Stairs Vs. Escalators? Metro Board to Take Up the Issue

WASHINGTON - Metro officials are considering replacing 23 escalators at 15 Metrorail stations with stairs to save money.

The transit agency spends about $51,000 a year to maintain one escalator in the transit system. If all 23 were converted to stairs, the agency could save close to $1.2 million a year.

Broken escalators trigger more complaints from Metro riders than any other problem.

Metro officials are studying a proposal that would take some of the escalators out of service permanently at locations that are served by multiple escalator systems. The escalators that might be replaced are those that are less than 30 feet tall.

The Washington Post reports that transit riders would still have the options of using escalators, but there would be fewer available. Among the stations where stairways could be proposed are Farragut North, L'Enfant Plaza, Federal Triangle and end of the line stations like Vienna.

A Metro board committee will consider the proposal this week.

At least 40 to 45 of Metro's 588 escalators are out of service or scheduled for maintenance at any given time. Metro started a 10-year program to fix escalators in 2000. The cost of rehabilitating and maintaining each one runs between $240,000 and $500,000.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)