What took NFTA so long to fix escalator?

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The work to get an escalator back up and running continues at University Station in Buffalo. For those who commute through the NFTA Metro rail station there, repairs to the down escalator can't come soon enough.

"Yeah, it's a hassle," according to commuter Mike Lewis. He worries about older folks getting down the stairs. "It's kind of hard for them to maneuver down the steps especially on a wet day like this when the floor is wet."

While the down escalator is out of service, commuters must either walk down a long flight of stairs or take an elevator with limited capacity to the Metro rail tracks.

News 4 first looked at the escalator problem at this station in August and the repair is still not completed, eight months later.

NFTA spokesperson Douglas Hartmayer admits that eight months for the repair to be completed is 'a long time' but said, "Based on the situation that we had, we did the best that we could under those circumstances to turn this project around as fast as possible."

RELATED | A report from a budget office released this week found inefficiencies at the NFTA and made recommendations to help them save up to $10 million

Having the escalator broken down has been a huge inconvenience and some commuters are not satisfied with the NFTA's answer to why repairs have taken so long.

"Come on man, look, this thing has been like this for months and months," Orlando Clark says.  "You got a lot of people with handicaps and wheelchairs and stuff, and you know they need to get up on it. They got to catch the elevator."

"I never known them to take this long to fix an escalator in none of the substations. So, I don't know why this is taking a long time," said commuter Katherine Cody.

According to the NFTA the long delay has been because workers needed to find out what was causing the problem by taking apart the escalator.  The Authority also had to get permission from the federal government to shift money from another project to pay for the escalator work.

Then, the NFTA solicited quotes from escalator contractors.  After review, it was decided a complete rebuild instead of a repair was the best solution.  Total cost to rebuild the broken escalator will be about $330,000 according to the NFTA.

The work was awarded to DCB Elevator which is already under contract by the NFTA to maintain and repair escalators.  According to the contract, the company is required to provide full maintenance service and repairs.  However, the NFTA will pay the company $330,000 in addition to what they're already paid for maintenance and repair.

READ MORE | Full agreement between NFTA and DCB (pdf)

"We made a decision to go ahead and not continue to put a band aid on the escalator, but to completely rebuild the escalator which is outside the scope of this agreement," Hartmayer explained.

Hartmayer says the escalator fell into disrepair even with regular maintenance due to regular, daily use for over 25 years.  "It's old," Hartmayer said. "It's been running since 1986, 18 hours a day."

Hartmayer says the escalator should be be moving again the week of February 18.  He says NFTA staff is also in the process of looking at what it will take to rebuild the other escalator at University station, and two more at the Delavan station.

"I understand it's a long time, especially if you're a customer that uses that station each and every day, and you have to walk down those stairs.  I understand that and we apologize for that inconvenience. But we really did expedite it as best as we could given the circumstances that we were dealing with," Hartmayer said.