Despite a petitioning campaign pushing for the installation of an elevator at the Mosholu Parkway 4 train station on Jerome Avenue, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) opted to award it to another Bronx station.

The MTA, however, is considering to add the station to its list of those that will receive an elevator when the next capital plan takes effect.

“The design phase for elevator accessibility at Mosholu Parkway will soon begin, and the station is likely to be done in the next capital program; we look forward to completing this project,” Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the MTA, said.

The silver lining is being hailed by Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, whose office introduced the petitioning drive in the summer.

“They’re already going to be in the process of designing the elevators for the station, which is actually the first step that they would take,” said Dinowitz.

For now, MTA intends to install a station at the 170th Street 4 station on Jerome Avenue. The station is one of five to receive an elevator after the MTA added another $200 million to its 2015-19 capital budget plan for it. The station falls within the recently rezoned Jerome Avenue, between East 184th and East 167th Streets. Local community boards 4 and 5 had advocated for an elevator installation at the station within the rezoned area.

Other stations to receive a station include the Queensboro Plaza, Broadway Junction, Livonia Avenue, and Main Street stations.

Dinowitz’s office, along with 81st Assembly District Leader Eric Dinowitz, and Community Board 7 jointly launched the campaign in the summer despite Mosholu Parkway station falling outside his district.

Getting an elevator at the 170th Street station was already in the cards. A so-called Points of Agreement Statement drafted by Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen during negotiations involving the Jerome Avenue Rezoning stated that the Bronx station would be included in the updated capital budget.

“The MTA has preliminarily identified the 170th Street station as one of the five City priority stations to receive access improvements. These projects were developed as part of the City’s $2.5 billion contribution to the MTA’s 2015-2019 Capital Program. Under the proposal, the MTA will add elevators to the station and make it fully ADA accessible,” read the talking point.

“They pretty much had their minds already made up,” said Dinowitz. “The fact that that’s sort of the center of the whole rezoning thing that’s going on and they expect a large influx in population in the not too distant future, I guess they were looking ahead.”

Though good news lies ahead, the current denial deals a major blow to commuters forced to trudge up four flights of stairs to get to the Mosholu Parkway platform. The station is home to Tracey Towers, the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District, North Central Bronx Hospital, Mosholu Montefiore Community Center and Montefiore Health System. No elevator access to at the station poses even greater strain to wheelchair-bound commuters heading to the two Norwood medical institutions.

Chris, a passenger heading into the station, said the elevator would be a boon.

“Oh we need it. I don’t know why there’s not an elevator here when there’s two main hospitals here. People have to come here all the time, and the people that really need the elevators, they can’t walk. It’s a main strip. We got two hospitals over there, you know?” he said. “I don’t know why we don’t have one [elevator]…MTA should be convenience for the people. The main stations that are by hospitals should always have an elevator.”

Another passenger, who declined to give his name, said an elevator is a good option since it falls within a “very commercial area.”

Annual ridership estimates show 2.7 million riders had entered the station in 2017, down from 2.8 million riders the year before.

Dinowitz’s office announced the campaign in the summer, several weeks before the the MTA was to meet to discuss the additions. Help from Community Board 7 and petitioners outside the station helped gather some 2,000 signatures. It wasn’t enough for the 23-member board to place the station on the list.

Despite the news, the MTA is now drafting rendering of an elevator for Mosholu Parkway, suggesting it would be next in line to receive one. The next capital plan is expected to go in effect in 2020.

“If they’re already are putting this into the design stage then I feel good about it, and I believe that the actions by members of the community had a significant impact on that process,” said Dinowitz.