Anyone who has waited for an elevator in Anderson or Gladfelter halls can appreciate the sorry state of vertical transportation at Temple.
Long lines, longer waits and packed cars are the hallmark of many elevators across Main Campus.
Students with classes in these buildings, where many of the university’s core classes are held, are often late because of the slow-moving cars.
Whenever possible, Lauren Perry, a junior communications major, avoids the Temple elevators at all costs, opting for the stairs whenever possible.
“I have never liked elevators,” she said. “Since most of my classes are on the first few floors of Anderson I don’t mind taking the stairs.”
“I have the majority of my classes on the fourth floor,” said liberal arts major Lindsay Szabo, “The elevators at Temple are slow and inefficient as it is, but when people take them to the second floor it only slows the ride down for the rest of us.”
As annoying as these problems are, they haven’t gone unnoticed by university officials.
A three-phase program is planned to rework and repair university elevators across campus, according to the Office of Facilities Management.
Facilities Management officials are asking students and staff members to take part in an online survey that allows them to tell officials which elevators are acting up and need to be repaired first.
“We’ve identified the ones that we think ought to be in the first two phases on the Web site,” said Robert Buchholz, vice president of Facilities Management, “but I’m looking for students, faculty and staff to tell me, ‘How come you’re not working on the one over here? I’m always waiting for that one.'”
200 people have responded to the survey so far, he said.
“A lot of the people who have responded have said that the elevator isn’t quick enough to get them to their next class,” Buchholz said.
“We want to speed up the timing of the elevators and fix the responders so that two cars don’t respond to the same call.”
An initial screening of the university’s elevators was based on the service history and ages of the elevators.
Facilities Management determined that the elevators in Anderson, Gladfelter, Speakman, the Paley Library and several others needed to be repaired during the first phase.
“There are some old elevators in these buildings,” Buchholz said.
“But if we get in there and upgrade the controllers, then their operation would be much smoother and there would be less dead time between elevators.”
According to Buchholz, a contract proposal is being finalized and will be up for bidding in January.
The University has given Facilities Management $500,000 for the first phase of repairs.
“We’d like to spend a half million dollars this year and then over the next three to four years go through the entire campus and upgrade the elevators,” he said.
Buchholz added that the elevators in the student dorms across campus would not be included in the program because agreements are already in place for their maintenance, but that if students have concerns about dorm elevators, they may be included in the overall program to save money.
Buchholz plans to ask president David Adamany for additional funds for the next fiscal year to begin the second phase.
He says the second phase will target elevators in Conwell Hall, Wachman Hall, the University Services Building and the older elevator in the Student Center.
For more information you can call (215) 204-7920 or visit the survey’s website at https://www.temple.edu/facilities/survey.htm.
Chris Powell can be reached at tujournalist@hotmail.com
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