[QUOTE=galt]
For what it’s worth, I don’t think standing in the middle of the escalator makes you rude or a moron unless you refuse to get out of the way when someone wants to pass. I don’t even bother standing to the right on most escalators in “casual” settings (e.g. malls as opposed to mass transit centers like airports), but I damn well pay attention to whether someone wants to get by and I move if they do, generally before being asked. If I’m carrying on a conversation or doing something that will distract me from noticing someone approaching, I will definitely move to the right.
[/QUOTE]
I wish everyone was as good a citizen as you are. Cannot ask for more than this. In fact, it is more than I would even ask for.
[QUOTE=What Exit?]
I wish everyone was as good a citizen as you are. Cannot ask for more than this. In fact, it is more than I would even ask for.
[/QUOTE]
Dammit, man this is the pit!
Get hold of yourself!
[QUOTE=lokij]
Engineers and architects that place escalators do it to deliberately slow crowd movement to a homogenous and somewhat predictable flow from entrances and exits. It seems to me that escalator walkers might unintentionally be subverting this design principle.
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If so, why are we finding it possible to provide examples of very high-volume escalators where it is explicitly encouraged?
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
If so, why are we finding it possible to provide examples of very high-volume escalators where it is explicitly encouraged?
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My very amateur guess would be is that escalators, like many other means of ingress/egress, are scalable and engineers who desire a relatively high flow in some areas such as public transporation install escalators to accomodate that need. But, would you not concede that if you were to take the same space and area that is occupied by an escalator in those same areas and make that same space a widely sweeping staircase that it could accomodate more people per hour, more quickly than the escalators that are there? I bet it could since the space occupied by the mechanical housings on either side as well as to some extend the movable railing could be horizontal stair space to accomodate more people. If people ride the escalator they move at the pace dictated by the machine and is a known quantity. Also, in an emergency situation where evacuation is called for escalators can be reversed or shut down to promote one unified direction away from danger and out of the area. Seems pretty straightforward to me how escalators could be used in these ways.
If the engineers design the secalator around fire regulations assuming that x number of people per hour use the escalator standing still (a number impossible to get exact), then why can’t they address the same regulations assuming y number of people using it? Regardless of standing still or walking, the same number of people are going to get off the escalator as get on it.
If the engineers design the secalator around fire regulations assuming that x number of people per hour use the escalator standing still (a number impossible to get exact), then why can’t they address the same regulations assuming y number of people using it? Regardless of standing still or walking, the same number of people are going to get off the escalator as get on it.
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You can get close, enough for estimates anyways I would imagine. Let’s say you have a small train station which is served by one train that leaves every 15 minutes. The train’s capacity is 200 people, the lobby area to board the train has a capacity of 400 people. This means at any one time you can have 200 people in the lobby safely and can process up to 800 passengers an hour. The entrance is served by one medium sized escalator that can accomodate 1 average sized person per step plus baggage. The speed is set so that one step is delivered to the bottom of the landing every 5 seconds. That means that in one hour, if you have one person occupying every step the entire hour you will deliver a total of 720 people into the lobby spaced evenly through the hour and at no one time would the lobby be past capacity. Now, because there is some room on the escalator (for the baggage) people can and do pass and walk down the stairs past the riders. If it’s minor it will be accomodated by the cushion capacity of 80 additional people the system has built in plus the escalator would likely not be at maximum capacity the entire hour either. If it becomes routine.. you will have overcrowding, people missing trains ect. because there aren’t enough seats for them during peak periods. Again, I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I’ve just read some bits here and there online about pedestrian control and escalators over the last couple of days and this is my best guess as to how the system might have been envisioned to work. I could be completely wrong .
[QUOTE=lokij]
Oh, I can grasp it.. but knowing there is a different mindset out there is a far far cry from understanding it or approving of it. You probably, due to culture and the way you were raised ect. ect., feel that moving fast is preferrable to taking your time. I feel that hurrying everywhere as a default is no kind of way to live, people should relax and let things go. Instead of get annoyed at the pace of people bagging your groceries and taking it upon yourself to bag them.. why not chat with the bagger or clerk or the people in line with you? Take a few moments to compose your thoughts? Look at the ridiculous tabloid headlines. Just STOP for a moment. Instead of walking up past people on a relatively cramped escalator, just take your turn and ride. My wife is from upstate NY and her mother is exactly as you describe.. she was just amazed by the way things are done around here and thought it was ridiculous, unfortunately she also manages grocery stores for a living and her attitudes were not serving her well for her job down here (they moved to be closer to us and the grandchildren). I explained things, made some suggestions and I think she’s slowly coming around. I don’t think she’ll ever understand it but I think she’ll be able to work with it and appreciate the differences for what they are. Just as I’m sure my mother in law sees the southern way of doing things as lazy or slow or wasteful, I have my suspicions about her way too. This is what bothers me in particular, if the default speed is fast… what happens when you DO need to hurry (because it does happen you know, even in the slowest most laid back small southern town)? Surely there is a point at which hurrying along becomes rude, reckless and ugly.. it seems to me that ya’ll operate a notch or two closer to that point than we do and are more likely to reach it consistently.
