The escalators at the Bethesda Metro station are the second longest set of single-span uninterrupted escalators in the Western Hemisphere, only slightly shorter than their sisters at Wheaton. So when they stop running, people are none too pleased, even though their calves are probably a little more muscular.

That’s what happened this morning, as a power issue that affected a number of station systems caused Bethesda’s escalators to go on the fritz for about half an hour. This morning’s disruption was the second time in the span of six days that the escalators at Bethesda had stopped running, and though Metro officials say that today’s incident was unrelated to the mechanical outage on October 19, they say realize that something needs to be done.

“We know that Bethesda’s escalators are problematic, and we’ve heard loud and clear that our customers want us to do something about it,” said WMATA spokesperson Dan Stessel. “That’s why we’re planning to fully replace — not rehab — all three of them.”

If all goes according to plan, WMATA will begin replacing all three entrance escalators in early 2014, with the possibility of work beginning sooner, depending on the progress of other projects and the participation of funding jurisdictions. (The station opened in 1984, meaning it’s escalators could be 30 years old by the time the project gets underway.) We’re sure the replacement plans will be a big part of the discussion during a special meeting of the Montgomery County Council, who will talk about the topic of escalator service this evening.