After walking through the turnstile at Aquarium Station, 85-year-old Joan Taylor glanced up at the seemingly never-ending flight of stairs, and the neighboring defunct escalators cordoned off by yellow barricades with “do not enter’’ warnings. She clasped the silver cross dangling from her neck.
“I don’t wanna do them,’’ said Taylor, who has problems with her knees.
She was visiting from Canada with her daughter and granddaughter on a recent weekday. They elected to wait for the elevator to take them up to Atlantic Avenue. Many other Blue Line riders did the same, including nannies with small children in tow on their way to the New England Aquarium.
But not everyone had time to spare. A handful of travelers, rushing to Logan Airport, strained to heave their luggage down all 61 steps, occasionally stopping to collect themselves.
On a daily basis, closed escalators at MBTA stations pose accessibility issues and headaches for passengers, leaving them with the option to climb the stairs — a sweat-inducing workout for some, and a painful task for those with mobility challenges — or spend precious time waiting in line for an elevator, if one is available.
While certain issues can be fixed within a day, others that require major work or new parts can take far longer.
Across the transit system, 14 of 177 escalators were down as of Thursday, according to accessibility alerts posted by the T. Reasons ranged from “pending replacement’’ to “undergoing maintenance.’’
One unit at Courthouse Station has been closed for eight years, the longest current closure. That and a second escalator there are down because of ongoing construction at the station. Four escalators around the system have been down since 2023, and two others since 2022, according to data provided by the agency. Several have been out of service for months.
“For units to be out of service that long blows my mind,’’ said Robert Cotton, an elevator and escalator expert based in California who previously worked for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District in San Francisco.
“We would never get away with that if the unit was out for two days,’’ he added, referring to the Bay Area transit agency’s in-house escalator and elevator maintenance team.
The transit environment “is probably the most challenging’’ for escalators due to the high level of passengers using them daily, Cotton said. Older transit escalators are especially susceptible to failures.
That could spell trouble for the T’s aging system. In total, 92 escalators, about 52 percent across the system, have surpassed their useful life span of 28 years.
It is critical that preventative maintenance is regularly performed, escalator experts said, or else there is a potential risk of dangerous issues going unchecked. Incidents involving T escalators malfunctioning, with people being injured as a result, have happened several times before, including a few years ago.
T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said the system’s escalators work most of the time. Over the past few fiscal years, the daily in-service rate has been above 95 percent, which he said reflects the “effectiveness’’ of the agency’s maintenance program.
However, that calculation does not include escalators awaiting complete replacement.
Common reasons for escalators breaking down include water infiltration, vandalism, and debris like loose clothing getting caught in them, according to the transit agency.
After inquiries were made about the escalators, two units at Aquarium Station were repaired after being out of service for many months. On Wednesday, an up escalator that had been closed since last April was back running, while a down escalator that had been inoperative since November was working again last Friday. Both had the step treads — the moving platform that passengers stand on — replaced due to significant damage from water.
Mike Vallone, an escalator and elevator expert with the Pennsylvania-based firm Robson Forensic, said transit system escalators incur a lot of wear and tear given their heavy use and exposure to the elements.
As escalators age, he said, “everything kind of compounds’’ and can require more frequent upkeep. “Now you’ve got obsolescence that comes in. A lot of these parts for older units are not made anymore.’’
At Bowdoin Station, the escalator has been out of service for three years due to severe corrosion. To meet modern safety requirements, replacing it would require major alterations to the entrance. There are no immediate plans to do so, and the escalator is expected to remain “out of service for the foreseeable future,’’ according to the T.
The station does not have an elevator. On a recent morning, a woman struggled to carry a stroller with a young girl inside down the stairs until a passerby jumped in to assist.
Bob Mustone, a longtime subway train operator whose job includes doing platform work, said he routinely helps people with the steps and has witnessed wheelchair users exit the train only to discover there is no accessible way out. He often advises them to travel back to Government Center, where there are elevators and escalators.
Katarina Torres Radisic, facilitator of the community-based Riders’ Transportation Access Group, which works with the T and advocates for older adults and people with disabilities, said that when an elevator at a station is also broken it can cut off “access to transportation for many people.’’
In 2006, the T settled a class-action lawsuit involving the Boston Center for Independent Living, committing the agency to bring stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Today, much of the subway system is accessible as a result. As of Thursday, one elevator (at Prudential Station) was out of service.
“There have been such incredible and significant changes. But there is more work to be done,’’ said Torres Radisic, who noted that the coalition of riders has been pushing for back-up elevators.
Replacement elevators and escalators come with a high price tag.
Cotton estimated that an elevator can cost up to $500,000, and an escalator about $1 million.
Since 1999, the Finnish company Kone has done escalator maintenance for the T. The firm came under fire in September 2021, when an ascending escalator at Back Bay Station suddenly careened backward and catapulted riders to the bottom, sending a number of people to the hospital. Two families who were visiting from Louisiana alleged they suffered “multiple fractures, extensive lacerations, scarring, and disfigurement’’ in a lawsuit. At the time, escalator experts told the Globe that such incidents are likely preventable with proper maintenance.
Under its contract, Kone is required to perform “exhaustive’’ monthly maintenance on each escalator and have teams on duty each weekday.
“It sounds like there’s a breakdown in their system,’’ Cotton said. “They’re not cracking the whip on Kone. . . . That shouldn’t be the case.’’
The T’s proposed five-year capital investment plan has allocated around $33 million toward escalators, including for modernizing safety and control components of escalators, and replacing entire units at Andrew and Broadway stations.
At Andrew Station, where an escalator has been closed for two years, Justice McKoy, 18, of Dorchester, shook his head and said he felt bad watching “elderly people struggling to go up and down stairs.’’
“It’s a consistent thing,’’ he said. “There’s a lot of stairs.’’
Shannon Larson can be reached at shannon.larson@globe.com. Follow her @shannonlarson98.