Riders forced to trudge up staircases in heat wave One out of every five Metro escalators was out of service Wednesday, leaving riders hiking up and down what should have been moving staircases as temperatures soared into the mid-90s.
“They need to get them fixed. This is crazy!” said Tannis Baker as he struggled to maneuver two suitcases down a stopped escalator at Dupont Circle on his visit from Boston. “I love the system, but this is nuts.”
As of 9:40 a.m., 126 of the agency’s 588 escalators were out of commission. But that number wasn’t an anomaly. On Monday, it was 113 at one point. Last Wednesday it hit 110.
| Recent outages |
| Here’s a glance at how many of Metro’s 588 escalators were reported out of service on its website over the past several months: |
| Feb. 7: 79 escalators |
| May 10: 92 escalators |
| May 25: 110 escalators |
| Tuesday: 113 escalators |
| Wednesday: 126 escalators |
| Why 126 escalators were out at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday |
| Service call: 56 |
| Safety repair: 30 |
| Modernization: 10 |
| Preventive maintenance repairs: 8 |
| Preventive maintenance inspection: 7 |
| Walker (functioning but turned off due to adjacent outage so riders can walk up or down): 7 |
| Customer incident: 3 |
| Major repair: 3 |
| Fire alarm: 1 |
| Safety inspection: 1 |
It’s an ever-shifting number as the agency fixes some units while others break down. Yet it means that riders likely will encounter at least one stopped escalator in their round-trip commutes. And they aren’t happy about it.
“It’s terrible 24/7. We pay our money and we can’t get the service that we’re paying for,” said Sharon Rainey, a 50-year-old Maryland resident. “Metro needs to work on it and fix it. In the past few years, it’s every morning, every day.”
It was supposed to get better just recently. Last weekend the agency fixed 21 escalators when it shut down four stations for track work. Even so, the number of out-of-service escalators rose this week.
The outages aren’t just wearing on the riders. Two escalator repairmen, who asked their names not be published for fear of retribution, said they showed up to shifts recently to be told they needed to work mandatory overtime that night and every night that week. Such orders usually are reserved for emergencies, such as snowstorms, one said. And it didn’t matter if they had other plans — or had parked their cars in places where they would get towed. They said they were told they would be written up if they didn’t work the extra hours.
Metro did ask all repairmen to work extra hours for two days, and some worked extra hours earlier that week, spokesman Dan Stessel said.
“We were beginning to see an increase in the number of escalator outages. We wanted to get ahead of it,” he said. “When an insufficient number of mechanics volunteered, the request was upgraded to mandatory overtime, consistent with our contract with escalator mechanics.”
He said they provided adequate notice, and allowed exceptions for those who had scheduled medical appointments or vacations.
Metro officials acknowledged the agency has seen more downed escalators in the past few weeks, but they said the outage numbers aren’t a record.
The weather is partly to blame. The heat causes metal to expand, creating slack, especially on the longest escalators, Stessel said.
“We believe the current uptick in out-of-service escalators will be short in duration as the equipment is readjusted for summer weather conditions and more rehabilitated units return to service,” spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said. “That said, there will always be a certain number of units not in service.”
Escalators have been a sore spot since the brakes on one failed at L’Enfant Plaza last fall and sent riders into a heap.
An independent review faulted Metro for its poor maintenance, saying neglect led to breakdowns. Then in February, a Metro report found that escalators were conking out after an average eight days of use.
Stessel said it will take several years for the agency to turn the problem around. Metro is investing $148 million over several years to rehab and repair many of the escalators, he said.
“It can be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re headed in that direction,” he said.
