Variable-Speed Escalators Off to a Shaky Start.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's experiment to introduce 35 ''green'' escalators in four subway stations started with a lurch on Monday. In some places, it didn't start at all. Escalators at the 34th Street-Herald Square and Roosevelt Island stations in Manhattan and the Jamaica-Van Wyck and Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer stations in Queens were to begin operating at variable speed, as part of a pilot program to save energy and reduce wear and tear. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]