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It's a monster climb for riders at the Fifth Avenue Subway Station on the E and M lines at 53rd Street.

Commuters say they have to climb hundred of steps because of a stopped escalator, which rarely runs.

“Four out of five days the escalator doesn't work,” says commuter Danielle Arias.

A subway performer says he's down in the station all the time and sees what goes on with the escalator.

“Most of the time it seems like the escalator is broken,” he says.

Riders say the down escalator works just fine, but the up escalator is nearly always out-of-order.

“I just find it to be ridiculous that you have people with baby carriages, elderly people that have to walk up 150 steps,” says Arias.

“People who know about this secret button come by and push this button,” the subway performer says. “A little buzzer goes off and then the escalator works for a few minutes and then it stops again.”

Riders who called in to NY1 claim this has been going on for several months and they are sick of it.

NY1 called the MTA and a spokesman told the station the escalator has a reliability rating slightly above 80 percent.

He said after reviewing records, he found the majority of outages were due to the activation of the emergency stop button.

The spokesman told us there will be an inspection to determine whether the button is overly sensitive.

NY1 will stay on top of this stalled situation.