Last summer, Laura Szafranski boarded the Red Line trolley at Fallowfield Station in Beechview, where she lives. Her destination was a lab in Mt. Lebanon for monthly blood work needed since her kidney transplant in 2023.
Stepping off the train, she made her way to the station’s lone elevator, only to find a large, handwritten out-of-service sign. She took the stairs, which were difficult to manage because of a visual impairment, she said.
The next month, the sign was still there. Same the month after that. More than a year later, the elevator is still out of order. Ask a municipal employee, the elevator contractor and a union leader why a fix takes so long, and you’ll hear about parts, insurance and even global supply chain issues.
A $335,000 modernization project, complicated by a mechanical issue and a parts delay, finally got underway this month, with repair work slated to wrap up in December. Until then, though, Szafranski and other riders with mobility challenges are forced to use a steep set of stairs or climb an even steeper hill.
What seems like a short walk or climb up the stairs can be a struggle for others.
“It’s small until it’s not,” Szafranski said. “It’s small until it’s you or a family member trying to get accessibility to even the most insignificant things.”
A steep climb, no easy fix
Mt. Lebanon is home to two Red Line stations: Mt. Lebanon Station, located along Shady Drive East, and Poplar Station, on Pennsylvania Boulevard. Mt. Lebanon Station is by far the more popular of the two, with a total of around 150 weekday boardings per direction in February, according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit data. Poplar Station had about one-fifth as many.
Mt. Lebanon and Castle Shannon share Arlington Station, just off Mt. Lebanon Boulevard, according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit spokesperson Eddie Phillipps.
Mt. Lebanon Station sits at the bottom of a hill, sandwiched between Shady Drive East and Parse Way. To get to Washington Road — Mt. Lebanon’s primary commercial corridor — without the elevator, trolley riders either have to walk up a hill along Shady Drive, or take a set of stairs up to Parse Way to another municipally owned elevator.
While the year-long out-of-service elevator hasn’t increased Szafranski’s commute time, it has forced her to pick between stairs that challenge her vision and a hill that’s tough to scale in winter, she said.
“You only have transit for able people. Not really for everybody,” she said.
Phil Avolio, the municipality’s facilities and parks coordinator, said he has the numbers and emails of four transit users regularly requesting updates on the elevator. For much of the past year, the updates have remained the same: The municipality has been waiting on parts.
Problems with the elevator started last July, before the municipality’s facilities department was supposed to start work on a $335,000 modernization project that would replace the entire elevator and install a fire safety system.
That same month, before the department could start on the project, the jack responsible for lifting and lowering the cab had a mechanical issue, according to Avolio. The municipality decided to take the elevator out of service because of the issue and start the modernization project immediately.
“You only have transit for able people. Not really for everybody.”
Laura Szafranski, Transit User
The work is part of a larger three-elevator project in the municipality, of which Mt. Lebanon Station’s elevator was the next lift slated for upgrades. A nearby elevator was brought “back into the time period,” in 2024 through another $335,000 modernization project, according to Avolio.
“At least our line of thinking that this is the next one that needs attention was correct,” he said.
A year later, project still not complete
Avolio said the modernization project, and by association the elevator’s re-opening, was put on hold while the contractor, Connecticut-based Otis Elevator Company, waited on parts.
Cara Shank, a spokesperson for Otis, attributed the delay to “administrative issues” and declined to elaborate in a statement. She declined to directly address specific questions regarding which parts were delayed.
“Modernization is a comprehensive process that replaces aging equipment and updates key systems to improve reliability and long-term performance. Because it involves significant upgrades rather than regular repairs, the work can take longer,” Shank said in a statement.
Avolio said in an email that the “administrative issue” involved reviewing insurance coverage and updating the scope of the work.
Avolio said Otis received the delayed parts in August. After receiving approval from Pittsburgh Regional Transit to use its station area, the company started the modernization work in September. Avolio said the municipality aims to complete the work in early December.
“This was a major project here. It wasn’t like we were waiting on one switch or something singular. It was an entire project package,” Avolio said.
E-bike surge powers suburban lawmaking
Supply chain issues for the past half-decade, caused by a mix of pandemic-era stresses, global conflict and shifting domestic trade policies, have been a persistent problem for manufacturers. The elevator industry is no exception.
Paul Ryan, business manager of Greentree-based International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 6, said that the elevator industry has had particular issues securing solid state boards, a form of electrical operating boards. Surging artificial intelligence and electric vehicle demand, coupled with labor shortages, have led to extended manufacturing lead times and segmentation of the electronic components industry, according to a report from market research firm Sourceability.
“We have had some issues getting materials, that is true. Not that bad though. It should not have taken that long,” Ryan said, adding that he wasn’t familiar with the project’s specifics or “extenuating circumstances.”
Until the elevator is up-and-running again, Szafranski said she’ll have to continue using the stairs or hiking up Shady Drive.
“I’m not the only one experiencing it. Elderly people, other disabled people — it’s not about fairness, it’s about equity,” she said. “Why did it take so long?”
Lucas Dufalla is the Southern Communities Reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at lucas@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Danny Arensberg.
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