T/S: Walking up the Escalator vs. Riding up the Escalator (like a bum)

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So I ride an escalator pretty much everyday, and you Bay Area BART people might concur that there are pretty strict unwritten rules (the TRUE anarchism): riders stay to the right (like the fatass bums they are), and climbers go up the left, building their calf muscles and moving on to better things in life.

So:

Climing the escalator: People of strong moral fiber, we'll be here long after the biological holocaust

Riding up the escalator: Feeble bodies, feeble minds, the first to go when the day of judgement comes.

― andy, Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I walk up them, but I have a special fondness for those who manage to get stuck in the escalator.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Climb it alone, ride it if I have someone to smooch.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Ew Roxy smooches bums.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i take the stairs

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Take the fucken stairs you lazy ass.

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)

You ALWAYS walk up the stairs out of BART, gygax?! Good lord, you're of stronger stuff than I am.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

The stairs? No way, this isn't 1843. The escalator gets you there FASTEST if you're walking up it. And it the Game of Life, WINNING IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

― andy, Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

mine was xpost with gygax, obv.

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

walk? pansies. try running for once. god.

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm headed for BART now! I WALK up and down escalators because I have to be in constant motion while listening to my iPod!!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

escalator? shit. when I need to get to the second floor, the second floor comes down to me

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i ride up because going up and down stairs, even moving ones, bothers my knees. Also, in the morning, I'm not in a hurry to get to work, so it's my way of lengthening my non-work day.

However, going home, you bed I"m walking down that fucking escalator. I have a train to catch. There is always some old person or tourist standing in my way.

Whatever, this is kind of all moot since the fucking escalators at embarcadero BART are BROKEN ALL THE FUCKING TIME. What's the name of that guy I voted for for BART commissioner? I'd better look that up because I have a huge shitload of complaints to lay on him.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

http://tina.merandon.revue.com/business/escalator.jpg

INDECISION? YOU LOSE!!

― andy, Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Walking. Mime is money.

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Kyle, what's up with the "Elevator Status Report"? The fucking elevators are broken SO OFTEN that they have a regular report, like Les Nessman giving the Farm report on WKRP. "We've got one out of service at Rockridge, Embarcadero, and 24th Street..." Losers.

― andy, Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Mime is money

This only applies when you're walking up an imaginary escalator.

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

People who stand and block the escalator want smacking.

People who, despite asking nicely for them to move, don't, preferring to stare at you like you're retarded, want stabbing in the face. Mostly I settle for just violently pushing them out of the way.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

although, sometimes you do want to feel like a bum, though.

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

The fucking elevators are broken SO OFTEN that they have a regular report

how they won Best Transit System in the US is beyond me. Mobility ends for them the second you get off the train, apparently.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it just me or is Melb the only place where you stand still on the LEFT and walk up the escalator on the RIGHT? Seems to be done the opposite everywhere else from what ive seen here.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Melbourne's unique in that everyone stands all across the escalator and blocks it for people like me who don't have all fucking day.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

it's because you're on the wrong side of the world

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Like fuck.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I ride the escalator like a god-damned human being! I leave space for those involved in the rat race to get by though. It seems to be somewhat geographically based; London, for example, seems to be mainly racers, while the rest of the UK is less so, in varying degrees.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

That's what I do, when I'm not in a hurry. It's the easiest thing in the world to stand to one side.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Its like people who walk down the street, four abreast, really fucking slowly. GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU SENILE GITS.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

― gem (trisk), Thursday, 18 November 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I reckon they were invented for people with limited mobility, before some economic rationalist came along and said 'those steps are too wide, let's shorten them and save money'

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

The escalators at the big San Francisco mall on Market are arranged so you HAVE to walk my Sunglass Hut and Facepaints Etc. on your way to Nordstrom! You can't just go up, up, up, without being being subjected to garish Williams & Sonoma window display (yes, GARISH.).

― ANDY, Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Ive seen that in a lot of malls - you have to do this ridiculous circuit of the mall level to get to the next "up" escalator. Thank you very much, Melbourne Central.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Been to Malvern Central? The place has only got six shops and there are about 26 escalators.

― Adamdrome Crankypants (Autumn Almanac), Thursday, 18 November 2004 01:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Please tell me there is a special place in hell for people who stand on the left on escalators DURING RUSH HOUR.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i wonder who invented escalators? who sat down one day and thought "i know, i'll create a moving staircase for all those people who can't bother their arse to climb the stairs. Brilliant!" do you think they were stoned?
A significant portion of my PhD work to date is about a certain type of escalator. The standard linear ones were first created as amusement park rides in late 19th c. Coney Island by a guy called Jesse Reno, according to all the sources I could find. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else somewhere about the same time invented them as well, but failed to secure the patents. He later sold his to the Otis company (elevator manufacturers, natch). I could go on about this, but I don't feel like talking about my thesis.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, that killed the thread. that'll teach me...

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Nice going sarah.

