Elevators at Prospect Park subway station to be closed for 8 months

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Both elevators servicing the Prospect Park Subway Station will be closed until at least August impacting what Brooklyn Community Board 9 says, is one of the busiest stations in its district.

"I got hip replacement, and I need the elevator," said Lance Johnson, who frequently travels from the Bronx to the station to see his physical therapist.

"We go out of our way to come to this station because it has an elevator," agreed Bella Rojas Bauso, a nanny who works near by.

The closure is part of an MTA project to proactively rebuild and modernize many elevators around the city, which it says, will help avoid future breakdowns and closures.

"I did hear that one of the issues with the elevators is that when it would rise, when it was going up, it would shake," said Dante Arnwine, the district manager for CB9.

Jennell Francis, who lives nearby, also said she was all for the elevators being replaced, telling News 12 "I've gotten stuck in this elevator plenty of times."

The MTA says riders who need elevators can go to one of the other nearby stations, including Church Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, Park Place, or the Brooklyn Museum, which do have working elevators.

However, Arnwine says, especially for people who need elevators, "in terms of walkability, those stations are not walkable."

While Brooklyn Community Board 9 says it has been asking the MTA to provide free shuttles from those stations to make it easier, the MTA says that there are plenty of bus options, which are posted around the station including:

(Days) For B/Q service, take a Bay Ridge-bound B16 bus at Ocean Av/Lincoln Rd to Caton Av/St Pauls Pl for Church Av B/Q Station.
(Nights) For Q service, take a Kings Plaza-bound B41 bus at Flatbush Av/Ocean Av to Flatbush Av/Caton Av, for the Church Av Q Station.
For Franklin Av S service, take a Greenpoint-bound B48 bus at Lincoln Rd/Flatbush Av to Classon Av/Sterling Pl for the Park Pl S station or to Classon Av/Fulton St for the Franklin Av C/S station.

Francis says she still plans on using the station for her groceries, but "I'll be mindful, and just not carry as much."

"I'll be going up and down the steps," sighed Leonard Guy Bowen, a senior citizen who travels from Bed-Stuy to the station so he can go to the park. "When the going gets rough, the rough get going, I'm gonna tough it out!"

In the meantime, Community Board 9 has been putting up flyers and trying to get the word out, so everyone knows what they are in for when they show up at the station."

"This is also an opportunity for the community to work together," said Arnwine. "If you know the station is going out of service, inform your neighbors, so they can prepare."