#Elevator etiquette has New Yorkers at each other’s throats

You might want to start taking the stairs.

New York City’s high-rise residents are finding themselves at war with their neighbors. The battleground? The elevator, which has become high-stakes territory in the larger fight against COVID-19.

New reduced-capacity rules  — most buildings limit capacity to four riders at a time and require masks — are causing clashes: Some riders are refusing to let others enter the elevator with them, while others ignore the rules and pack the lifts.

Wait times in the lobby and hallway are proving unbearable and, in some cases, long-suffering doormen have to intervene.

“It was definitely awkward,” Upper West Side chess instructor Evan Rabin told The Post, recalling a recent standoff in his 30-story building that was defused by the doorman.

The 30-year-old and another resident were both ejected from the elevator because Rabin insisted on joining the germaphobe demanding a solo ride.

“He told me I had to wait for the next one,” said Rabin, who calmly pointed out the building’s four-person elevator policy. “I replied, ‘If you’re not comfortable, you have every right to leave, but I’m in a rush.’”

Each stood their ground until the exasperated doorman ordered them to quit arguing and give up the elevator to another tenant.

On the opposite side of the park, an Upper East Side resident said her teenage daughter was screamed at by “someone’s help” for trying to keep her social distance.

The 54-year-old stay-at-home mom, who prefers to keep her identity private because she fears retribution from her co-op board, said her daughter politely asked a housekeeper to take the next elevator when it stopped at a lower floor, saying that she only rides the elevator with family.

“The housekeeper yelled, ‘I am not waiting. I have waited long enough. If you don’t want to ride in the elevator with me, then you get out!,’” the teen’s mom told The Post.

The 19-year-old obliged, but her mother decided to alert the board, which had previously sent emails saying residents are permitted to travel alone in the elevator if they prefer.

“We choose not to ride with others to protect both parties, which makes some people in our building mad,” said her mom. “I build the extra wait time into my schedule. People just seem to have very little patience these days.”

The question of whether elevators serve as outsize petri dishes is up for debate. It is clearly difficult to stand the obligatory 6 feet apart, but, according to experts, occupants wearing masks, coupled with the relatively short travel time, lessens the likelihood of the coronavirus spreading.

Advice issued to those in shared housing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes the recommendation: “Consider limiting the number of individuals in an elevator at one time.” The authority also recommends they be cleaned and disinfected more than once a day.

That’s not enough to reassure the likes of data analyst Lydia, a 42-year-old diabetic, who asked not to be fully named for privacy reasons.

Concerned that she’s at higher risk than others for COVID-19, the Upper East Sider often ensures solo rides by saying: “I have a disease!”

One man jockeying to board once grunted, “Is it contagious?,” before agreeing to the request of the widowed mom of one.

Meanwhile, math teacher Carole Tashjian, also of the Upper East Side, finds the tricky etiquette and long wait times particularly challenging. This is mostly because the three elevators in her residence close in rotation for maintenance work. Despite the inconvenience, the rule remains four riders at a time.

A lone angry woman twice “shooed” the 59-year-old out of the elevator, saying, “No, no, no, you can’t come on,” because she wanted the space to herself.

“I was shocked the first time, so I stepped out,” said Tashjian. “But, the second time, she was so nasty in her tone — I just barged in. She was not happy with me and hid in the corner.”

These kinds of altercations are straining the bonds among neighbors.

Shai Canaan, of the Upper West Side, said he’s sympathetic toward those who want the elevator to themselves, but can’t deal with the inconvenience. In his 16-story building, the new two-person capacity has caused tremendous stress.

“Fifty people waiting in line to go two by two is really time-consuming,” said Canaan, who works in information technology. “But, when people [finally] get into the elevator and talk [on their cellphones], they excrete even more virus, so that’s even worse.”

As for Rabin, he has unluckily found himself running into his elevator foe “almost every day” in their lobby.

“I just pretend not to see him,” he said.