Standing still will make people move faster than escalating escalators

People who used escalators at one of London's busiest subway stations recently faced a rather odd regulation: Everyone had to stand still.

Golden rule when using escalators when crowded: Stand still on one side, and the other side for pedestrians. However, those who used escalators at one of London's busiest subway stations recently faced a rather odd regulation: Everyone had to stand still.

Officials say this will make the station more efficient. But how?

And you will be dumb by the explanation of The Guardian magazine. It sounds unreasonable at all, but obviously still has its own reason.

The escalator suddenly became a bottleneck when everyone was stuffed into such a narrow passage.

Traffic in London is reaching a record high number of passengers, making several stations (particularly long and obsolete stations) become full of people at rush hour. Escalators suddenly become a bottleneck when everyone is crammed into such a narrow passage, so you will think that to improve congestion, prioritize those who move quickly ahead. Those who move less.

Totally confused! All come from two factors: Passengers must go up / down many steps, and how many passengers intend to do this. If too many people try to walk on very long escalators, the congestion will get worse. Take the escalator up to 25m, for example, at Holborn Station, London.

A 2002 study of the escalator capacity of underground systems showed that for ladders like the Holborn station, with a height of about 25 meters, only about 40% of passengers intended to climb all of these escalators. . By encouraging this passenger option, the London Department of Transport has reduced the capacity of escalators by half, and created a much larger population than in queues, making everything slow. Moreover, because almost everyone wants to have a spacious space around them - a phenomenon explained by crowd researcher John J Fruin with the name "human ellipse" , meaning most people do not want to have people standing next to them, or right at the steps right above or below them - so the theoretical capacity continues to decrease by half.

This system suggests that a reduction in accidents has been seen .

Modeling data also reinforced that: If everyone moves at the same speed (going to the escalator, not the escalator), there will be an additional 31 people who can go up each ladder. minute.

Have you temporarily believed? Even if it is really effective, theoretically, the challenge lies in making those busy passengers agree with me. Japan has also issued a similar policy called "Don't go, stand still where you want". Testing in London, in fact, is inspired by Hongkong, where passengers are sent a message that standing still will be best for your safety. This system suggests that a reduction in accidents has been seen. But what kind of message will work in London? London Transport Bureau is still completely blind.

Japan has also issued a similar policy called "Don't go, stand still where you want".

In a three-week trial, the train station staff in London had to remind their passengers to stand still on the escalator, but a larger plan would be done if this test be extended longer:

The handrails and steps of the escalator will be painted in different colors, and the left side of the ladder will be painted with more feet. And to replace the staff with real people, a three-dimensional image will be projected to remind people to stand still on both sides of the escalator.

Despite the safety reasons, it may never happen in places like New York. They can't force you to stop walking, right? It can be applied elsewhere, but certainly not in the US.