How so? If both sides walk it’s even faster.
3 Likes
People who need 10 seconds got by walking escalators can leave home early a min too.
Ann’s, locations of elevators are often not very convenient. If you say for the majority of people they should use elevators, people who want to walk left side should give up walking for the total efficiency.
1 Like
Shit happens.
Because the escalator capacity is greater when both sides are standing (e.g., two people per step with every step occupied vs. maybe 50% of the steps being used at a given time if people are walking - can also scale this proportionally for people’s preference to leave empty steps). It’s not referring to the time of a single passenger’s journey on the escalator, rather the overall efficiency. Already explained by a couple of people above.
Again, seems to only apply to cases where the escalator is a bottleneck though, i.e., when people are queuing to get on.
4 Likes
Wot?
1 Like
Don’t do this in Japan (presuming we are actually permitted to enter that place again in the future). When in Japan, stick to the left. : D
Guy
Kinda makes sense because most people are right handed. Running up and grabbing the rail for that little extra boost would be slightly easier.
Is that the point?
I think it meant that the ques to the escalator were less when both sides were standing.
If a full escalator is more efficient, then an escalator full of walking people is even more efficient.
Anyway it’s great to have the option, if i’m in a rush i can zip down them in no time at all, very useful.
3 Likes
Yeah. TBH they ought to be encouraging everyone to walk, not just stand there like dummies. If you were an alien from another planet and you saw people just standing there waiting for the machine to bring them somewhere at a snail’s pace, you’d wonder what on earth was wrong with them. Had their legs suddenly malfunctioned?
I agree with this, and my point on the first post. It’s like when I drive I plan some extra time for traffic and other slow ups. Not schedule it to the minute and drive 120 down the motorway to make up time. Is everyone’s life like a few minutes matter that much and so much time stress?? I more so spend my time doing my work in less time than my 38 hour work week.
I’m surprised no one has pointed out that the escalators in Taiwan seem relatively slow moving, to me at least. They seem slower than escalators in Japan or the US. That’s a big reason why I walk up them even if I’m not in a hurry, it drives me nuts to stand still while I move at a glacial pace.
the point is people cannot walk with the same density that people can stand with, as already pointed out.
1 Like
??? 
But they are walking, you can not calculate how many people per step at any time, fraction of a second.
And BTW, I always leave one step between me and the previous, so each step occupied theory doesn’t really work. And I hope no one sticks his face in my ass behind me.
What’s difficult to understand? Next time you’re taking a busy escalator on the MRT or similar, look at the density of people on the left and right sides - it’s far higher on the right, because people can pack more closely when they’re not moving and there’s more space either side of each person when they are.
The same way that you can fit more cars in a car park or traffic jam than in the same area of moving road because drivers have to account for braking distance (not specifically talking about Taiwan here…).
2 Likes
You totally can - you just need to imagine it as a snapshot/average over time.
1 Like
But you’re not accounting for the fact that the walking people are getting out of the way more quickly. They don’t need to be as densely packed to move the same number of people because they aren’t spending the same amount of time on the escalator.
1 Like
Isn’t this something that if someone just sit down and did the math, they can figure it out?
Example, if an escalator is escalator has 90 steps, and it moved at a speed of 3 steps every 2 seconds…, then it would take 60 second for the first pair of people to just get on and both stand until they get to the top. Assuming every step is occupied, you would have a though put of 2 people per 1.5 second.
For the walking side, make some assumptions such as assume an average person takes 90 steps a minute or 1.5 steps a second, and there is 1 step buffer between each person. The first person would take less than 30 seconds walking to get to the top or whatever the correct math is. Once the queue for the walking side is the thoughput is xxxxx. Then add the walking side.
Then compare the 2 methods to see which one is better?
1 Like
I am old and ornery. I vote to ban walking and running up/down escalators. Those in a rush can use the wider stairs and even can mark off the middle section (slower people use hand rails on sides) just for those sprinters who absolutely must run to catch the train.
I do not like having to carry my bags in front of me to keep from being run into by the sprinters. Even if I do my best to stay on the right side many times the sprinters’ bags bump into me and everyone on the right hand side as they run down the escalator steps.
So please fly down the stairs as fast as you want to go…
3 Likes
the walking speed is not faster enough to compensate the lower density, is what I got at from the London article, which concluded everyone standing is about 25% more efficient.
5 Likes
That chart looks off because to me because when it’s crowded, the walking side is just about as densely packed as the standing side from what I’ve seen in Taiwan.
Now, with the left side moving, more people would surely go through per hour. The graphic you showed assumed there are few walkers.
1 Like