Analyzing Escalator Infrastructures: A Pilot Study in Santiago Metro

Abstract

The behavior of passengers in urban railway stations (i.e., metro stations) is dependent on environmental, cultural, and temporal factors. This affects how escalator infrastructures are used, with some passengers standing on one side of the steps to allow others to walk and, in other cases, others standing or walking on both sides of the steps. In this research, escalator infrastructures were studied to better understand the relationship between different conditions and passenger behaviors through a method based on video cameras, passenger detection techniques, and a simulation framework. The results indicate that passenger behavior could affect escalator infrastructure as it varies significantly depending on the time of day, type of station, local culture, and other environmental factors. The implications of these findings for the planning and design of the infrastructure of railway stations are discussed, and practical recommendations are proposed to improve the efficiency of escalator usage in urban railway stations.

Escalator Etiquette: Stand or Walk? A Systems Analysis

“…The popular press articles highlight the congestion [9][10][11], whereas most technical models and analyses [12][13][14][15][16] focus on capacity considerations and utilization rather than honing in directly on the goal of clearing the congestion and capturing the overall time spent in the system. However, a recent work [17] carried out a comprehensive study of the Santiago Metro system, using video cameras, passenger detection techniques, and simulation, considering both peak and off-peak hours. Such a simulation model provides a detailed performance analysis of the system that can be used for many purposes but is tailored to a specific system and thus requires extensive data collection, whereas this paper proposes a simple deterministic queueing model that captures the main tradeoffs introduced above, intended more for basic insights and applicable to a wider variety of systems.…”