During a board meeting this past Tuesday, February 21, MTA chief accessibility officer Quemuel Arroyo announced the arrival of “wide-aisle” turnstiles that will be installed in NYC’s subway system beginning this year, according to NY1 News.
Two stations will see the new turnstiles beginning this spring, including Queens’ Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue station and Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station.
“We are finally installing those gates this year,” said Arroyo during a committee meeting. “This is the first time that the MTA is changing their fare array and how our customers access our systems. I’m very excited to be installing the very first wide-out gates in the subway system.”
Rather than straphangers having to push through a rolling turnstile entrance, the wider gates will instead open from the middle out, making entry into the subway system not only easier for those in wheelchairs, but for those with bikes, strollers, and luggage as well.
The first wide-aisle turnstiles were introduced back in 2021, when MTA officials announced a $25 million budget to install the wider gates at 200+ stations over the course of the next few years.
With all the changes coming to the NYC subway–such as new customer service centers and new R211 cars being introduced–it’s about time NYC implemented wider turnstiles into the system. These types of turnstiles already exist in places including Washington DC, San Francisco, and London.