Subway service is back 24/7, but some
entrances remain locked around the clock
CLOSED: The entrance to 42 Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station remains shuttered, even though the
Intercontinental New York Times Square hotel next door has reopened.
BY JOSE MARTINEZ
THE CITY
Round-the-clock subway service
resumed early Monday for the fi rst
time in more than a year and weekday
ridership now regularly tops 2 million
— about 40% of pre-pandemic levels.
But amid signs of a slow subway rebound,
seven privately maintained subway
entrances in Manhattan have remained
off-limits to riders since the start of the
pandemic, including two with elevators
leading into some of the MTA’s busiest
Midtown stations.
“A lot of people see that and think the
subway is closed,” said Ibrahim Md, who
operates a newsstand across from a locked
entrance to the 42nd Street-Port Authority
station.
The entrance at the southwest corner
of West 44th Street and Eighth Avenue
is among the approximately 150 gateways
in a 472-station system where maintenance
is left to not to the MTA, but to the
owners of neighboring offi ce buildings
or hotels.
While the Intercontinental New York
Times Square hotel has reopened, the
entrance to the 42nd Street/Port Authority
Bus Terminal station and its elevator
have stayed closed. Representatives for
West 44th Street Hotel, LLC could not be
reached for comment.
“Opening up these entrances is a nobrainer
to welcome riders back to the
subway,” said Ben Fried of TransitCenter,
a research and advocacy organization.
“There’s no excuse to keep them closed,
especially the entrances that provide much
elevator access.”
THE CITY reported in October that 10
privately maintained subway entrances had
been closed since the start of the pandemic
— and found Monday that three in Lower
Manhattan have since reopened, including
a newly reopened passageway from
the building once known as One Chase
Manhattan Plaza to the Broad Street stop
on the J and Z lines.
But as the MTA celebrated the return
PHOTO BY JOSE MARTINEZ/THE CITY
of 24/7 service and a continued uptick in
daily ridership as the city reopens, there
are signs that the subway’s comeback could
be snagged in places.
‘Open That Entrance’
Seven privately maintained station entrances
— including ones that connect to
the Fulton Center in Lower Manhattan and
to 34th Street-Penn Station in Midtown —
remain closed by building owners, according
to the MTA.
“There are a large number of entrances
to our 472 stations and these include a
small number of privately maintained
entrances,” said Andrei Berman, an
MTA spokesperson. “We work with the
property owners on a case-by-case basis
to make decisions about when to reopen
entrances that have been temporarily
closed.”
At 33 Maiden Lane, escalators leading
to an entrance at the Fulton Street stop
on the J and Z line are cordoned off. At
7 Bryant Park, metal barricades at street
level block the 39th Street entrance to the
42nd Street-Bryant Park station, where an
elevator is out of service.
“Are they going to wait for September
or for everyone to be vaccinated?” asked
Alex Santiago, 50, after he encountered
the closed subway entrance at 42nd Street-
Bryant Park. “We’re at a point where so
many people have been vaccinated and
where ridership has gone up exponentially
from a year ago, we most defi nitely should
open that entrance.”
The entrance and elevator are maintained
by 7 Bryant Park, home to the Bank
of China. A representative for the building
said the MTA had requested the entrance
and elevator remain closed.
“In opening these entrances, it would
send a clear signal that the subway is open
for business,” said Jaqi Cohen, campaign
director for the Straphangers Campaign.
“Anything we can do as a city to welcome
ridership as we come out of the pandemic
is vital.”
‘It’s a Big Problem’
An MTA spokesperson previously told
THE CITY that some of the 150 privately
owned station entrances were closed at the
request of building owners early in the pandemic,
when subway ridership fell by more
than 90%.
But after more than a year when the
subway was closed to passengers during
overnight hours, Cohen said landlords “need
to buy into the reopening.”
“Anything we can do as a city to welcome
ridership as we come out of the pandemic is
vital,” she said.
Md, the newsstand worker on 44th Street,
said the closed entrance has been bad for his
business, too.
“The hotel is back now, but the entrance
is still closed,” he said. “It’s a big problem.”
Here are the closed privately maintained
subway entrances, all in Manhattan:
• 33 Maiden Lane (Fulton Street)
• 60 Wall St. (Wall Street)
• 7 Bryant Park (42nd St-Bryant Park)
• Hotel Pennsylvania (34th Street-Penn
Station)
• 300 W. 44th St. (42nd Street-Times
Square/Port Authority)
• 51 Madison Ave. (28th Street on the No.
6 train line)
• Lincoln Center (station-level exit at the
66th St.-Lincoln Center stop)
This story was fi rst publisehd on May
17, 2021, by THE CITY, an independent,
nonprofi t news outlet dedicated to hardhitting
reporting that serves the people of
New York. Read more at thecity.nyc.
10 May 20, 2021 Schneps Media