Standing vs Waiting on Escalator

[Lamb]

I read this article this morning and I slightly disagree with it when based on real situations of my own experience. I have never seen a line at an escalator with the very exception of O'Hare airport and that lasted a good 2 seconds and only because of mothers with strollers who didn't know what to do. They held the line up briefly.

For the most part, escalators are not packed with people and that's because there aren't many people waiting to get in line on the escalator. Is it different where you've lived or traveled?

With big health crazes around I also see many more people taking the stairs even with their luggage in tow! Here's the link to the article below.


People who walk on the escalator actually slow everyone down

 

[vince284]

I've been on my share of crowded escalators and autowalks (moving sidewalks) and even though the article points out that walkers use more space and therefore crowd the escalator and slow everyone down, IMO they may use more space but they use that space much quicker than the space a person is occupying that is just standing. So the escalator empties much quicker. I recently sat for a while facing a moving sidewalk waiting for my plane, and the people walking had to slow down because of the people standing (which was rare, most were walking) but the people standing had the autowalk blocked with all their mounds luggage. So the numbers look good but there is real life that needs to be accounted for.

 

[NewCreation435]

I'm basicallyk impatient so I tend to walk on them even though I'm on an escalator. But, I use them so infrequently I haven't really noticed what others do

 

[vince284]

I'm basicallyk impatient so I tend to walk on them even though I'm on an escalator. But, I use them so infrequently I haven't really noticed what others do

I'm not an impatient person unless the person in front of me is oblivious that they are holding up things. I tend to walk up the last few steps on an escalator if it's empty, but never when I'm going down. On a moving sidewalk I always walk, I feel lazy traveling at the same speed as someone walking next to the moving sidewalk and I'm just standing there.

 

[Albion]

It sounds to me that the article is speaking of escalators that are wide enough to allow someone to stand and someone else to walk past them. I never see escalators like that except in airports (moving sidewalks, that is to say) where I figure the walker has a good reason for hurrying.

 

[Tigger]

The only times I’ve seen an escalator get backed up is when a full airport tram unloads and a herd of people converge on them all at once. Actually with a little patience they handle the crowd fairly nicely.

 

[vince284]

I rode a commuter train everyday for a few years and those escalators were always full as trains were arriving from the suburbs every few minutes. Going home wasn't as bad but the escalators weren't very wide, only one person wide. The hold ups were usually caused with people that were pulling their rolling laptop bags.

 

[Lamb]

I rode a commuter train everyday for a few years and those escalators were always full as trains were arriving from the suburbs every few minutes. Going home wasn't as bad but the escalators weren't very wide, only one person wide. The hold ups were usually caused with people that were pulling their rolling laptop bags.

I remember that commute. Didn't they do updates at the station?

 

[tango]

Sometimes an escalator has few people on it so it makes little difference. If you've ever ridden the London Underground at peak times you'll know what a crowded escalator looks like, and it makes sense to get as many people through as possible to avoid overcrowding in the hall areas at the tops and bottoms of the escalators. The convention there is very much to stand on the right and walk on the left, and you'll often see a line of people waiting to get on the right side of the escalator while far fewer people walk past to get on the left and walk. That alone highlights how people could be joining the escalator nearly twice as fast if the approach was to just stand and wait until you get to the other end.

I hate walking up or down escalators because the steps are so much bigger than a regular staircase. When I was iin business dress I'd avoid doing things that made me even a little bit warmer but when I was navigating the Underground in casual wear, particularly when it wasn't like a furnace in the underground tunnels, I did sometimes like to go down the stairs beside the escalator and see if I could beat it. When I was fitter I sometimes tried to beat the escalator going up as well, although that typically only worked for the shorter ones.

 

[Romanos]

I use both, but it always makes me laugh a little bit when people walk on escalators.

 

[Lamb]

I think of the mall escalators where they are located separately from the stairs. So walking up and down them just makes sense.

At the airport are the moving walkways and everyone I see walks on those except for the very heavy people and people with young children.

I guess I have the need for speed

 

[vince284]

I remember that commute. Didn't they do updates at the station?

I'm not sure when the last time you were at that end-of-the-line station, but the last time I went through there was a couple of years ago and it is extremely nice. It's clean and there is now a full shopping mall. The nice thing about it, it's attached to the underground pedway and you can walk all through the city without going up into the cold or heat. The wide hallways have street names and spots to shop or get something to drink and eat. It sure is nice in the dead of winter just to pop up like a ground squirrel and reach your building. Not so good for a visitor or sight-seer since it's underground and you don't see anything.

 

[Lamb]

I'm not sure when the last time you were at that end-of-the-line station, but the last time I went through there was a couple of years ago and it is extremely nice. It's clean and there is now a full shopping mall. The nice thing about it, it's attached to the underground pedway and you can walk all through the city without going up into the cold or heat. The wide hallways have street names and spots to shop or get something to drink and eat. It sure is nice in the dead of winter just to pop up like a ground squirrel and reach your building. Not so good for a visitor or sight-seer since it's underground and you don't see anything.

There used to be a mall type of thing when I was last there and when I walked underground it was very nasty....but all the homeless would say Hello to the commuters as they walked by. It was kind of a highlight of the morning. Glad they made it all nice but where did the homeless people go to sleep?

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

I typically stand on escalators, but will stand on the right, knowing that there will most likely be someone who will want to save that extra second by walking. I think it's just good etiquette. With moving sidewalks the directions are usually pretty clear - stand on the right, walk on the left. Here, I think walking along does save a bit of time. I try to follow 'rules of the road' when walking in a crowd - keeping left, passing slower walkers, and not going into the other "lane". What irks me in airports is that family coming at me in the wrong "lane" as a human wall. They see me coming and don't budge. So I have to move to the side to let them pass. Grrrr...

 

[vince284]

There used to be a mall type of thing when I was last there and when I walked underground it was very nasty....but all the homeless would say Hello to the commuters as they walked by. It was kind of a highlight of the morning. Glad they made it all nice but where did the homeless people go to sleep?

The pedway is/was very clean and well lit. No homeless, that I have noticed. They went topside and some literally under the bridges (the rafters of the bridges). Unless it was extremely cold and windy I didn't use the pedway much. I think there are "tours" of the pedways, so I think they are still nice. But when I started to drive into the city I would use the lower streets. It was fast (however ugly), I just wondered why more cars didn't use them?

 

[Lamb]

The pedway is/was very clean and well lit. No homeless, that I have noticed. They went topside and some literally under the bridges (the rafters of the bridges). Unless it was extremely cold and windy I didn't use the pedway much. I think there are "tours" of the pedways, so I think they are still nice. But when I started to drive into the city I would use the lower streets. It was fast (however ugly), I just wondered why more cars didn't use them?

GPS signals get lost in the lower streets maybe?

 

[vince284]

GPS signals get lost in the lower streets maybe?

My GPS would get lost topside... with all those skyscrapers! :drive:

 

[Lamb]

My GPS would get lost topside... with all those skyscrapers! :drive:

That happened to me in Pittsburgh! I got lucky and found my way to the turnpike though. It could have been bad because I don't know the neighborhoods there at all to know if I would be driving through a bad one.

 

[psalms 91]

I refuse to drive in Pittsburgh those narrow streets are a nightmare

 

[tango]

I refuse to drive in Pittsburgh those narrow streets are a nightmare

You'd hate driving in central London.