A new effort in the Bronx wants to pay you to use staircases for exercise.

Lawrence Murphy and Alvin Niere, the duo responsible for the fledgling Bronx Steps Up program, see the initiative tackling two goals: promoting exercise and healthy living to combat obesity and, at the same time, raising money to renovate a deteriorating borough treasure, the Bronx’s street steps.

The project was conceived when Murphy, an architect at Montefiore Medical Center, noticed the number of dilapidated staircases during morning commutes on the 4 train. 

“The Bronx is very hilly,” Murphy says. “They needed these stairs to get from one side to another, wherever you were going. It’s funny because that is one of the unique characteristics of the Bronx.” But now, he says, “They’ve been deteriorating for 30 years, no love given to them.”

Murphy began thinking of ways to beautify the staircases and get more people to use them, eventually creating the urban design and health initiative.

The need for both is glaring, Murphy says. The stairs are crumbling and some 70 percent of Bronxites are considered overweight leading to high rates of diabetes and heart disease.

Niere, also an architect for Montefiore, is on board to introduce social media technology and develop a GPS-based app that tracks participants as they navigate each staircase. Walkers using the app would get credit or money to put in their bank accounts or to a worthy cause or back into the maintenance of the stairs.

“Through the app, we would create incentives for those who walk the steps to either personally gain from these incentives or to give back to the community,” Niere says.

The program is for people of all ages, but the “primary focus” is on children 10 to 19 years of age. “Prevention is good medicine,” Murphy says. “It’s a no brainer. You pay them early to stay healthy.”

Lawrence Fauntleroy, another Montefiore employee and youth basketball coach, said the health benefits of using the stairs are numerous. “Endurance, strength and conditioning, those are the main things,” said Fauntleroy.

His Riverside Hawks basketball team participated in the initial Bronx Steps Up test run a couple of weeks ago.

For Murphy, improved health, means improved lives. “The healthier one feels, the more likely chance that they will feel better about their lives and about themselves,” he says.

Murphy is hoping to raise money through a series of fundraising walks, internet funding platforms and collaboration with New York’s medical community.

Editor’s Note: For more information about the program, email thebronxstepsup@gmail.com. This article was originally published in the March 21-April 3 print edition of the Norwood News.