Because underground what could possibly go wrong delaying emergency doors up to 15 seconds. This week the MTA unveiled new plans to eventually restructure emergency doors to only allow them to open after a 15 second delay.
Unsurprisingly, the MTA is now the subject of intense debate and criticism. The emergency doors in stations in recent years have well been used for just that. Some have pointed out that this is a bad idea — with one example citing the infamous gunman that opened fire in the subway station in Brooklyn a while back. A stampede like that to escape with a delayed emergency exit is going to blow up in the MTA’s face so quick they will be reversing course before they can blink.
According to Gothamist, the bonkers idea has emerged as the struggling transit agency attempts to further find ways to beat back fare evaders. The change is coming to 3 stations beginning mid next month to start with an expected future dated rollout. Fare evaders in recent months, have gotten pretty crafty and amusing in their efforts to beat the MTA at their own game whether at protest for the poor service or simply not paying the fare at all.