Chelsea is a subway “accessibility desert,” advocates say

Five subway lines have stations at 23rd Street in or near Chelsea — but only one of them, at Park Avenue South, can be reached with an elevator.

This has left Chelsea as an “accessibility desert” in Manhattan, according to transportation and disability advocates who are vowing to do something about it. They are now urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to install an elevator at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue as a “first step” to remedy the inaccessibility.

Miriam Fisher, a disability advocate who is working with Jesse Greenwald, a Chelsea resident and co-chair of the Transportation Committee of Manhattan Community Board 4 and other concerned New Yorkers to get an elevator in the station, said her team chose that the 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue stop because it is located near Selis Manor, a center for the visually impaired and people with disabilities located on the same block as the subway station.

“I felt that because Selis Manor, which has hundreds of residents, is there, it would most likely get approval from the MTA, which has been pushed into building more elevators based on a lawsuit initiated by disability activists,” Fisher said.

That lawsuit was settled in 2022, with the MTA promising increased accessibility at subway stations across the city.

How many NYC train stations are accessible?

“No New Yorker should have to worry about whether or not they can safely access public transportation,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in 2022. “This agreement between the MTA and accessibility advocates is a critical step towards further expanding accessibility in our subways and serving the needs of New Yorkers with disabilities.”

Currently, only about 30% of New York City’s 472 train stations are accessible. The 23 Street and Sixth Avenue station was renovated in 2018, but the improvements did not include the addition of an elevator.

As part of a “long-term commitment to systemwide accessibility,” the MTA said it is investing nearly $6 billion in station accessibility in the 2020-2024 Capital Program. According to the state agency, this investment will make 70 stations newly ADA-accessible and modernize an additional 78 subway elevators.

“MTA accessibility upgrade projects have been awarded at five times the pace of previous administrations, with 37 additional stations currently in the pipeline, consistent with our priority to provide access to transit for all riders,” said Michael Cortez, a spokesperson for the MTA.

But Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director of the public transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, said congestion pricing, which Hochul put on hold, is the only way to improve subway accessibility.

“Gov. Hochul should recognize that elevators are for everyone and belong at every station,” Pearlstein said. “Congestion pricing is the only source of billions of dollars available with the flip of a switch to jumpstart subway accessibility.”

Nevertheless, Fisher, who lives in Chelsea, said many people in the area, including parents with small children, seniors, and people with disabilities, need a station with an elevator.

“There are five subways river to river on 23rd Street, but only one is accessible on Park Avenue South,” the advocate said. “That’s a long stretch in Chelsea, and there’s nothing in the other immediate area that has accessibility with an elevator.”

A rally to support accessibility

Fisher and other advocates will hold a rally on Monday, Sept. 30, at 9:30 a.m., at the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue.

She said the goal is to show the MTA that “the community needs more accessible subways.”

She plans to have elected officials and disability and transportation advocates in attendance.

Meanwhile, the MTA completed on Thursday the construction of new elevators at the 14th Street and Sixth Avenue train hub on the Chelsea/Greenwich Village border.