"David A Stocks" wrote in message
...
"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...

Hmm. In the peaks it certainly still seems "enforced". But it is a
peculiarly London thing - you won't see it on, say, Merseyrail -
people will just stand still on both sides.


It can depend on how much traffic there is: the Victoria Line down
escalator at Victoria always seems to be stand both sides when I use it
during the evening peaks. Escalators shift more people if they're
standing anyway.

D A Stocks
I don't think it is the wish of most of those using the escalators that they
have to stand, it is simply the number of people using them. As the
escalator rises/falls the gap between people is reduced, people stand more
stairs apart and capacity is reduced. Carrying capacity is less than when
the stair is completely horizontal because of the curve of the stair piece -
I am sure a mathematician can explain this more clearly.

I would be surprised if people standing still can be higher capacity than
people moving! You only have to come off a free moving 60mph road onto a
30mph road to know the traffic immediately closes up and slows down and
queues form.

MaxB