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Isn't it cool how far underground the Porter Square Red Line stop is?
By adamg on Fri, 09/13/2024 - 9:05am
A roving UHub photographer snapped the situation this morning at Porter Square, where both escalators - and one of the stairs - were blocked for some sort of repair work.
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Comments
I swear
I swear the escalators at Porter are more 'out of service' than they are 'in service'
Cone cannot keep these things running. (Sorry mbta haters, this is a Cone issue really)
It’s an MBTA issue
It’s an MBTA escalator in an MBTA station, maintenance of which the MBTA has contracted with, and supervises, a vendor of the MBTA’s choosing. It is absolutely an MBTA issue.
Haters gonna hate
You do know who CONE is correct?
You are aware that there are like TWO escalator vendors in this area? One being CONE the other being Schindler. Its not like the MBTA has much choice in the matter. Not like they can say 'welp you aren't doing the work so we're cancelling the contract". They can't do that because there's no one else to do this.
Furthermore, much like Otis Elevator Company, the technicians who service escalators and elevators are a dying breed and there's a shortage of workers. It's been like this for decades.
This has nothing to do with the MBTA except it resides in their station. The whole contraption is managed by cone. And as someone who managed contracts every day at his day job, I can tell you you can only beg and cry so much. If the contractor doesn't have the ability to send people, it just does not happen. You can only do so much.
I swear Bob you just want to argue for the sake of arguing.
But carry on the MBTA Shit parade as always if makes you feel better.
Guys... its KONE....just
Guys... its KONE....just saying... but the MBTA dose contract out all their elevator / escalator mait... so dese every building or agency in the United States though... still the MBTA's problem.. their staition their problem.
I thought it was QÖNE
I thought it was QÖNE
You're thinking of Quone
When a patient is difficult, you quone them.
Some of us didn't know CONE
@Cybah - it would have been a big help if you'd said in your first post who CONE was. With that info, it's a helpful informative post. Without that, it's just confusing.
Appreciate the insight
We've had some experiences with Schindler that I wouldn't wish on anybody.
If your bosses bought something from Company X that doesn't work right and X's people won't fix until October, you're going to have a wonderful time explaining that to your customers and/or trying to get Company Y to do anything about it.
What about Bowdoin?
The escalator at Bowdoin--a station that the T would like to forget exists--has been out of service for over five years. It has now essentially returned to the earth, covered with leaves and organic matter. You're telling me that CONE (sounds like something out of a James Bond movie) is that far behind? Sorry, I don't buy it. The MBTA has no intention whatsoever of fixing the escalator at Bowdoin.
Bowdoin...
The T has no intention of doing anything beyond the absolute bare minimum at Bowdoin because they would love to close the station if they could. I think that if it weren't so close to many of the state offices that it would have closed permanently decades ago. The most recent plans to extend the Blue Line to Charles also include closing Bowdoin.
Andrew
One of the escalators at Andrew, from the Southbound platform to street level has been out for...well, way way way too long. The other one next to it breaks down way way way too often - and for a while, they had the whole area fenced off because it was clear that they couldn't get either of them working.
Yes, you can take 2 elevators to get out of the station (you have to take BOTH of them, with a walk between them, to get to street level), but sometimes there are oh-so-nice surprises like the time when the lower elevator had a pile of human excrement in one corner.
Granted, Andrew is nowhere near the depth of Porter - but for those of us that really need the accessibility (I'm currently dealing with a knee sprain and climbing stairs is a bad idea), the constant unreliability of the escalators really sucks, pardon my French.
This is really very simple.
This is really very simple. Part of the MBTA's job is provide working escalators. If there aren't working escalators in the stations, it's the MBTA's responsibility to do something about it. If the two local vendors both suck, then it's the MBTA's responsibility to do something about that, for example by developing its own capabilities in house. If there's a shortage of available techs, then it's the MBTA's responsibility to do something about that, for example by starting a training and apprenticeship program.
Why are you so eager to excuse the MBTA for failing to do its job?
Eh, that's complicated.
Eh, that's complicated. Elevator + Escalator parts have been a major problem since the pandemic, pretty much globally and across manufacturers.
Generally these long-term outages have been due to parts shortages, not labor shortages.
Whether it's the MBTA maintaining it, this contractor, or some other one, no one can fix the thing without parts that are taking months or years to get.
Pretty sure Kone is also the original manufacturer of this particular escalator - to further illustrate that no one has better access to parts for it.
------
I'm not saying I like this situation or think it's acceptable, but it's not something the MBTA has many levers to do better at, nor is there all that much of a way to say they could have avoided it.
A 4-year global parts
A 4-year global parts shortage doesn't make much sense. There are probably a million escalators in Asia and there's no way parts are not being manufactured for them.
This is interesting re: elevators
I thought this comparison of USA vs the rest of the world on the cost and complexity of elevators, was interesting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/opinion/elevator-construction-regulat...
Kone?
If the elevators are working and the piss isn't too fresh, they're usually faster, anyway. Unless you want a workout.
No, No, No
This photo is from earlier this year.
Wait, I think it is from 2023, possibly 2022, maybe 2021. Then again, I think it might be from 2015, or was it 2012, but based on the pixel coloration, possibly 2008.
I think
I think its an AI enhanced photo from 1988, shortly after the station opened.
It could be any year, at any time.
What would be news would be a picture of all three escalators open and working.
what would REALLY be news
Is a photo of someone actually attempting to fix them
The photo is correct
The photo is correct. That is the situation at Porter this morning. Two escalators not operating, partitioned off as well as the right-hand stairs.
While we can blame either the MBTA or Cone, the crews working on these and the many other non-functioning escalators and elevators really should be working 24/7 until we get them back in service. The escalators at Porter have been out of service off and on for months, usually with no crew working on them.
A lot can happen in a week
I was there last Friday and Saturday and there was one escalator down.
Those are, in fact, the
Those are, in fact, the longest escalators in Massachusetts. Or, I guess at the moment, the longest stairs
It's 199 steps...
...from the lower level of the Porter station to the street level.
It's reminiscent of the Moscow Metro, which I got to ride almost 50 years ago. Some of the stations there are very deep, and served as bomb shelters during World War II.