Is it really so hard to fix an escalator? In the world of BART, apparently, it is. At least one two escalators are currently out of service at Embarcadero Station, and SFist has noted that one regularly broken escalator at the 7th and Market entrance to Civic Center Station has now been out of service and blocked off for at least four months, with stacks of replacement stair treads lying in their cardboard boxes waiting to be installed for the last six weeks. And we're not alone in noticing the pattern — broken BART escalators is now a trending topic on Reddit.

We attempted to contact BART Transit information, which confirmed that the Embarcadero escalator was out but could not say when it or the Civic Center escalator would be fixed. When the woman wondered why were asking so many questions and we said we were writing a story, we were transferred to the media relations guy, who's out of the office today. Do they only have one escalator repair guy? We have to wonder.

BART has an Accessibility Task Force that meets monthly, however minutes from recent meetings do not indicate that escalators are much of a priority.

While most of us who are not disabled or injured in some way ignore the announcements regularly made in the BART system regarding which station elevators are out of service, those elevators are of great importance to some people who might not be physically able to exit a station otherwise. Meanwhile, escalators, which come in handy for tired and lazy and which also aid the elderly and disabled in exiting stations, do not get their own announcements.

This ends our Nevius-esque rant of the day.

PREVIOUSLY: Cyclists, Please Stop Taking The Escalators
BART Considering Frequent Rider Perks, Escalator Etiquette Signage