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Maintaining these escalators must cost a fortune, not only because it's an old model that probably doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, but also because th

Maintaining these escalators must cost a fortune, not only because it's an old model that probably doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, but also because the US elevator market is completely distinct from the rest of the international market. This leads to higher prices since parts can't be shared. https://morehousing.substack.com/p/elevators https://morehousing.substack.com/p/elevators

tialaramex 2y ago
Standardization is a huge benefit if as here you can actually standardize so that things become interchangeable. e.g. I went out for an impromptu dinner yesterday, two different people had phones which were low, a friend had a power bank, everything speaks USB C so it all just works. I think one of them was an iPhone? I don't remember the brand of power bank, it doesn't matter, everything uses USB C. It's not useful where "standardization" means either writing a document everybody agrees but nobody actually implements, or, the document just says do any of six things but each vendor chooses differently, or worst of all the document says it's basically dealer's choice so in practice the standard was worthless. In these cases the "standard" is just a thin barrier to entry, no real benefit to consumers since they can't swap supplier. This often means accepting that maybe the global standard isn't quite ideal for you in some sense, but must be enforced anyway.
Telemakhos 2y ago
If the US escalator/elevator market were integrated with the global market, would there be a US escalator/elevator market, or would it have been offshored and the jobs lost?
- Symbiote 2y ago
  Linked from that article, there's another article arguing that the US/Canada shouldn't adopt the European standard. They give some examples of differences, but it's not clear (as a non-expert) whether these are necessary in the US/CA, examples of regulatory capture, or irrelevant details.

tialaramex 2y ago

Standardization is a huge benefit if as here you can actually standardize so that things become interchangeable. e.g. I went out for an impromptu dinner yesterday, two different people had phones which were low, a friend had a power bank, everything speaks USB C so it all just works. I think one of them was an iPhone? I don't remember the brand of power bank, it doesn't matter, everything uses USB C. It's not useful where "standardization" means either writing a document everybody agrees but nobody actually implements, or, the document just says do any of six things but each vendor chooses differently, or worst of all the document says it's basically dealer's choice so in practice the standard was worthless. In these cases the "standard" is just a thin barrier to entry, no real benefit to consumers since they can't swap supplier. This often means accepting that maybe the global standard isn't quite ideal for you in some sense, but must be enforced anyway.

Telemakhos 2y ago

If the US escalator/elevator market were integrated with the global market, would there be a US escalator/elevator market, or would it have been offshored and the jobs lost?

Symbiote 2y ago
Linked from that article, there's another article arguing that the US/Canada shouldn't adopt the European standard. They give some examples of differences, but it's not clear (as a non-expert) whether these are necessary in the US/CA, examples of regulatory capture, or irrelevant details.