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Before a new and deeper subway tunnel opens in Seattle in the coming decade, maintenance issues at Capitol Hill Station and across the current light rail system are making riders wary of relying on a consistent escalator system for deeper transit rides in the future.
Sound Transit officials say they are monitoring the escalator problems at the station which marked its sixth year of service this month.
“We are aware of some of the issues that we’ve had with existing escalators in our stations,” said Rachelle Cunningham, a public information officer at Sound Transit. “And that’s something that we would definitely take into consideration as we’re planning for future stations.”
The escalator breakdowns make the stations less useful, frustrating riders as Sound Transit has been blaming issues like “farebox recovery” for its flagging numbers.
Earlier this month, two escalators were not working in the Capitol Hill station, one with a handrail issue that was fixed, and another which was not set to be fully repaired until April 1, according to John Gallagher, a public information officer at Sound Transit.
You can tell things are returning to normal because there’s an escalator OOS at Capitol Hill Station. 😑 pic.twitter.com/1Z14aYr1fu
— Gordon Werner – only 3% 🤖 (@GordonWerner) July 6, 2021
By the agency’s metrics, its “vertical conveyance” systems are performing at acceptable levels. From January to March 15, Gallagher says that Sound Transit has been meeting its goals in terms of maintenance and that escalators are functioning 95% of the time, while also noting that this rate applies to stations outside of the downtown tunnel. When it took over the Downtown Transit Tunnel in 2020, Sound Transit’s vertical conveyance problem only grew — and inherited 36 escalators and 22 elevators.
Reasons for the mechanical shutdowns vary — at Capitol Hill Station where escalators and elevators deliver riders 65 feet below Broadway to the platform below, Sound Transit have said braking components have reportedly been part of the problem. CHS has also documented why Capitol Hill Station’s escalators are sometimes reversed to cut down on wear. In 2018, the Seattle Transit Blog reported that Sound Transit had purchased escalator equipment that was not “transit-grade.” Sound Transit later said it would apply “new design criteria to all future stations to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
As Seattle continues to grow, the city is working to meet the needs of transit riders in bigger ways and in new areas. Following the 2016 vote on ST3 program, Sound Transit has been planning a more expansive and substantially deeper subway network, expanding to places like Ballard and West Seattle.
Overall, the new project would add 62 new miles of light rail, expanding it to reach Everett, Tacoma, Ballard, West Seattle, Redmond, South Kirkland, Bellevue and Central Issaquah. Currently, the Westlake Station is anticipated to open as early as 2032, the West Seattle Link Extension would begin operations in 2032 and The Ballard Link Extension is anticipated to begin operations in 2037 under the target schedule, according to Sound Transit.
As the network is projected to descend as far down as 145 feet, in some places, travel times from the street level to the subway platforms are expected to increase. While difficulties have popped up with just two or three escalators used in your average existing station, projections for a potential new Westlake Station have cited using as many as eight escalators to get to the platform.
There was at least one other escalator out in the Capitol Hill station. Having 2 non working escalators (up direction) in the same station is plain unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/NFjiZqm7Uu
— cwcooper (@cwcooper) March 17, 2022
Roughly 600,000 riders are expected to use the subway and pass through its system of escalators, elevators and stairs, every day. At the beginning of the year, Sound Transit released a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement for the project, giving the public a better glimpse into some of the options being weighed.
While the project is still in its early stages, Cunningham encourages residents to share what they would like to see in the transportation system.
“I think we would just encourage people to take a look at the documents and take this opportunity to Sound Transit Board make their formal public comments, let the board know, you know what’s important to them and what they want to see in the future system,” Cunningham said. “Because this is their chance to shape what ultimately is selected.”
Future improvements could mean better designed stations that aren’t as reliant on the fragile escalators. But for its existing stations, riders will have to live with the shortcomings.
At UW Station, Sound Transit’s plan has been escalator replacement with $20 million new stairs and conversions of emergency routes. Capitol Hill Station, meanwhile, started 2020 with the opening of a stairs-based route to its platform but any further changes and upgrades to the escalator-dominated station would be a major undertaking. For riders utilizing the station as their home base for the light rail system, that means busted escalators will be a permanent part of the experience.
Escalator going down from Broadway/John to the platform at Capitol Hill Station is out, just a heads up.@SoundTransit #seattle #escalators pic.twitter.com/kCCv57l31h
— Ace The Architect: 12 Points (@TheArchitectAce) October 7, 2019
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“The escalator breakdowns make the stations less useful”
More like unusable for some. I would have loved to see at least a mention of impacts for disabled people and anyone with limited mobility. These escalator (and elevator) outages are poorly communicated by Sound Transit and make riding the light rail unpredictable and exhausting for people who can’t just use the stairs.
Couldn’t have said it better than you and so many others here. I would actually say the lack of immediate action to correct the problem (ADA compliance) and the horrible communications about acute access loss can make the situation dangerous for many of us who have no other form of transportation with our disabilities/income. (And don’t depend on Metro’s taxi scrip to save you with taxi use since most flag you for using this and won’t pick up the phone or offer a ride). And good luck with any response to the issues when giving feedback to them on it.
When was the last time that we saw ALL of the escalators and elevators functioning at, especially, the Pioneer Square and University Street Stations?… Maybe, 10 years ago?… Shameful!
I have stopped using the light rail. At 72, diabetic with heart condition, I recently found myself at a deep station (mere blocks from home) where both the elevator and escalator were out of service. I ended up getting back on the train and going to the next station and taking an expensive cab ride home.
