Couple days ago on my commute, I stepped off the train to transfer to another line, which is accessed by going to a lower level in the station. You can get there by stairs, elevator, or escalator, and most Metro stations in the Washington area are relatively compact and well-organized – not like the labyrinths that some New York Subway stations are.
So, step off the train, there’s an escalator right in front. Only it’s coming up. So, in my commuter’s trance, I am android-marching along the platform. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a teen-aged couple, sharply dressed in a hip-hop style sort of messing around. The girl comes to the escalator and notices it’s going the wrong way. Oops! So she starts moving down to the next one. Her cool-walking, sideways-cap wearing boyfriend calls her back, reaches down for the “emergency stop” button and freaking cuts off the escalator, so he can walk down, and save himself the trouble of walking 20 feet to the next one!
I pity the next elderly or frail or just plain-tired-at-the-end-of-the-workday commuter who had to freaking walk up the escalator just so Mr. Cool could save himself 10 seconds of walking time.
I’d never seen such callous behaviour in the Metro like that. It took me a few minutes to actually realize what had happened.
There could be two responses to that for me. I’d either find the nearest Metro cop or I’d turn the escalator back on and tell the punk to stuff it if he complained.
(Yes, my cat’s name is Jody. No I didn’t name her that - the shelter did. Yes, I am stupid enough that I didn’t make the connection until someone at my vets office mentioned it)
Don’t know about there, but here the only way to turn them on is someone who is watching the security cameras can press a button to start it.
That is an assholish thing to do though, I’ve been on an escalator when they stop and it can really jerk you around because you aren’t expecting it to just stop.
One time me and some friends were coming up the escalator at the Moszkva Ter station in Budapest, and it stops. The Moszkva Ter station is 38 meters (124.7 ft) deep, with one escalator. One of my friends had muscular dystrophy, and had a bit of a time getting the rest of the way up. Luckily, we were over half way to the top.
This happens all the time around here – kids will stop the escalator just for a lark. Not much to be done about it but tell the station manager so they can turn it back on. Especially irritating when it’s the up escalator, which it usually is.
Seriously people need to stop having kids. People who havbe a kid should be put in jail for 18 years and the kids should be sent to work as farmhands in antartica.
Once in the L.A. subway I saw a lawyer, with one of those enormous lawyerly square document cases, almost the size of a small suitcase and with wheels and a handle. The escalator was stopped, and he struggled all the way up that escalator with that case. And L.A.s subway mostly runs very deep, like 50 or 60 feet below ground.
He didn’t think to look for an elevator, poor guy.
But shame on me, because I didn’t think to suggest it to him.