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Old September 4th 07, 11:34 AM posted to uk.transport.london
Tom Anderson Tom Anderson is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,188
Default Stand on the right - time to get rid of it?

On Sat, 1 Sep 2007, Boltar wrote:

I can't help thinking that the escalators would get more people up and
down them in a given time if people could stand on both sides in the
rush hour since you always get a (sometimes dangerously) large queue for
the right side and far fewer people going on the left (plus theres
always some idiot tourist who can't read who blocks it anyway). I
realise it might inconvenience people in a hurry but I reckon the pros
would outweight the cons.


People who stand on escalators clearly aren't in a hurry; if they were,
they'd be walking [1]. Thus, speeding up their passage along the escalator
is pointless, and doing it at the expense of slowing down people who
actualy are in a hurry, doubly so.

The point about increasing throughput to avoid crowds forming is a good
one, but as another poster pointed out, it might just lead to moving the
crowd elsewhere. Still, if it's an up escalator, moving the crowd from the
platforms to the ticket hall might be a good thing from a safety
perspective.

tom

[1] Excluding those with luggage, the mobility impaired, the terminally
lazy, etc

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Thinking about it, history begins now -- sarah