Why do I get the feeling someone is going to have to sue Sound Transit under ADA to get them to take their escalator problem seriously? It’s been going on for years all over the system, long predating the current “supply chain” problem. As someone who has had a mobility challenge due to injury for the last year or so, I’ve become really aware of how often things are down and the impact it has when you just can’t do stairs. It’s ridiculous to expect folks who need an elevator or escalator to go to a totally different station to exit the system. I was pretty irritated to see how deep they want to make new stations considering they can’t even keep stuff running in the stations currently. Also, 8 escalators at Westlake? really?? Does anyone from Sound Transit actually use transit?
Hear, hear!
One, find it and then count it, ONE, toilet facility at Northridge Station, and the one time it was passably clean some guy was cleaning himself up with his gear all over the floor. Been around a bit and this was the worst public indoor bathroom I’ve ever experienced. One bathroom?
Why would you expect bathrooms in a light rail station? That’s not standard in other cities’ metro systems.
I like to watch people run down the escalators and jump on the bottom to make their train…. Unfortunately, when they do that the escalator stops due to safety switches at the top and bottom. Newer escalators have more safety switches now a days due to people doing idiotic things on them. Getting shoes stuck, pinched fingers, passing out drunk and dying. I wish people would comprehend that with more safety devices comes more shut downs. Public safety for the distracted and mechanical engineering don’t mix. Something has to give. Wait until the bus tunnel escalators get their over due modernization. Those things will be shut down hourly. Lol
I’ve seen people hit the emergency stop button. People swinging on the rubber handrails will also sometimes trigger a fault. I am sure there are many other ways to foul the machinery. When a fault occurs, an escalator technician needs to visit and attempt a remedy. Neiter Sound Transit nor the elevator industry can innovate as fast as the IQ plummets in Seattle’s citizenry.
It really is astonishing just how long this issue has persisted, and how prevalent it is. How hard is it to keep escalators in proper working order? Apparently for Sound Transit it is impossible. Escalators are always broken in light rail stations all over the city and tend to stay broken for weeks or months at a time. It’s even worse than the McDonald’s soft-serve machines!
I wouldn’t dare to make use of a McDonald’s soft-serve machine… GROSS!… But, as for the issue with Sound Transit Station’s escalators and elevators constantly being broken down, for months on end… Hear, hear!
It is ridiculous, in what is supposedly a tech-savvy, “caring” city!
If we would learn to ride escalators correctly (stand still on both sides of the escalator) they would handle more people and break down less frequently. One of the biggest causes of escalator malfunction is the uneven distribution of people only standing on the right and torqueing the gears.
I see your point. But isn’t it expected etiquette to always stand on the right, to allow those in a hurry to walk up or down the escalator on the left? On the other hand, why are some people in such a hurry? They save, perhaps about 10-20 seconds.
It is good etiquette. It also reduces the efficiency of moving people, relative to everyone standing two abreast.
When all else fails blame the user!
“If we would learn to ride escalators correctly (stand still on both sides of the escalator)”
… citation on this being “right”? I have no doubt it would be less stressful, but around the world it’s overwhelmingly common etiquette – often posted via signage – to have one side standing, one side walking. If “right” is completely different from the international norm, and nothing in our signage or public messaging tells us that, is it really “right” at all, or is it just inadequately engineered?
Generally a huge sound transit fan, but can’t defend their poor elevator sitch.
Have ridden Washington DC’s light rail. Their escalators are significantly sturdier with none of the flimsy feel to them as ours. I noticed it immediately. Makes sense now to learn ours aren’t ‘Transit Grade.’ Wonder whose idea at Sound Transit it was to insult LINK riders by creating a hardship for ADA riders or anyone else needing the escalators to work.
” ‘We are aware of some of the issues that we’ve had with existing escalators in our stations,’ said Rachelle Cunningham, a public information officer at Sound Transit. ‘And that’s something that we would definitely take into consideration as we’re planning for future stations.’ ”
The escalator problems were severe for years in the first set of stations. Were any lessons learned and applied in the new stations from the U District to Northgate?
The bit about the findings on not using transit-grade equipment should tell you everything you need to know. Cheap, and not engineering minded… Pay more initially for good equipment, or pay now over the lifetime of the equipment for costly repairs and revenue loss. Short-sighted penny pinchers. And it’s not just the escalators having problems either. Electrical problems have been rampant in Sound Transit’s trains and electric busses both. And don’t forget about the linkage that broke and stranded passengers in a dark tunnel a few months back, either… Or the countless unreported times a carriage or engine breaks down enough to slow someone’s commute. Their maintenance is far from the best… As a passenger, and an engineer by trade, I often feel like I’m riding on trains cobbled together with shoestring and bubble gum…
RAMPS!
Yes…and no. For me, ramps would not help since my physical disability does not involve a motorized wheelchair.
The thing is though, ramps would benefit most. They are less physical than stairs, don’t breakdown like the escalator and elevator, and would not trap the people who can not take the stairs.
Ramps are not just for motorized wheelchairs.
I don’t know if this is true or not, but when the “up” escalator first broke down at the newly opened Northgate Station, I talked to a “guard”, (or whatever the uniformed people are called), up on the platform at that Station, and complained about how the escalators are already not functioning… One week into operation!.
He told me that Sound Transit went “on the cheap” and purchased “indoor” escalators to be installed in the new Stations, instead of “outdoor, all weather” escalators, that are more expensive.
True or false?
That explanation was circulated several years ago. Don’t know if it’s true or not. Call ST and ask?
I initially railed (no pun intended) at the at-grade LR stations in my old Rainier Valley neighborhood, due to the high likelihood of mishaps with cars, pedestrians, etc. Now, not having to deal with broken escalators/elevators may be a silver lining to them.