4 ms·

The overall throughout/bandwidth of people is higher if the people aren't moving and can be closer bunched together. Each person gets to the top slightly slowe

The overall throughout/bandwidth of people is higher if the people aren't moving and can be closer bunched together. Each person gets to the top slightly slower individually, but more people get though in total. Same thing has been happening in London. They've been trying to convince people to stand on both sides in some stations.

perl4ever 8y ago
If people aren't moving, how do they get bunched together? My theory is that if people who are spread apart stand still, even on an escalator, they will remain spread apart. After RTFA, I still don't see what the explanation is supposed to be for the claimed increase in throughput.
- perl4ever 8y ago
  Oh, I get it now. In the limit, say 99.9% of people want to stand, so if they are all on one side, then half of the capacity is lost to the few walkers, in theory. But this is an absurd way to define efficiency, because the standers by definition aren't in a hurry. How often is there a backup at the entrance to an escalator anyway?
  - silveroriole 8y ago
    In central London, at rush hour, especially if tourists are present? Often. I used to travel through Holborn regularly, and simply walking through the short tunnel from platform to escalator would take (what felt like) 10 minutes on bad days, with people literally packed tight. The fully standing escalators stopped that happening. Other stations have the same issue.
  - mikekchar 8y ago
    In Tokyo when a train arrives, there is always a fairly long queue at the bottom of the escalator. In fact, the queue is so long that it is often impossible to get to the stairs to avoid the escalator. It usually interferes with the queuing of the trains on the platform as well. I can definitely see why they want to do this and it's probably a good idea. I very highly doubt that it will work. Even I will feel too weird to do it unless everybody else does it. They may have to seed the crowd with fake travelers just to get people to start.
    - Atheros 8y ago
      As a New Yorker, hearing that people purposely queue and wait just to ride on the right side of the escalator when the left side is unused blows my mind.
- BillinghamJ 8y ago
  The standard when standing is to have one person per two escalator steps. When walking, there is typically a slightly larger gap to allow for more space.

perl4ever 8y ago

If people aren't moving, how do they get bunched together? My theory is that if people who are spread apart stand still, even on an escalator, they will remain spread apart. After RTFA, I still don't see what the explanation is supposed to be for the claimed increase in throughput.

perl4ever 8y ago
Oh, I get it now. In the limit, say 99.9% of people want to stand, so if they are all on one side, then half of the capacity is lost to the few walkers, in theory. But this is an absurd way to define efficiency, because the standers by definition aren't in a hurry. How often is there a backup at the entrance to an escalator anyway?
- silveroriole 8y ago
  In central London, at rush hour, especially if tourists are present? Often. I used to travel through Holborn regularly, and simply walking through the short tunnel from platform to escalator would take (what felt like) 10 minutes on bad days, with people literally packed tight. The fully standing escalators stopped that happening. Other stations have the same issue.
- mikekchar 8y ago
  In Tokyo when a train arrives, there is always a fairly long queue at the bottom of the escalator. In fact, the queue is so long that it is often impossible to get to the stairs to avoid the escalator. It usually interferes with the queuing of the trains on the platform as well. I can definitely see why they want to do this and it's probably a good idea. I very highly doubt that it will work. Even I will feel too weird to do it unless everybody else does it. They may have to seed the crowd with fake travelers just to get people to start.
  - Atheros 8y ago
    As a New Yorker, hearing that people purposely queue and wait just to ride on the right side of the escalator when the left side is unused blows my mind.
BillinghamJ 8y ago
The standard when standing is to have one person per two escalator steps. When walking, there is typically a slightly larger gap to allow for more space.