For the people literally on the go inside Bowdoin Station on the Blue Line in Boston, it is notable what isn't moving at all -- an escalator.
"It is beyond maddening," said George Erickson, as he hobbled down a flight of stairs into the T station on Thursday.
Erickson, returning from a doctor's appointment at nearby Massachusetts General Hospital, says he frequents the T station, each time up and down the stairs is a struggle.
"This is like a Mount Everest for me with my bad knees," he said.
The escalator at the Bowdoin Station has been broken for a while. One person tracking this on X, formerly known as Twitter, says the escalator has been out-of-service for more than 680 days.
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn is frustrated. Back in August 2022, he wrote a letter to the MBTA asking for them to fix it, saying in the letter it had been broken for five months.
"That escalator should have been fixed, it is critical for residents, and for workers that use that train station," Flynn said. "Frustrated but disappointed that we still have many challenges facing not only this MBTA stop but many stops across Greater Boston."
The T says that the escalator's steel truss is corroded and it can not be repaired. Instead a "major reconstruction effort" is underway to install a longer unit that meets today's safety guidelines.
"The safety of our riders is our top priority," the T said in a statement. "Due to severe corrosion that cannot be repaired, the Bowdoin escalator will be out of service indefinitely."
Erickson, returning from that appointment at MGH, is not amused.
"It seems to me to reflect everything else that the T does which is slow and backwards," he said.
