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Let's see
Running down the escalator - despite the fact there was a perfectly good set of stairs he should have used instead, he trips and falls. But let's go ahead and blame the T for "defective equipment" anyway.
Well ...
Aren't escalators supposed to have sensors to shut them down when something gets caught? There's got to be a reason three guys were working on the escalator this morning.
Hearsay
I heard they were working for an MTV reality show. They were fixing the escalator so it would rip people's pants off.
I hear
...the No Pants Subway ride people have gotten a little too aggressive in making it a thing.
Three guys working on one escalator
sounds normal for the T. But I do get your point. It's just that I have great disdain for people who insist on walking (or running) up or down escalators when there's a perfectly good set of stairs nearby.
And given the presence of message boards and PA announcements that give arrival information "I'm on the escalator and realize a train is arriving" shouldn't be an excuse to suddenly start running (except perhaps at certain Green Line stations).
Stairs don't move
Escalator speeds vary but generally range between 1.5 and 3 ft/s. There have actually been studies done (http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/1243/1/2004_21.pdf) which demonstrate that average human stair climbing speed is around 90% of their stride, or roughly 3.96 ft/s. By those numbers, indeed, walking the stairs is faster than riding the escalator.
HOWEVER. Let's suppose that I am striding down the escalator that is moving at 2.25 ft/s. How fast am I traveling through space? It's actually going to be escalator speed PLUS stride speed, which means I am moving at 6.21 ft/s! Wow, that's better than 50% faster for the same amount of exertion as walking on a static surface!
Yeah, I think I'll keep walking the escalators, thanks.
Remember to stand on the right, roadman! Nobody likes an escalefter.
Yep
The original intent of
The original intent of escalators (by patent) was to accelerate movement, not to just ride the way up.
That may be true
But it would seem that if you provide escalators adjacent to stairways, the intent of both the escalators and the stairways should be pretty clear. Walk on the stairways, and ride on the escalators.
I always walk up and down escalators
Why would you not do this? The only time I break into a run is if the "Train approaching" announcement has started.
Your world seems
pretty black and white. There is escalator etiquette and differing opinions on whether to walk or ride, for example:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23444086
Clearly, you've never had to
Clearly, you've never had to schlep up and down the Porter stairs / escalators to catch a train on a daily basis. Stand to the right, climb to the left.
OK, even I'll admit that
in stations like Porter, with very long escalators and stairs, it is not unreasonable to expect people to walk up and down escalators.
And, despite my feelings on the subject of escalator walkers, I personally do always observe the "stand right, walk left" advice, and am not a "escalefter."
Please keep to right
In recent years, I notice that the unspoken social agreement of standing to the right and walking to the left (both up and down) on escalators and stairwells has started to disintegrate. For instance, I'll be walking down the stairs at the Park Street stop keeping to the right and someone will come barreling up the stairs, also on the right, straight towards me. It might be my imagination, but I seem to recall signage on stairways at one point that said something like "please keep to right" in the appropriate places. We could use some of those now.
In some stations, you can't
In some stations, you can't see the countdown sign until you're on the platform.
In some, the distance from the top of the escalator to the platform is so long that if you hear the "train approaching" message, you have to run to catch that train.
In terminal stations, the BRD notice is meaningless, and could indicate anything from 0 to 5+ minutes until the doors actually close.
As someone who loves taking the stairs...
Many times, there are piles and piles of folks going down the stairs (both sides) towards you going up (or vice versa) and you either have to fight and push your way to ascend or descend. I run into them each day, to and from work, when I proceed to and from the South Station red line platform.
Usually, I don't want to deal so I get on the escalator and if folks are walking up, I do also. If not, I ride.
I don't see too many folks running up and down the escalators there but I do seem them doing so on the stairs.
the self-righteousness is astounding
Really? It's his fault for using the escalator? There's a law against using anything but stairs? Sheesh!
my pants
My Pants just "ripped open"
Was he doing a "Magic Mike" impression?
shoelaces
it's not just the T. Years ago my cousin was riding an escalator at Filene's. Unbenknownst to her, her shoelace had come undone. She noticed the lace was caught as she tried to step off the escalator. She reacted quickly and pulled her shoe off. She got a very bad sprain but it could've been worse.
I had a fear of escalators as
I had a fear of escalators as a child for this reason. One of my earliest memories was me stopping at the top of an escalator at the Museum of Science and refusing to move. I still remember my father embarrassingly walking up the way down trying to get me to move.
I've been to the MOS recently
I've been to the MOS recently and those escalators seemed really steep.
This happened to my
This happened to my Grandmother. My husband makes fun of how cautious I am getting off escalators. Don't rush me!
Saw it
Or the aftermath anyway, saw T guys looking at the escalator and a guy standing there in shorts. To quote Nicholas Cage in "Con Air", "on any other day that might seem strange." Not on the T in the last month, though.
Get Ready....
Remember about 10 years ago there was a brief time when the T was handing out pamphlets about how to ride escalators? I thought they were ridiculous. Willing to bet that those pamphlets will be back in force soon.
Stunt
Sounds like a stunt.
I saw this happen years ago at Davis
A young lady was standing at the top of one of the up-escalators, at the fare gate lobby level. She had managed to hit the emergency STOP button (or someone had done it for her) but she could not move, because her pant leg was caught in the top of the escalator. She was waiting for someone from the T to come free her.
We decided that the best course of action was for me to just yank hard on the pant leg. It ripped, but she was able to walk away uninjured.
Hazard Pay for Passengers
With all our heroic pols demanding pensions for hazardous duty while sitting in an office isn't it time for t-passengers to demand the same for be subjected to the following hazards!
Frostbite
Slipping on Green Ice or urine puddles
Wheelchair passengers with feces stuck to their tires
Gunshots when gangbangers missed their targets
Females groped by Green Line gropers
cell phone banditos
bike bandits
Bathrooms that are never cleaned nor safe
Junkies needles
Frozen Trains
Escalators of Death
Thank you for riding the MBTA
Quick
Someone find the scene from Mallrats where the
Ben AffleckBankyBrodie character yells at a parent for allowing their child to sit on the escalator.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMZ-Buj2n0
This is no joke
People have lost feet and even their lives on escalators.