"The purpose of this synthesis is to document highly specialized elevator/escalator (El/Es) maintenance, safety practices, and passenger communication efforts at five U.S. transit agencies: MARTA (Atlanta, Georgia), NYCTA (New York City), SEPTA (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), CTA (Chicago, Illinois), and BART (San Francisco, California)...Together, they are part of an FTA-sponsored consortium with APTA, Amalgamated Transit Union, and the Learning Center, engaged in developing a Transit Elevator/Escalator Maintenance Training and Apprenticeship Program. The Topic Panel directed the consultant to survey and conduct in-depth telephone interviews with these transit agencies' staff to provide a comprehensive look at how representative agencies provide EI/Es services, the specific challenges they face in doing so, and the steps taken to provide safe and reliable access to all their customers and, particularly, the disabled community."--Preface.