MTA’s emergency exits prone to hazards like exposed wires, broken railings and missing lights: audit

A new audit found the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s emergency exits are posing hazards, with crumbling walls, exposed wires — and even broken guardrails on walkways 30 feet above the ground.

MTA Inspector General Daniel G. Officials from the Court’s office inspected 163 locations and found that 41% required repairs immediately or in the near future – while 54% of the 65 emergency exit stairs reviewed suffered from “serious defects”, the release said. Thursday, according to the audit.

“I witnessed some of the issues highlighted in our audit firsthand during the site visit and am deeply concerned by the poor conditions we observed,” Cort said in a statement.

The audit found that exits from subways and MTA facilities were fraught with tripping hazards, obstructions, non-existent lighting, rust, and more.

Inspectors found that the subways were full of emergency exit hazards, including a hatch that failed to open from the inside, structural defects with the concrete ceiling and walls described as “severely cracked and dilapidated”.

Emergency exit routes must be safe and unobstructed emergency exit doorAccording to auditors, stairs, elevated tracks as well as walkways and walkways in subway tunnels. These paths can be used by riders during emergencies or by workers for repairs and inspections.

Inspectors also found that leaks and poor drainage were causing erosion and structural damage.

The audit said the elevated tracks were even more dangerous – with loose or broken guardrails sometimes extending more than 100 feet.

According to the report, even in areas 30 feet above street level, the handrails were so loose that “if significant weight were placed on the handrails, they would not hold”. The report does not specify where the most dangerous guardrails are located, but notes that Queens and Brooklyn have seen more incidents of loose guardrails than the Bronx.

According to the audit, subway exits often have “dirty or broken” lighting systems that provide poor or sometimes no illumination at all. In some instances, auditors reportedly had to navigate by flashlight.

The report said most immediate deficiencies had been corrected by MTA workers by the time the audit’s findings were published nearly a year later.

The report alleges that the MTA did not discover the issues itself due to poor oversight.

According to the report, only 13% of the serious defects identified by the OIG were previously caught by MTA inspectors, and MTA inspection reports are vague – devoid of details or photos to help repair crews know where they should be. What work should be done?

According to the report, when issues were reported by MTA inspectors, the issues were rarely resolved in a timely manner. The report stated that approximately 76% of “serious defects” reported by MTA inspectors did not receive a response from repair crews within the 90-day period required by NYC Transit policy.

The MTA rejected the auditors’ recommendations for several reasons. In some cases the transit giants flatly disagreed with the OIG’s recommendations and in other cases the MTA claimed that existing policies and procedures were already adequate.

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber, speaking at an unrelated press conference on Thursday, said the OIG report “mixed up” some “temporary conditions”, such as a chained emergency exit door and cracks in the concrete.

Libor talked about a withdrawal last week 3,500 subway passengers were stranded underground for almost three hours The emergency exits were “functioning properly” after two F trains in Brooklyn lost power midway between their stations. He blamed the fire department for the evacuation that lasted for hours without air conditioning.

“We’re really attentive to emergency exits, and we had to use them just this week, and they worked fine. And we’re working to make sure that the fire department can help us get people – God forbid – out of emergency exits quickly,” Lieber said.

The MTA promised in its December response to the report that all hazards at emergency exits would be fixed by the second quarter of 2025.

The MTA also agreed with the recommendations for improving its inspection process and noted that 2025-2029 Capital Plan This includes $100 million for emergency evacuation, “the most significant investment ever made in emergency evacuation,” the response said.

But the MTA reportedly rejected the OIG’s recommendation to assign responsibility for guardrail inspections to specific employees because engineers already perform “visual inspections.”

This shameful report comes when MTA is under criticism Power cut during rush hourOne Unpopular Manhattan Congestion Toll And there are fears of fare increases that could increase subway and bus fares by as much as $3.

The agency has also been ignored suspicious expenses Like a plan to pay a contractor up to $1 million for a report on the mentality of fare hikers.