I have worked and lived in various high rises. In most of these, I have experienced frustrating delays waiting for elevators – sometimes occasionally, sometimes constantly. I try to adjust for lunch hours, number of elevators, etc., but I swear that lots of times, statistically speaking, I should have seen about 3 elevators by the time one shows up.
It gets worse in my condo building, where I can see from the lobby which floor each is on. When I press “up” from the lobby, I often see three elevators doing nothing while the fourth is going up!
I can’t believe Otis is stupid enough not to have thought about optimizing elevator routing. Is this a more complex (or computationally difficult) problem than I think?
Furthermore, some buildings do a much better job than others – for instance, trying to make sure an elevator is available on the ground floor versus stuck in limbo. Why would some elevators be stupider than others?
My friend’s husband works for Otis. I’ll ask him.
I did ask him once why they break down a lot and he said it is because an elevator is like a car. Parts wear out.
You would think that people would be thankful to him when he is on call and gets out of bed in the middle of the night and gets them out of an elevator where they have been stuck. Nope. Everyone is always mad.
My friend’s husband works for Otis. I’ll ask him.
I did ask him once why they break down a lot and he said it is because an elevator is like a car. Parts wear out.
You would think that people would be thankful to him when he is on call and gets out of bed in the middle of the night and gets them out of an elevator where they have been stuck. Nope. Everyone is always mad.
Modern elevators are synchronized. What often slows them is passengers holding the doors.
Peace,
mangeorge
You realize that elevators can’t move while passengers are getting in and out, right? Get a watch and time how long it takes for the elevator doors to open, everyone to get in and out, and then close again. Then add how long it takes the car to move between one floor and the next. I imagine that could be 20-40 seconds. This is how long an elevator remains on a floor where it stops. Then, next time you call an elevator, get a watch and see if it takes longer than this. If it does, then you can begin wondering what’s up.
Elevators ARE optimized, btw. Modern elevators work together and can be programmed to behave in certain ways. They also change their behaviour by time of day. In ‘night’ mode, for example, the elevators will often stay on the floor they stop at, unless someone else in the building pushes the call button. In ‘day’ mode, some might be programmed to move to the top floor when there are no requests, and others will move to the lobby. It depends on the elevator, and I imagine it also depends on how much work the elevator maintenance guy is willing to go to to set them up properly in the first place.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some buildings go for months or years with suboptimal elevator settings, because the yahoo who installed or maintains them couldn’t be bothered to spend the extra time to get the programming set up right.
Well, elevators suck and blow. They blow on the shaft in the direction of travel, and they suck on the shaft in the way they are travelling opposite.
It’s all about air pressure.
Best. Post. Ever.
Nah, Sam, those ‘yahoos’ don’t program elevators to their personal whim. They have pretty much standard programs which can be selcted by the building owners according to the tennant’s needs. If these needs aren’t met, the elevator company get’s a call. Day or night, as Lillith Fair stated above.
People just don’t like public elevators. Because we have to share, I suspect.
Peace,
mangeorge