Express Escalator

January 9th, 2013
ideas
Consider a case where you have long escalators, with at least one spare. This example, Porter Square in Cambridge MA, has three escalators in parallel:

While in general we probably run escalators at a good speed-safety tradeoff, considering the variety of people riding them, when you have two you ought to be able to run one faster and one slower and do better. You'd need to put up clear signs so people could choose which one to take, and you'd need to make sure that traffic patterns weren't going to push people onto the fast escalator when it's not good for them.

Looking at escalator safety, it doesn't sound like people falling over when getting on or off is a problem. Instead people get hurt when their clothing gets caught, escalators catch fire, or people ride on the railings and fall off.

A bit of looking suggests ASME A17.1 specifies escalator speeds:

6.1.4.1 Limits of Speed. The rated speed shall be not more than 0.5 m/s (100 ft/min), measured along the centerline of the steps in the direction of travel.
How fast is that maximum (1.1mph) compared to normal escalators? Has anyone done experiments on the maximum safe escalator entrance and exit velocities?

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Elixir's Last Dance

On May 18th, the contra dance band Elixir had their last gig ever. The dance was packed: there were three hundred people. It was the only dance BIDA has ever done where they sold tickets. People flew from across the country just to hear Elixir play one la…

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts June 5, 2025

Body Language For Trans People

When I first came out as trans, resources for trans people were full of advice about body language.

via Thing of Things June 2, 2025

Workshop House case study

Lauren Hoffman interviewed me about Workshop House and wrote this post about a community I’m working on building in DC.

via Home April 30, 2025

more     (via openring)