Trapped Behind Gates Like Lower-Class Citizens No More!

Now that there are fewer token booths and more “HEETS” — i.e., High Entry/Exit Turnstiles (I’m totally geeking out now that we know what those are called!) — plans are underway to outfit subway stations with emergency exits, as the Daily News EXCLUSIVELY reports:

Nearly 1,370 swinging gates will be outfitted with panic bars by December 2006, TA President Lawrence Reuter told The News when asked about the Lawrence St. station.

“The idea is to [quickly] get you out of a station in any kind of emergency situation, be it a fire or smoke condition … any reason we need to evacuate the system,” Reuter said.

Reuter said he doesn’t believe the current setup at subway exits and entrances is unsafe, describing the new equipment as an “enhancement.”

But riders, elected officials and even Police and Fire department brass have expressed varying degrees of concern about the TA’s moves towards automation, including the removal of token booth clerks and the rise in the number of ceiling-to-floor barred turnstiles.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) wrote to transit officials earlier this year that riders could find themselves “trapped behind gates like lower-class citizens.”

The News in July reported that the number of ceiling-to-floor turnstiles, called HEETS, have increased from 10 to 529 in the past eight years.

The new safety initiative is a response to riders’ concerns and has been in the works for a year, the TA said.