I always guessed the escalator was invented as some kind of novelty by a guy who talked through a megaphone..
"We can get machines to climb stairs for us, baby
We can get machines to climb stairs for us, doll
We don't need to use our legs anymore, baby
It's a ride to the second floor no-o-o-o-o-o-ow

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

is that to the tune of anything?

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

to the tune of "Rock It" by Herbie Hancock.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I walk up them and down, really fast, and tut if people are standing on the wrong side.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 18 November 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE? ok I guess my continual ranting in the NYC and DC subways at people that "ESCALATORS AREN'T RIDES, MOVE IT" was totally, totally wrong and I am kind of shamed now :(

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

why do the riders/walkers stand on the same sides in the UK as in the rest of the world ? shouldn't it be different like for cars ?

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Interesting. When I was in San Francisco earlier this year, it seemed to me like more people were content to ride the BART escalators than in other U.S. cities; they didn't seem as much in a hurry.

― Sanjay McDougal (jaymc), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I like doing both. This morning I was practically still asleep, so I had no energy to climb anything.

― Sanjay McDougal (jaymc), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I ride. I let somebody else's work and technology take me places. Fuck you alpha males.

― the apex of nadirs (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

(haha xpost)

Not only did I walk up the MUNI stairs today, I walked up 5 flights of stairs to my office. Sometimes if I walk into North Beach for lunch I walk up several hundred stairs to get over Telegraph Hill.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i tend to stand on the escalator at a few of the DC metro stop stations because, apparently, the DC metro is down in the pit of hell or something, you can't even see the top of the damn thing from the bottom at a couple of them...and there will be two levels of escalators as well! it kind of scares me. so i understand people standing on those, they're like twice the size of the Lex Ave one in NYC, which was rather impressively huge to me before I went to DC.

but that all being said seriously why you want to stand on the side everyone is walking on.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha, Ally, you're right on. I was in DC this past weekend and stayed out in Rosslyn and the escalator was so long! Every time I went up or down I would do my taxes or read some Faulkner or achieve inner peace or some junk.

― the apex of nadirs (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh Ally, I know those megaescalators in the DC metro you're talking about. I used to take the metro to go visit my friend Trey, and I'd have my guitar in one hand and my little amp in the other, and it was REALLY REALLY scary standing at the top of the escalator and trying to step on but not having any free hands to grab the railing. It makes my heart beat faster just to think about it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

The standard linear ones were first created as amusement park rides in late 19th c.

That must have been some amusement park. WHOOT! E-TICKET MOVING STAIR MACHINE!

I always like finding operational escalators in closed buildings. Walking down the up escalator is fun, but I don't get to do it when people are around.

I marvelled at the BART stations how all the prim and proper San Franciscans would line up neatly in single-file to get onto the escalator. This blew my mind.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

haha - I totally do the "The escalator is *not a ride*, people!" thing too. Oh, maybe it was a ride at one point in time, but it ain't no rollercoaster, so just stand to the freakin' right if you must.

The stand-to-the-right rule is constantly ignored here. Because people are too cool or something, I'm not sure. But half the metro escalators in Montreal aren't working half the time, and they are often blocked off and half-dismantled. (Though it's cool to see the escalator inner workings, I have to say.) Regardless, I walk up b/c it makes me feel strengthy. Unless it's the morning or if I have a cold or am carrying heavy things or am drunk or just miserable.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Esalators in Montreal, you say?

http://www.mgm.com/mgm/images/posterart/JESUSOFM-00AA1-poster_full.jpg

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

My initial reaction to that is: Nooooo! A good film, with some good bits, but not one I would ever choose to watch again (though it's always on tv, it seems, Cancon being what it is.) That poster makes it seem so much more exciting and Big-Lebowski than it is.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Escalators are way fun until you see an old man fall down one backwards ... or see a young girl get her hair caught in on ... BAD NEWS.

I heard a story from an escalator tech about how one of the guys was working inside an escalator and had forgotten to turn off all of the power switches and it turned on while he was inside. Might just be an industry urban legend but it's damned gruesome either way.

― I'm serious ... Ti-i-i-i-im (deangulberry), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

More escalator bad news: it was an old escalator with wooden treads that was the source of the horrific fire at Kings Cross St. Pancras station, about fifteen years ago.

(well, the *actual* source was probably a smouldering match thrown away by somebody lighting a fag; it set fire to the excess grease inside the escalator mechanism)

― caitlin (caitlin), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I always read that as "St. Pancreas."

― the apex of nadirs (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

eight years pass...

i sometimes wonder if the inventor of the escalator (Larry Escalator) envisioned them as efficiency-bolstering turboboosts or institutionalized angelic resting zones.

at any rate, i concur with roxy:

Climb it alone, ride it if I have someone to smooch.
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak)

― Z S, Monday, 17 June 2013 13:32 (twelve years ago)

Walk up, will pass the stationary riders if there's room, but enjoy the forced laziness if roxy & friend (or the equivalent) happen to be blocking the way - unless I'm in a hurry, in which case grrrr.

― Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 18 June 2013 05:06 (twelve years ago)

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