MTA Settles With Disability Advocates as Subway Elevators Improve

Nearly a decade after New Yorkers with disabilities sued the MTA in federal court over allegedly insufficient upkeep of subway elevators, the two sides have reached a legal peace — as the in-service rate for lifts has climbed to nearly 98%.

The pact comes after the 2023 approval of a landmark settlement in two separate cases, and will require almost all of the city’s nearly 500 subway and Staten Island Railway stations to be equipped with elevators or ramps by 2055. 

Currently, 161 stations are accessible, up from 112 when the elevator-maintenance lawsuit was filed in 2017 and the MTA has committed to spending more than $7 billion on station accessibility as part of its nearly $70 billion 2025 to 2029 capital plan.

“As availability has improved, the issues in that dispute narrowed…” said Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief executive. “We were able to find common ground with our disability activist colleagues, partly by the MTA promising to continue doing a lot of what we’re doing already.”

The latest truce, which must be signed off on by U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels, was made public Wednesday during the MTA’s July board meeting. It requires the MTA to more clearly alert the public when elevators are out of service and coincides with the accelerated installation of lifts across the transit system.

The settlement marks the latest twist in a case that was revived by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals after a lower court had ruled in favor of the MTA.

“There have been plenty of stops along the way, but we’re glad our elevator maintenance case has finally reached its destination — a promise of better service for disabled people and anyone who else needs an elevator in New York City’s vast subway system,” said Joe Rappaport, executive director of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, an organization that is among the plaintiffs.

For several years, people with disabilities have protested prior to the monthly board meetings about the MTA’s insistence on fighting the long-running and costly lawsuit that is centered around alerts to the public over out-of-service subway elevators.

There was no protest on Wednesday.

“I’m glad that we are putting to bed, again, the whole history of disputes,” Lieber said. “And I really do hope that we can continue to achieve great things for disability but more through collaboration and hopefully, a little bit less litigation.”

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