The downward-moving escalator has shut down several times in recent weeks in Warren Towers due to routine maintenance, university officials said.
Boston University Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email that the escalators have been in operation for over a decade and require regular maintenance.
“The escalators in Warren Towers were installed in 2004,” Riley wrote. “They are currently undergoing routine maintenance and there is nothing unusual about it.”
Carlos Dominguez, the facilities and operations manager for Warren Towers said maintenance is required because of the constant use of the equipment.
“When you compare these types of escalators to the types that are actually in hospitals or shopping centers, they have a time in which they turn them off,” Dominguez said. “Due to the nature of our building, these escalators are literally working around the clock, 24/7, they never stop.”
Since the escalators do not regularly shut down, they take on an extra burden, Dominguez said.
“The wear and tear on these escalators is quite a bit,” Dominguez said. “And that’s the reason why they break down.”
Elisabeth Tonsberg, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and Warren resident said the escalators seem to shut off at nighttime, becoming an annoying inconvenience to her.
“I’m not really good at stairs,” Tonsberg said. “So, it takes a while for me to go down them.”
Daniel Lee, a freshman in CAS, said he thinks that the escalators stop incredibly frequently.
“I see [the escalators] not work, like, at least once a week,” Lee said.
Maura Delaney, a sophomore in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Services, who lived in Warren last year and frequents the Warren Dining Hall, said she finds the escalator shutting down as little more than a minor inconvenience.
“It’s alright because I just walk straight down, ” Delaney said. “Sometimes when the escalator is broken, you think that it should be moving, so it’s difficult to walk down it.”
Rania Shohatee, a freshman in CAS who also lives in Warren, said she is not greatly impacted by whether the escalator is functioning or not.
“Usually it’s been pretty good but, like, on the weekends, one of them breaks down going down,” Rania said. “I think it would be a bigger problem if it were one of the escalators going up.”
