The Yellow Line: New York Elevators To Be Replaced Due To Excessive Urination

For many, this may be the quintessential New York story. The elevator at Long Island Rail Road Station Number One has been listed as inoperable because of . . . well number one. The elevator is no longer working because of excessive urination in the elevator.

The elevator in Queens is only able to function 58 percent of the time due to urination which rusts the floor and corrodes the internal machinery.

The elevator in Queens will have to be completely replaced and the city is considering a “urine detection device” to install on all new elevators. I am not sure what the purpose of the detection device is. Most people in the car can detect it and most people urinating don’t care.

New York metro has replaced the floors of its cars with a marine material because urine was rotting away the floors of the cars.

When I read this story, I was thinking (as usual) of tort liability. Until this story, I would not have necessary thought that urine-based accidents were foreseeable on the New York subway, but it appears that this is not just a foreseeable but probably factor in accidents when elevators stop or floors give way. This has been a persistent problem even though the elevator to be replaced is next to a series of bathrooms.

Source: New York CBS