6 ms·
Even if leaving space for people to walk is slower on average it might still be better because it allows people in a hurry to go faster.
by OscarCunningham 10y ago
Even if leaving space for people to walk is slower on average it might still be better because it allows people in a hurry to go faster.
- liotier 10y agoOptimize for latency of one class vs. optimize for total throughput... Both are valid choices in different contexts... Welcome to network QOS management !
- SilkRoadie 10y agoFrom the foot of the elevator people walking will reach the top faster. However, navigating from the back of the queue at peak time to the start of the escalator is often time consuming. It would be interesting what the times were between those navigating the queue and walking up vs during the trial where everyone stands but the queue to the escalator is shorter.
- snowwolf 10y agoThis. Systems Thinking teaches us that optimising a small part of the system (walking up the escalators) can have unintended consequences (bottlenecks/queues elsewhere) that result in the time through the whole system to be slower.
- 4ad 10y agoPeople who stand and queue up do not block the people who want to walk. The queue leaves access for the people who are willing to walk.
- snowwolf 10y agoApparently you haven't been on the London Underground at rush hour. The escalator halls aren't long enough for an orderly queue to form on one side when a tube offloads its passengers.
- bboreham 10y agoThe original problem they are trying to solve is a big crowd of waiting people develops at the bottom of the escalator, and since London Underground passageways are quite narrow this blocks back until the platform gets overcrowded, which is unsafe.
- swearfu 10y agoThen don't you think they should encourage everyone to keep moving instead of being lazy and standing there. Escalators, like moving walkways, are designed to move people faster, not for people to just stand there like sheep.
- bboreham 10y agoIt turns out you cannot simply order people to do something they find inconvenient or difficult, even if it is in their best interests.
- galdosdi 10y agoDo they have a parallel set of stairs next to them? That usually seems to limit crowding, since the bigger the queue for the escalator gets, the more likely newcomers are to just take the stairs instead of join the escalator queue.
- slededit 10y agoGiven the age of the system in many stations there is room for only two escalators. Further older stations are very deep resulting in extremely long sets of stairs.