Conspicuously missing from TFA: any measurement of the escalator's width.
There's no shortage of single-file escalators in NYC. I wildly surmise they're seen as fancier than the two-person-wide kind associated with subway stations and malls.
The Marriott Marquis in Times Square has two single-file escalators side by side — presumably the height of decadent luxury. Video: https://youtu.be/35-2FAI2DKU
Japan has been pushing for people to stand on both sides of the escalator. My dad thought it was due to unbalanced wear. I assumed single-file escalators were more efficient given that most people stand, they want to discourage walking, and it gets rid of the unbalanced load problem.
> A trial in which Holborn's escalators became standing-only improved the speed customers got through the station, Transport for London (TfL) has found.
The USS Hornet, a WWII aircraft carrier set up as a museum ship in Oakland, has a very similar escalator.[1] It's a Westinghouse model, like the one in New York. You can visit and walk the escalator, but it hasn't worked in decades. Carriers had escalators to get many pilots in all their gear from the ready room to the flight deck, fast.
Curious how this guy can positively ascertain this is indeed the narrowest escalator in NYC. I surmise there are many narrow escalators in such an old city which predates the ADA. Has he undertaken a quest to take a shit in every building lobby in NYC (with tape measure in tow) and in the process checks out the escalators?
An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
Really? I use active elevators in SF literally every day. Embarcadero and Montgomery Bart stations. Where in the city are you with no active escalators?
The Rockefeller Center in general is such a vibe. I was able to see a Seth Meyers taping there a few years ago, and while I obviously enjoyed the show, the building itself is what made the more lasting impression on me— all that black marble and gold trim, you can really feel the weight of a place that knows it's got some history to it.
Saw a Jimmy Fallon taping there a couple years ago, and echo this sentiment! Highly recommend trying to get into a taping if visiting NYC, one of the cheapest fun (and free!) ways to spend an afternoon.
Maintaining these escalators must cost a fortune, not only because it's an old model that probably doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, but also because the US elevator market is completely distinct from the rest of the international market. This leads to higher prices since parts can't be shared.
If the US escalator/elevator market were integrated with the global market, would there be a US escalator/elevator market, or would it have been offshored and the jobs lost?
Linked from that article, there's another article arguing that the US/Canada shouldn't adopt the European standard.
They give some examples of differences, but it's not clear (as a non-expert) whether these are necessary in the US/CA, examples of regulatory capture, or irrelevant details.
Standardization is a huge benefit if as here you can actually standardize so that things become interchangeable. e.g. I went out for an impromptu dinner yesterday, two different people had phones which were low, a friend had a power bank, everything speaks USB C so it all just works. I think one of them was an iPhone? I don't remember the brand of power bank, it doesn't matter, everything uses USB C.
It's not useful where "standardization" means either writing a document everybody agrees but nobody actually implements, or, the document just says do any of six things but each vendor chooses differently, or worst of all the document says it's basically dealer's choice so in practice the standard was worthless. In these cases the "standard" is just a thin barrier to entry, no real benefit to consumers since they can't swap supplier.
This often means accepting that maybe the global standard isn't quite ideal for you in some sense, but must be enforced anyway.
As a kid in Boston, a couple of Subway Stops and an interesting Escalator. They where a bit wider then this one, but had wooden "stairs". But the "stairs" were slanted downward. When wet, you had to be careful. I wish I had taken pictures of them.
They were ripped out in the 70s. I wish they had kept one of them as an historical oddity.
FWIW I have not been there for a while, maybe one I was not aware of still exists :)
https://i.imgur.com/N0oMono.gif
(I don't echo Calvin's sentiment, your comment just lined up so nicely with my memory of this comic that I had to share it)
I have memories of a similar escalator, probably at or near Downtown Crossing.
I don't remember it being made of wood, but I remember it being narrow and slanted downwards and kind of scary. Come to think of it, the station in general was very run down and a bit frightening to ~5yo me.
This would have been in the early to mid eighties.
Woah. The first comment gave me a wave of nostalgia I couldn't place. This must have been it. Couldn't have been older than 4 or 5 last time I was in G Fox.
Because they bought the wrong one which was on sale, so no returns on items on sale. Sometimes, those DIY projects really get expensive with these mistakes, so you end up with odd installs.
I bet it would be outrageously expensive to replace. Escalators aren't cheap to begin with and this one is no doubt built to its own standard so anything you replace it with would have to be heavily customized to fit.
