[tenfingers]

... or, you could ask everybody to walk, thereby "quadrupling" the effective capacity.

I've been in UK many times, and being able to effectively walk up all escalators due to the diligence of the people always impressed me. Coming from a country that doesn't have such respect for basic rules, it feels just wrong despite the gain of average efficiency.

[stronglikedan]

> you could ask everybody to walk

That assumes that everyone is capable of walking on an escalator. I, for one, am not. I get vertigo, and am on the brink of a panic attack for the entire duration of my ride. I can barely step on one, let alone walk, particularly when going down.

I do look for an elevator whenever possible, but there are times when one is not available and I have to work myself up to the task. I have to grip the handrail with both hands, and focus on a point on the steps themselves.

I'm sure there other issues that people have - like being able to walk but not climb - that would prevent them from being able to walk. Therefore, it's best to have the option to stand on one side and walk on the other.

[saulrh]

waves hand Knee problems here. I can walk up the escalator, but I really don't want to. There's a reason I'm on the escalator instead of the stairs next to them.

[fiatjaf]

The current proposal (stand on both sides) assumes everybody is capable of standing on an escalator. I, for one, am not. I get vertigo, I get mad, I get sad. My body doesn't handle being stuck deep below the surface for very long times, so I must walk up. I usually don't do very long underground trips because of that condition.

[rbobby]

When traveling down, would turning around and facing the other direction help?

It might also allow you to start a short conversation with the traveler above you, eg. "I have vertigo which makes going down escalators tough"... would that sort of distraction be helpful or not?

[mapt]

It also ignores that the density of people in an hypothetical all-walking escalator has to be much lower, because walking people maintain a larger personal space. The graphics imply the density on the walking half of a split elevator is something like a 1/10th the standing half.

[c3534l]

I'm reminded of the escalators and NY Penn station. People wait in big huddles to get on the escalator, stand crowded and unable to move with none of that "pass on the left" bit. Meanwhile, a massively wide flight of stairs stands in the middle of the escalators that will often be quite empty even as the crowds to go up the escalator start forming. Hell, they're empty enough people are putting ads on those stairs: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/364250541_49959802e8.jpg?...

So good luck getting people to do that.

[nkrisc]

If there are stairs as an alternative to an escalator I always take the stairs unless it's completely empty or I'm carrying something very heavy. I've yet to encounter a staircase built as a part of modern, public transit infrastructure that was too long for a healthy adult to walk.

[kmicklas]

The subways in NY are much shallower than in most places in the world (including London I think?). So the stairs aren't so bad there.

[Grishnakh]

Yep, been there, done that. I took the stairs there. Americans are incredibly lazy.

[mattmanser]

I simply don't believe you've been to many London underground stations if you think that.

A lot are steep and scary, the worst of them is a 1.5 minute long ride:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQwERv8V6JA&feature=youtu.be...

The first time you ride that you are not going to want to walk down it, let alone be forced to walk down it!

Other replies to your comment also show a lack of understanding that there are often no stairs because it's an underground station. Like deep underground so they didn't bother with stairs.

[Symbiote]

I never found them scary, but I suppose it depends what you're used to. In some other countries I find escalators to be annoyingly slooooow.

Angel Station's escalator can be done in seven seconds — if you have skis: https://youtu.be/fFqQOlYE4EE?t=25

(I used to use it regularly late at night, when the up escalator was usually empty. Sprinting up, two steps at a time, is quite satisfying.)

[tiredwired]

Maybe a ski resort style chairlift would work there.

[fiatjaf]

They could have the ALL STAND rule for some stations, ALL WALK for others.

Since the government is willing to FORCE people to things they don't want effectively breaking a COMMON RULE OF THE TRADITION they shouldn't bother being reasonable.

Perhaps they should also set optimal speeds and force people to comply. Wait, that's what they're doing!

[k-mcgrady]

It's not possible to walk up them for a lot of people (health reasons). Even fit people have trouble in some stations as the escalators can be very steep and very long.

[Silhouette]

Even fit people have trouble in some stations as the escalators can be very steep and very long.

Also, the ambient temperature and other atmospheric properties are far from ideal for physical exertion in many of these stations.

That doesn't matter so much if you're generally fit and completely healthy. If, however, you have something like asthma, the environment potentially exacerbates the condition even if you're otherwise in good shape for that kind of exercise.

[fhars]

More likely, that would reduce the capacity even further, as walking people need to have more space between them than standing people, in order to avoid stepping on each others heels.

[kazinator]

Capacity is ultimately a measure of many people are passing a point per second, not about how well they squeeze together.

[efes]

Given that there are two escalators per direction, making the middle ones purely for walkers would probably create the necessary incentives to get ~2/3 walking to bypass the longer queues on the sides..

[eddieroger]

Well, the point of the article was that if people are standing on one side, you've only got half efficiency, so if they take a whole escalator and make it walkers only and double up the other one, nothing is gained. At least if the outer was stand only and the middle was current rule, there's a 25% increase.

[zimpenfish]

That doesn't apply everywhere - e.g. Cutty Sark DLR only has two escalators and I can think of a few places which have three shared between up/down (split on morning/evening peak traffic.)

[joncrocks]

I'd be interested to know if this was true.

People walking have to keep some space between them, and people also walk/climb stairs at different rates. You can only climb the escalator as fast as the person in front of you, and them the person in front of them. It only takes one slow-poke to hold everyone up.

So people not walking might in fact, on average, increase the throughput vs. all-walking.

[Shivetya]

why not have stairs between the escalators with arrows painted on them indicating up/down if not two sets clearly divided by the escalators themselves?

One thing to take into mind, you have to set your rules based on the lowest common denominator or the most disruptive. When people don't have any expectation of being punished for not respecting others or the rules they are in the most disruptive category. Hence they will stand on the left regardless and as such you need to adjust for it. Face it, there are just too many rude or don't care people in this world from a generation or two of being told its not your fault or others will adjust to you.

[apricot]

Well, you can ask...