MTA nixes elevators at NYC subway station where woman died carrying stroller on stairs

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on congestion pricing has prompted the MTA to halt its plans to install elevators at more than 20 subway stations, including one in Midtown where a mother died carrying her baby and stroller five years ago.

The death of 22-year-old Malaysia Goodson at the Seventh Avenue station on the B, D and E lines in January 2019 prompted public outcry for more accessibility in the subway system, where more than 300 stations lack elevators. She was carrying her 1-year-old daughter Rhylee in a stroller when she collapsed on the third of three staircases she was forced to use to get to the platform.

Goodson’s baby survived, and the city's medical examiner ruled that Goodson’s death was caused by thyroid issues and an irregular heartbeat. But her family still believes an elevator could have saved her life.

The tragedy became a symbol of the MTA’s failure to make the subway accessible for riders with disabilities and parents who are forced to hoist their young children up and down stairs while commuting. Goodson’s death galvanized support for more subway elevators, and the MTA responded with the most ambitious accessibility plan in its history.

After state lawmakers approved congestion pricing in April 2019 — and with it $15 billion in funding for transit upgrades — MTA officials approved a $5.2 billion plan to add elevators to 72 subway stations through its 2020-2024 capital program .

But last month, when Gov. Hochul announced that the tolls would not launch as planned on June 30, the MTA scrambled to cut projects. The agency put 23 of those subway accessibility projects back on the shelf, including the one at Seventh Avenue.

“Something has to be done,” Goodson’s cousin Dontaysia Turner told Gothamist on a visit to the station. “I feel like at this point, whatever I have to do to fight and to get what we need, I’m going to do it.”

“What if there was an elevator in the station, and she did get in the elevator and her heart stopped?” Turner wondered. “What if somebody would have been there and would have been able to save her?”

After her cousin’s death, Turner attended MTA board meetings and demanded more elevators. Half a decade later, she helps care for Goodson’s daughter, who’s now 7.

Turner said that returning to the station where her cousin died brings back painful memories of her family’s loss — and was enraged at the MTA’s move to nix its plans for more elevators.

“I still kind of feel her presence right here,” she said, standing where her cousin died, at the bottom of three sets of stairs connecting the cavernous station’s mezzanine to the sidewalk above. “And this is like the only station that I feel it.”

In 2022, the MTA settled a lawsuit over its ongoing failure to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became federal law in 1990 and requires transit systems to be fully accessible. The transit agency agreed to add ramps or elevators to 95% of the city’s subway stations by 2055.

Experts are still assessing how Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing and the subsequent loss of funding might impact that agreement.

“It's tremendously disappointing that there's going to be delays — and what we're going to do now is press the governor, press the Legislature to figure it out,” said Joe Rappaport, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “[The MTA] can't just throw up their arms and say, ‘Oh, you know, we ran out of money,’ or, ‘We're not getting as much money.’ They've got to actually get the lawmakers in line and figure this out.”

The transit agency declined to comment on the elevator cuts but pointed to remarks by MTA Chair Janno Lieber at a board meeting last month.

“The accessibility impacts break my heart,” he said at the time. “But we can make sure that they are ready to go when the funding shows up.”

His comments were of little comfort to Aaron Jackson, 37, whose right foot was in a plastic medical boot after he tore his Achilles while playing basketball.

Holding crutches with one hand and the railing with the other, Jackson recently went down the three sets of staircases at the Seventh Avenue station where Goodson collapsed.

“[An] elevator would be very crucial right now,” he said, wiping away sweat from his brown on a scorching afternoon. “Also there's no elevator at 125th [Street] where I stay.”

Like Goodson, Jackson is also a parent. He has three kids.

“We use our stroller all the time, so we've been using the bus more and [it] makes our commute a little bit longer,” he said. “Today I have to get on the train, so I had to wobble down the stairs today on this stop.”