President Berman Joins Congressman in Calling for 181st Subway Stop Renovation

On March 15, President Ari Berman sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo calling for the “renovation and redesign” of the 181st subway station. Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) co-signed the letter, which stresses the importance of the station to both the Washington Heights and Yeshiva University communities.

The 181st station is a part of the 1 train subway line.

The letter comes just three weeks after Congressman Espaillat visited the Wilf campus, for meetings with President Berman and Vice President for Legal Affairs Andrew Lauer, as well as YU students.

In particular, the letter requests updates to the station’s “outdated elevator banks,” the only access point into and out of the subway from the 181st stop, to be prioritized by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) during upcoming subway renovations citywide. The station sees 3.5 million riders yearly, according to the letter, and is in close proximity to the George Washington Bridge and Bus Terminal.

The letter also calls for addressing the station's “cramped” corridors and spacing.

"During rush hour tons of people go through the station but there’s really only one exit so it ends up taking a few minutes just to get to the elevator,” said Channah Bickford, a student in Stern who lives in Washington Heights and regularly takes the 1 train. “The drawback of it getting repaired is that during construction, commuters wouldn’t be able to use the station and we would have to go to 191st and that is in the opposite direction so that means it takes longer to get to school.”

The letter was also co-signed by Manhattan Community Board 12 Chairperson Shahabuddeen Ally.