The Runner Staff
The capacity of students around CSU Bakersfield has increased and all around campus students have experienced a longer waiting time than usual.
Therefore, some students try to avoid the wait by using an elevator to get to their classes.
In the student housing dorm, Pinyon, the elevators are the best way to get around the halls. However, some students have had trouble with those elevators.
“I use the elevators daily… about every time I go to my room, I use the elevator,” said CSUB biochemistry major Garrett Webster. “Using the elevator is not that bad. I’m just glad they got rid of the crash it did when it used to stop on the first floor.”
According to the permit, the elevator has not had an inspection since 2014 and housing has yet to achieve a new permit since it expired in November 2015.
That is not the case.
Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management Pat Jacobs said that they had been having problems with those elevators, but the problems have been fixed and have been inspected.
“Those elevators were under warranty and they were having a problem leveling,” Jacobs said.
There are two arms that allow the elevator to go up and down, and Jacobs said they both have to be in sync, otherwise the elevator cart gets at an angle.
“Thyssen Krupp (company that manufactures, installs and repairs the school’s elevators) had some issue getting all that synchronization to take place and that’s what caused all the issues in the building,” he said. “They notified us and we notified them from the time we opened the building, and the problem is they would fix it and it would go out of sync. So, it was an ongoing problem until about October of 2015.”
He added that the warranty has been extended to July 4, 2016 since Thyssen Krupp was having problems with the elevators.
Jacobs said the inspection, which is done by the state happened on December 2016 and they’re currently working on the corrections.
CSUB senior business major Brett Womack said he doesn’t ride the elevators. However, he said would use them if they were remodeled.
“I think I would use the elevators if they were remodeled with like wooden floors and some nice elevator music, but they should be up to date,” said Womack.
Last fall, a student was trapped in the elevator in Walter Stiern Library. Jacobs said that elevators typically have a failure that requires someone to fix them once every 60 days. Majority of the time the failure occurs when someone tries to get an elevator but it won’t come.
“We typically have that happen about once or twice a year we’ll have someone stuck in an elevator for 10-15 minutes while we get them out,” Jacobs said.
Last week, the elevator in Science I was out of service but it was for maintenance testing and checks.
Jacobs said that there are no issues with the elevators right now.
“They have been inspected, and it’s just a paperwork issue going back and forth between the state elevator group and Thyssen going in and doing the maintenance on it.”
