A popular Bay Ridge subway station is officially fully ADA-accessible, marking a significant milestone for transit equity in southern Brooklyn, MTA officials said on Tuesday.
The MTA, along with elected officials and transit advocates, announced the opening of two new elevators at the Bay Ridge-95th Street subway station, home to the R train, on July 8, making it accessible for all commuters for the first time.
“This is a crucial connection in Bay Ridge,” Quemuel Arroyo, MTA’s chief accessibility officer, said. “It hasn’t always been easy for me to get to. I have family in this neighborhood and it was always an express bus or very expensive Uber. I’m so happy to be taking the train here now.”
The new elevators in the island-platform station include one that runs from street level to the mezzanine and another from the mezzanine to the platform. The made-over station also includes upgraded staircases and new communications and electrical systems.
New ADA boarding areas have platform edges and tactile warning strips. Crews also upgraded employee areas and made state-of-good-repair work.
Bay Ridge-95th Street is the third subway station to be made accessible this year, serving 3,000 commuters daily.
According to MTA officials, the project avoided four weekends of station shutdowns and saved an estimated $900,000.
“Thanks to effective project management we have been able to avoid four weekend shutdowns and save almost a million dollars in the process,” Janno Lieber, MTA chair and CEO, said. “That’s a successful project.”
Lieber noted that the project was made possible with financial assistance from the Federal Transit Administration.
“I join the Bay Ridge community in celebrating the completion of the new ADA-compliant elevators at the Bay Ridge–95th Street station,” Congress Member Nicole Malliotakis, who represents the area, said. “These upgrades will ensure greater accessibility for our neighbors who need it most and that’s why I voted for the federal infrastructure law that brought more funds for similar transit, bridge and maritime projects to keep New York moving.”
NYS State Senator Andrew Gounardes underscored the significance of the project for Bay Ridge residents.
“This project has been a long time coming. When I first got into elected office, there was not a single accessible station anywhere in my district,” Gounardes, who assumed the state senate role in 2019, said. “There was one elevator at Bay Parkway and that was it. Today we are celebrating the second station in Bay Ridge to have accessibility access.”
The Bay Ridge station’s new elevators complement existing accessibility at the nearby 86th Street station, which offers connections to local buses, including those to Staten Island.
“As Chair of the Finance Committee, hearing something come in under budget is obviously music to my ears,” Justin Brannan, NYC Council member, said. “This is a great example of working with the MTA on bringing accessibility to the far reaches of the outer boroughs and reminding folks that the ADA is not just a suggestion, it’s actually the law.”
The MTA made progress in 2024 and 2025 in reconfiguring stations to be accessible, it still has a long way to go to meet a court-approved settlement ensuring that 95% of the city’s subway stations are made ADA-accessible by 2055.