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Well expressed. And wrong.
Implicit in the suggestions in your post is the idea that slowing down is relaxing. Uh, no, it’s not. It’s frustrating. Ever try to drive on an open road with a speed limit that is unusually low? You can drive slowly for a while, but your speed will eventually creep up because it’s actually more stressful to drive slowly.
Northerners have a different notion of rude. We do fast. Perhaps you’ve noticed. As a result of this, wasting someone’s time unnecessarily is rude.
If it makes you feel any better, Ms. Malienation likes your unsweetened tea. And I likes me some grits. Your cornbread’s not sweet enough, though
Implicit in the suggestions in your post is the idea that slowing down is relaxing. Uh, no, it’s not. It’s frustrating. Ever try to drive on an open road with a speed limit that is unusually low? You can drive slowly for a while, but your speed will eventually creep up because it’s actually more stressful to drive slowly.
Northerners have a different notion of rude. We do fast. Perhaps you’ve noticed. As a result of this, wasting someone’s time unnecessarily is rude.
If it makes you feel any better, Ms. Malienation likes your unsweetened tea. And I likes me some grits. Your cornbread’s not sweet enough, though
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Heh, it’s a circular argument really. I could retort that you simply feel frustrated because you won’t relax and take your time. Why do you have to speed up, is it worth getting upset about? Do you really save that much time at the end of the day by speeding or is speed an end in itself? If it was a two lane highway with no passing and you come up behind somebody who feels comfortable driving the posted limit but you’d rather go faster, what would you do? I don’t feel that going about my day in the manner in which I’m accustomed to and is generally the norm here is wasting anybody’s time. I see implicit in your (and other’s) view is that anybody NOT going at your pace is somehow infringing upon your time by existing. In not every case is there going to be a solution that allows you to continue on at your pace and they at theirs.. sometimes you will have to simply wait and that seems strangely offensive to many. I’m sure there is plenty of room for both of us though. BTW, Unsweetened tea can barely be described as ‘southern’ and sweet cornbread is an unspeakable abomination. ;> I like your pizza and more locally your crab cakes. :>
[QUOTE=lokij]
But, would you not concede that if you were to take the same space and area that is occupied by an escalator in those same areas and make that same space a widely sweeping staircase that it could accomodate more people per hour, more quickly than the escalators that are there?
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Probably not, especially if we’re talking a couple of hundred steps.
[QUOTE=lokij]
The speed is set so that one step is delivered to the bottom of the landing every 5 seconds.
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If it’s moving that slowly, I’m definitely walking.
[QUOTE=lokij]
The speed is set so that one step is delivered to the bottom of the landing every 5 seconds.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll try to pay attention when I go home this evening, but I’ll think you’ll find the timing between steps to be a lot closer to one every second, MAYBE second and a half.
I’m certain I’ve never been on an escalator that took anywhere near 5 seconds between steps.
[QUOTE=Asimovian]
I’ll try to pay attention when I go home this evening, but I’ll think you’ll find the timing between steps to be a lot closer to one every second, MAYBE second and a half.
I’m certain I’ve never been on an escalator that took anywhere near 5 seconds between steps.
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:
My example was to show very broadly how an escalator could be used to slow down and moderate pedestrian traffic based on calculations of use and delivery time. I picked nice round numbers out of the air and did my calculations to suit, it was to provide an easily understood example not depict reality. Is it REALLY necessary for me to recalculate my numbers and adjust the example so that it reflects an escalator delivery time of about 1-2 seconds for you to understand my point?
[QUOTE=lokij]
My example was to show very broadly how an escalator could be used to slow down and moderate pedestrian traffic based on calculations of use and delivery time.
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You used a spurious example to demonstrate a point which some of us to be completely inaccurate. Unless you’ve got realistic numbers, your example harms your case.
Help me out here. If exercise is the point, why are these people taking the escalator instead of the stairs?
[/QUOTE]
-Unlike Europe, which normally have stairways and escalators located togethor, Many USA malls and suchlike may not offer the option of a stairway, and if so it is often done only to meet fire codes, so is hidden away, may have access doors that sound an alarm, etc.
-For the sheer joy of using something that fits:
I’m 6’5" tall, have a 38" inseam, and wear size 14 shoes. The only stairways that are proportioned for my feet and gait are escalators.
Taking two steps at a time solves the problem going upward, where my heels can hang off safely off the edge. Downward requires me to turn sideways and crab-walk, as if I point my toes forward I either have the choice of clipping the edge with my heel, or having the ball of my foot miss the edge, either of which is likely to cause a tumble. Escalators are the only time I get to go down stairs without breaking stride.
Which may go a long way toward explaining the escalator standers. If you are proportioned such that you are not comfortable walking, then I can see why you might wish to stand. I can’t see why you would wish to stand in the middle or on the right.
[QUOTE=Malienation]
If it makes you feel any better, Ms. Malienation likes your unsweetened tea. And I likes me some grits. Your cornbread’s not sweet enough, though
[/QUOTE]
D’oh! I meant to say sweet tea :smack:
Your cornbread’s not sweet enough, though 