOVEMBER WHO WINS 56% IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR AFTER RANKED-CHOICE TABULATION.
You seem proud to support a socialist.
Why not? Not that the City runs the MTA.
Please stop yelling.
I’m making sure that “Diaper Don” and his cronies in Washington DC hears this.
It aggravates him so much.
I love it. 💙
Really, your yelling is for President Trump, how absurd. Mamdani’s primary just made it easier for Mayor Adams to get reelected.
Did you run out of lower-case letters?
Elevators are great for parents of young children who need to get strollers on and off the subway!
I can confirm this!
It will take time but eventually the revenue from Congestion Pricing will help modernize the subway in many ways
Wouldn’t it be nice if the people who use the transit system, paid their fair share?
Or, for that matter, paid anything at all?
Seeing as NYC is the lifeblood of the tristate region, I think its absolutely fair for suburban drivers to fund the subway that makes NYC run.
What are your thoughts on fare beaters?
Obviously that’s bad! It’s important for subway riders to pay the fare.
By the year 2165.
How do they collect the fare at such an elevator?
It drops you outside the turnstiles. I believe there is a way to get through the emergency door if you need. But when you do so, please make sure that others sneak through behind you without paying the fares – don’t be nice and hold the door for others as they are just fare evaders, not good citizens.
I’m happy this elevator is here but realistically, with an elevator at 72nd Street this really was not a high demand location as there is another one very close by (I know this is pretty far for someone with a wheelchair or stroller, but there are many other parts of the city where the distances are much, much greater). The focus should be on installing elevators in areas where there isn’t another one nearby.
Because many elderly people patron Lincoln Center and 72nd street is just far enough away to make it too far away.
Also, I take a class at the 68th Street NY KidS club. Depending on weather, I might prefer to go to the 66th street stop rather than 72nd to be that much closer.
But does it take you to the platform level? Like at 72nd street?
It’s not one of those elevators that just takes you to another flight of stairs is it?
As WSR has reported, the MTA is putting in elevators on CPW at 81st and 97th. The exit is outside the turnstiles on your track level. There it’s complicated because the uptown track is on a level above the downtown track.
Wondering what the ADA has to say about this.
From the photo I’d say after you get out.
It drops you off outside the turnstyles. When you get off the elevator you go through the turnstyles.
Maybe the elevator takes you to a spot outside the turnstiles?
Wow ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t understand all these negative comments. The elevators at 72nd st 1,2,3 station are alnost always working and are cleaned regularly. In addition there is now an app where you can check if the elevator at your planned station is working right this moment. This is a great improvement. Benefits those with strollers as well as those with mobility issues. Why all the “downers?”
Just before the pandemic I was crossing the platform at 125th Street station in the summer, which is busy, when I heard banging and weeping. A woman was trapped between floors in the glass elevator with her luggage having just returned from a long trip. The emergengy buttons didnt function. She said she was there several hours and only one person went to the token booth clerk and returned to say the clerk would take care of it. When I spoke to the attendant he knew nothing and said he’d take care of it. I told her I wouldn’t leave until help came and talked with her. I told my husband to take care of our young child. About 90 minutes later when I checked with the attendant they had changed shifts and the new attendant knew nothing about it. I called 911 to report she was in distress trapped in the elevator for hours and needed her medication, which was true. They had trouble figuring out how to regain control of the elevator. I can only imagine what happens today with no clerks, not that they made much difference back then. I now personally have an aversion to those elevators and understand negativity about them.
Whenever you talk about elevators, there are always “uppers” and “downers”.
You don’t understand why people would be negative about someone peeing in a public elevator? Or you don’t understand that this is actually reality in this City? As for cleaning…well, if they did clean well, noone will be noticing the issue….so…
But I do thank you for the explanation of the benefits of an elevator.
Peter, you really seem like a fun guy!
Does this mean that you seem like a guy who endorses urinating in elevators? Since we’re exercising in armchair psychoanalysis…
Not at all – I just tire of the constant negative comments. I’m not alone.
Agree. In my experience they’re in much better condition, functionally and odor-wise, than the elevator at, say, West Fourth Street, where it’s best not to touch the walls or doors even when it’s crowded.
You can give every person you see today $50 without any questions, and you’ll find a bunch who complain that it wasn’t $100 or that now have to open their wallet to put it in.
Are the elevators air-conditioned in case they break down halfway down?
Yes. And ice water will be served.
Doubtful. That would cost so much for such an edge case, it’s be pointless.
I should become used to it by now, but I am constantly surprised by the entitlement and tone of most comments posted. There are many parts of this city that do not have elevators or escalators to elevated subway lines that present barriers for the elderly, handicapped, people with packages, people with children or strollers. So why all the snide remarks? For those of us who use the station, it is nice to know that the work is complete and people who need elevator service to access the subways have it again.
It’s really a small, but vocal group of whiners. You know who they are.
No, it’s a small group of people who understand what real “entitlement” means – the abuse of expensive public property as one’s own. But yeah, let’s focus on the cheering that we finally got an expensive, working, clean elevator for 5 minutes.
Thank you for proving my point!