5 ms·
You can probably safely fit more people on the escalator if everyone stands still, so while individuals would be going slower, overall throughput on the escalat
by dx87 8y ago
You can probably safely fit more people on the escalator if everyone stands still, so while individuals would be going slower, overall throughput on the escalator would be higher.
- darkpuma 8y agoSomebody walking on the elevator does not inhibit the person behind him from standing still. The person who stands behind a walker is going to get on and off the elevator at the same times.
- zamadatix 8y agoThis thought experiment about 2 people makes sense on a short, unfrequented, escalator. The conversation is on long busy escalators however and someone will almost always be sandwiched between two people in that scenario. If not there wouldn't be any concerns about throughput considering one lane is already used for walkers.
- darkpuma 8y agoThe article and studies it's discussing are about the scenario where standers avoid the left side of the escalator because they think it's reserved for walkers. But what I'm saying is that allowing walkers to walk whenever there is opportunity while also telling standers to use both sides gives you identical throughput to everybody standing (while allowing any walker who gets the opportunity to get off the escalator faster.)
- mac01021 8y agoIf walkers are allowed to walk on the left whenever noone is standing in front of them, then I will naturally tend to avoid standing on the left. Unless the left is already blocked by other standers.
- darkpuma 8y agoI'm not sure how to break this to you, but walkers can also walk on the right when nobody is standing in front of them. I've been doing it my entire life and not once has anyone stopped me.
- eikenberry 8y agoThe classic latency/throughput trade-off.
- darkpuma 8y agoIf everybody steps onto the elevator at a set rate, momentarily stands still, then some of them begin walking forward iff there is space to do so, how does that cause reduced throughput? To be clear, I'm not talking about some sort of "walk on the left" convention, which plainly reduces throughput. I'm talking about the "walk if you want to no matter what side you're on" convention, which seems to be far more universal.