There's a lovely walk in the UK around Lingmoor Fell which has a famous narrow squeeze between a rock and a cliff face called Fat Man's Agony. There's a good photo about half way down this blog post: https://www.walkmyworld.com/posts/lingmoor-fell-side-pike
Conspicuously missing from TFA: any measurement of the escalator's width.
There's no shortage of single-file escalators in NYC. I wildly surmise they're seen as fancier than the two-person-wide kind associated with subway stations and malls.
The Marriott Marquis in Times Square has two single-file escalators side by side — presumably the height of decadent luxury. Video: https://youtu.be/35-2FAI2DKU
Even for the subway there are single-file escalators, like the one going down to 34th St Herald Square between 32nd and 33rd St.
Without measurements, I can easily think of two other contenders:
- The Google employee escalator at Pier 57.
- The escalator to leave Delancey-Essex station.
Japan has been pushing for people to stand on both sides of the escalator. My dad thought it was due to unbalanced wear. I assumed single-file escalators were more efficient given that most people stand, they want to discourage walking, and it gets rid of the unbalanced load problem.
Faster indeed
> A trial in which Holborn's escalators became standing-only improved the speed customers got through the station, Transport for London (TfL) has found.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-35354471.amp
https://foi.tfl.gov.uk/FOI-2015-1920/2015-1920-Report%20on%2...
[dead]
Are the narrow escalators retrofits? IE, were there originally stairs that were converted to escalators?
Port Authority is full of them — every single platform, I think.
I don’t know if that’s sarcasm or not, but that’s the norm for shops in the uk (where shops are large enough to warrant escalators)
The USS Hornet, a WWII aircraft carrier set up as a museum ship in Oakland, has a very similar escalator.[1] It's a Westinghouse model, like the one in New York. You can visit and walk the escalator, but it hasn't worked in decades. Carriers had escalators to get many pilots in all their gear from the ready room to the flight deck, fast.
[1] https://www.twz.com/12804/us-navy-aircraft-carriers-had-esca...
Curious how this guy can positively ascertain this is indeed the narrowest escalator in NYC. I surmise there are many narrow escalators in such an old city which predates the ADA. Has he undertaken a quest to take a shit in every building lobby in NYC (with tape measure in tow) and in the process checks out the escalators?
Ironically some people take a shit on public transit escalators, which is one of the reasons they are often out of service.
https://missionlocal.org/2018/05/whats-with-the-16th-street-...
I don't think I've ever used an active escalator in SF. They are always turned off.
An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
Mitch Hedberg
A good joke, I like it, but...
Look up videos of escalators breaking, it is a bit horrifying. all that moving metal eating itself.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=escalator+break...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnZGVZZLRA
I assume, like elevators, quite a bit has to go wrong before things get that bad.
The 1987 King's Cross fire at a London Tube station caused 31 deaths due to a lit match on a wooden escalator, which then spread due to trench effect.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzM6O0mV5DA
Yep, that’s why I carefully chose the word “active”
Really? I use active elevators in SF literally every day. Embarcadero and Montgomery Bart stations. Where in the city are you with no active escalators?
Assuming you can actually take a shit for free, or otherwise, on every lobby in NY.
I imagine it's strongly discouraged.
But he mentions walking by a security guard, so he likely has some plan worked out beforehand.
Maybe he slips the security guard $5 so he can use the john (and surreptitiously inspect the escalators).
The Rockefeller Center in general is such a vibe. I was able to see a Seth Meyers taping there a few years ago, and while I obviously enjoyed the show, the building itself is what made the more lasting impression on me— all that black marble and gold trim, you can really feel the weight of a place that knows it's got some history to it.
Saw a Jimmy Fallon taping there a couple years ago, and echo this sentiment! Highly recommend trying to get into a taping if visiting NYC, one of the cheapest fun (and free!) ways to spend an afternoon.
Escalators are often in their original state for the life of them, apart from basic maintenance and a few repairs. Terrible things to work on
Maintaining these escalators must cost a fortune, not only because it's an old model that probably doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, but also because the US elevator market is completely distinct from the rest of the international market. This leads to higher prices since parts can't be shared.
https://morehousing.substack.com/p/elevators
If the US escalator/elevator market were integrated with the global market, would there be a US escalator/elevator market, or would it have been offshored and the jobs lost?
Linked from that article, there's another article arguing that the US/Canada shouldn't adopt the European standard.
They give some examples of differences, but it's not clear (as a non-expert) whether these are necessary in the US/CA, examples of regulatory capture, or irrelevant details.
