New York City's Subways Out Of the Loop

If you depend on New York City's Subways, you may want to know about the following problems:

One of every six elevators and escalators in the subway system was out of service for more than a month last year.

The 169 escalators in the subway averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each last year, with the worst machines logging more than double that number. And some of the least reliable escalators in the system are also some of the newest, accumulating thousands of hours out of service for what officials described as a litany of mechanical flaws.

Two-thirds of the subway elevators — many of which travel all of 15 feet — had at least one breakdown last year in which passengers were trapped inside.