Metro is proposing to add 10 workers to its escalator and elevator maintenance division in the coming budget, part of a request for 345 new employees agencywide. But to really fix the long-standing problem with its perennially broken escalators — which left one of every five escalators out of service last week — the agency said it would need 55 more workers at a cost of $6.8 million.

An outside consultant said in the fall that Metro’s poor maintenance practices led the escalators and elevators to break down. Over the winter, the transit agency acknowledged it has been struggling to meet its own upkeep goals. In December, Metro met its own preventive maintenance schedule on its 588 escalators just 40 percent of the time.