Standardization is a huge benefit if as here you can actually standardize so that things become interchangeable. e.g. I went out for an impromptu dinner yesterday, two different people had phones which were low, a friend had a power bank, everything speaks USB C so it all just works. I think one of them was an iPhone? I don't remember the brand of power bank, it doesn't matter, everything uses USB C.
It's not useful where "standardization" means either writing a document everybody agrees but nobody actually implements, or, the document just says do any of six things but each vendor chooses differently, or worst of all the document says it's basically dealer's choice so in practice the standard was worthless. In these cases the "standard" is just a thin barrier to entry, no real benefit to consumers since they can't swap supplier.
This often means accepting that maybe the global standard isn't quite ideal for you in some sense, but must be enforced anyway.
Nice post for us escalator nerds out here! Here's two more folks might find interesting:
- An escalator with a varying degree of ascent (it gets flatter and flatter) in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT9mW9PWNHY
- One of only a few dozen curved escalators in the world, in the Nordstrom department store in Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd68HqNG_wo.
Very cool.
As a kid in Boston, a couple of Subway Stops and an interesting Escalator. They where a bit wider then this one, but had wooden "stairs". But the "stairs" were slanted downward. When wet, you had to be careful. I wish I had taken pictures of them.
They were ripped out in the 70s. I wish they had kept one of them as an historical oddity.
FWIW I have not been there for a while, maybe one I was not aware of still exists :)
https://i.imgur.com/N0oMono.gif (I don't echo Calvin's sentiment, your comment just lined up so nicely with my memory of this comic that I had to share it)
Funny, and really, my comment had no point :)
There are still some wooden escalators inside the flagship Macy's store in Herald Square (Manhattan).
I have memories of a similar escalator, probably at or near Downtown Crossing.
I don't remember it being made of wood, but I remember it being narrow and slanted downwards and kind of scary. Come to think of it, the station in general was very run down and a bit frightening to ~5yo me.
This would have been in the early to mid eighties.
There were wooden stairs at the old flagship G. Fox & Co department store in Hartford CT. I don't recall them being slanted, though.
Woah. The first comment gave me a wave of nostalgia I couldn't place. This must have been it. Couldn't have been older than 4 or 5 last time I was in G Fox.
Temple Grandin says this keeps the riders calmer.
That's narrow! There's a not quite as narrow one in SF, in the Union Square Macy's. It's wider, but still not wide enough for two abreast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t37Q7mVEtgo
Why are the white borders to the left/right of the escalator so wide?
Seems like an unnecessary amount of wasted space (that would allow for a wider escalator).
Because the escalator is so narrow, they had to fill the space
Why not just make the escalator wider (normal width) - to not have so much wasted space.
They were making a joke. (Indeed, why not just make it wider?)
I would guess that space is housing some of the machinery but I'm not personally knowledgeable of the inner workings of escalators.
Because they bought the wrong one which was on sale, so no returns on items on sale. Sometimes, those DIY projects really get expensive with these mistakes, so you end up with odd installs.
Seems to me a more standard escalator would fit between the walls? Some sort of safety clearance rule in play?
More impressed that it's a Westinghouse escalator - which means it's not been updated since at least 1989.
10 Rockefeller Plaza was built in 1940 so the escalator could be original.
The London Underground replaced its last wooden escalator only 11 years ago and that was more than 80 years old.
(I should clarify: the treads were wooden but the mechanism was steel.)
Wynyard Station in Sydney turned their wooden escalator into art, which I would was neat. https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/programs/transport-arts/int...
Like the ones at Macy's 34th Street Herald Sq NYC
I bet it would be outrageously expensive to replace. Escalators aren't cheap to begin with and this one is no doubt built to its own standard so anything you replace it with would have to be heavily customized to fit.
Reminds me of a slot canyon in Anza Borrego that’s called “fat man’s misery”
There's a Fat Man's Misery passage in Mammoth Cave. I would imagine there's a lot of places named that.
https://www.nps.gov/places/fat-man-s-misery-beneath-your-fee...
There's a lovely walk in the UK around Lingmoor Fell which has a famous narrow squeeze between a rock and a cliff face called Fat Man's Agony. There's a good photo about half way down this blog post: https://www.walkmyworld.com/posts/lingmoor-fell-side-pike
There’s one almost as narrow in downtown Houston.
TFA doesn't provide any measurements, so how did you compare them?
By looking at it
7th St/Metro Ctr. in LA has two escalators, one leading towards commercial district on the West end, the other unveils 1940-crutched Art Deco Design.