Elevators and escalators at Metromover stations have been broken for months — leaving people with mobility issues stranded.
NBC6 found the problem is affecting multiple Metromover stations that people depend on. At the Adrienne Arsht Station, both the elevator and escalator are broken, despite residents complaining nothing has been fixed.
Irene Olivier, who rides the Metromover every day to get to work, took a photo of a woman struggling to get up the stairs at one of the stations.
“That lady was clearly in distress going up and down the stairs,” she said. “… The gentleman was holding on to her while she held onto the railing, but she clearly had trouble.”
She tweeted the picture out and tagged the county. It’s her latest tweet documenting the problems of broken escalators and elevators at multiple Metromover stations around Miami-Dade County.
Riders like David Marquez say they’re no longer staying quiet.
“It’s horrible,” Marquez said. “It’s inconvenient, I want to get to work on time and get home.”
NBC6 caught up with Marquez at the Financial District Station Tuesday, where a message played over the loudspeaker saying, “Attention please, Adrienne Arsht Center and Fifth Street northbound elevators are out of service.”
Riders like Marquez said the work is not happening fast enough.
“If you want people in the community to use the Metromover and Metro Rail have the facilities to do it,” Marquez said. “People won’t come if they have to climb up the stairs.”
The county website shows a total of five stations have broken escalators, and three stations show they have broken elevators.
“They need to do better. We are paying taxes, we use the service,” Olivier said. “Yes, this is free, but it comes out of the taxpayer’s money.”
She has documented how the repair dates get pushed back with what appears to be no real fix date in sight.
NBC6 took the concerns straight to County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, asking her the reason for the delay.
“We don’t repair the elevators, the contractor does,” Levine Cava said. “They tell us they’re waiting on parts — I think that’s the primary reason.”
“They blame it on supplier parts not being available, but it’s been a year,” Olivier said. “They need to do better.”
Currently, a company called Schindler has the contract. NBC6’s previous reporting found that the company was selected for the contract after a donation was given to the mayor’s campaign.
The company was awarded more than $126,000,000 in contracts since 2007, according to online county documents, which seems to some like a waste of taxpayer dollars if the services are not being provided in a timely manner.
The mayor said she is now considering giving the contract to a different company.
“We have developed an RFP, but again, it does seem to be a problem just beyond what is happening to us, but that doesn’t mean that we are not addressing it aggressively,” Levine Cava said.
The mayor said she has a meeting with Schindler on Wednesday to discuss the issues.