SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Recently, as many as 28 BART station escalators were out of service. In at least one instance, the escalator – at the West Oakland Station – has been down for more than 7 months. An escalator at San Francisco’s Civic Center Station has been out since January 10.

Robert Cotton, the transit agency’s chief escalator repair manager, is quoted in Monday’s Matier and Ross column as saying that BART has simply had trouble keeping up.

He blames the breakdowns mostly on aging equipment and weather, pointing out that escalators in the downtown San Francisco stations take an even bigger beating from the homeless who sleep at the foot of the escalators and spill beverages on the machinery. Vandals have also been roughing up the rubber railings.

BART installed 19 extra-heavy duty escalators in the San Francisco stations more than a decade ago, at a cost of nearly $10 million. By all accounts, they have not held up well. The transit agency plans to spend roughly $200,000 to rehab them.

KCBS, CBS 5 and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier:

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