[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.

[kazinator]

I love the vertigo feeling in long escalators. When I go up, I tilt my head back and stare at the ceiling somewhat above the line of sight to the top. I almost have the sensation that the tube is vertical and I could free-fall backwards at any moment.

[golergka]

How the hell do you perceive it as something good and enjoyable instead of a valid reason to get a panic attack?

[sce]

I've never done that but it sounds neat.

Anyway, I'm guessing the answer to your question is: control. You know that you can at any moment tilt your head forward and lose the vertigo sensation. So you are safe and in control and you also feel safe and in control. That makes the experience enjoyable (I assume).

[golergka]

Ah. See, I have this vertigo too, but it's always on. And I stumbled on escalators a couple of time already, so that increasing my vertigo with 30-50 meters below me doesn't feel like a particularly good idea.

[kazinator]

Probably the same way that some people enjoy roller coasters, sky diving, walking tightropes, climbing vertical walls, ski jumping, flying trapeze, skating or boarding down a "half pipe" and various other "extreme sports" without getting a panic attack.

[johnchristopher]

Neat, I'll try to remember that next time :).

[tajen]

I get vertigo when I'm on a stopped escalator! The habit of seeing the world move is incredibly sticky and makes me dizzy, even if I take the broken escalator twice a day.

OTOH I love stepping down an escalator 2-by-2, the brain has to calculate how far the foot should jump given the size of the steps and the pace of the landscape, it's fun.

[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?

[jon-wood]

You've not been to London have you? Talking to strangers on public transport is a capital offense.

[jacquesm]

I've violated that rule pretty much every time I've been on the tube and I never had anything but positive responses (and my head is still firmly attached).

[artmageddon]

They're rather polite about it over there, it seems, even though they may be expressing hatred under their breath :)

[jacquesm]

I long ago made a decision that saves me enormous amounts of headache: if you say or do something I will interpret that in the simplest and most straightforward way possible without trying to second-guess ulterior motives or secondary (or further) layers.

Exceptions: poetry, music, jokes and other cultural expressions.

Before then I was always chasing my own tail with 'what do they mean?', which is pointless, if they meant something they could say that particular thing outright and get it over with.

This is symmetrical, so, I don't want to 'wash my hands', I would like to use the toilet. When I'm hungry I say so and when I say 'no problem' it really means that so we can move on.

All in all this made life a lot easier, though from time to time it can make for comedy.

[SuddsMcDuff]

Even making eye contact with a stranger is a faux-pas! That's why everyone pretends to read.

[stronglikedan]

Honestly, I don't know. The anxiety overtakes me to the point where I can barely communicate with the people I know, mush less those I don't. Also, once I'm on, I'm frozen. I've worked up all my nerve just to get on, so I couldn't see myself turning around.

As I say, I try to avoid the escalator, if nothing other than to be courteous. However, sometimes I use it out of courtesy as well, such as when I'm with a group of friends, and don't want them to have to wait on me. When I do need to use it, I've developed a pretty good system of keeping the anxiety in check - sort of a deer in the headlights approach, where my gaze is focused on my shoes.

[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.

[kazinator]

Lower density, but moving faster. Capacity is about flow, which is people per second, not people per inch.

[mapt]

Sure, but most people do not walk ten times as fast (or even twice as fast) as their escalators lift them.

Visual inspection of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fNDgwp_w_s suggests that when two people enter the escalator side by side, the walker exits the escalator at about the same time as the stander is 75% of the way up it (~=133% of the rate of speed). The density of the walking side is surprisingly high to me (maybe accounted for by the short span relative to the monsters I'm used to on WMATA MetroRail), about 60% of the standing side. This leaves 80% throughput for the walking side of short-span split escalators relative to the standing side, only a ten percent overall cut in capacity for this one escalator in Singapore.

That number will probably go down the taller the escalator is, as the walking side slows down due to personal stamina (adjusted walking speed and percent willing to walk), and bunching, a phenomena we're familiar with from busses.

[kazinator]

If walking is just 50% faster than riding (i.e. walkers go at half the speed of the escalator), but requires 50% more space, then it's a break-even situation for capacity. And a win for latency.

[csours]

In traffic, it is not about the latency, it is about the jitter.

[PhasmaFelis]

It required quite a bit more than 50% more space, assuming you want to avoid people being constantly kicked in the shins.

[mapt]

Edited post with math.

[kazinator]

It doesn't look like a very busy time, in that video. I count about 10 people standing on one of the escalators while there are 8 walkers going by them. There are some irregular gaps among the walkers; more walkers could easily be accomodated; it's just not busy enough; I don't really see a backlog of people waiting at the bottom; everyone is just marching naturally toward the escalator and getting on.

[mpitt]

In the graphics, they are spread apart because they are substantially less than half (all the others choose to stand). Walking sure requires a larger spacing, but I would say 1.5-2 times the regular one, not 10.