LA Metro's escalators crawl at 90 feet per minute, slower than almost anywhere on Earth
LA Metro has some of the slowest escalators on Earth
LA Metro's design specs call for escalators at 90 feet per minute, below the maximum allowed in every one of 139 cities surveyed. Hong Kong's run at 148 feet per minute. Modeling 27 underground stations, matching Hong Kong's speed would save about 670,000 hours a year. But American codes cap speeds at 100 feet per minute, and LA's original subway plans actually required 120.
What we do know is that LA's original subway planners required a faster option. Somewhere between those plans and the later rulebook, we lost it.
- arionhardison
I lived in DTLA for several years and regularly used Little Tokyo/Arts District station. It was not uncommon during peak hours to see people - myself included sliding down the railing.
I am 43 years old now and was much younger then (27-35) but I remember these days fondly. Now I live in NYC where public transit it so much better that this and many other issues that plague LA (especially the redline) do not exist but I do miss those days and look back on them fondly.
I still have at least 1 scar I can attribute to trying this whilst wearing the wrong pants (in terms of fabric).
- dmurray
Some stations in Prague were at 200 cm/s, according to some sources [0] before EU regulations cut it to a maximum of 90 cm/s (TFA puts Prague at 65 cm/s today, and you know, I'm not on a Prague escalator right now, so I suppose I'll trust them).
I can't find a better source for just how fast the Prague escalators were, but as an occasional user they seemed more than twice as fast as London or Paris which TFA gives as 65-75 cm/s.
They felt dangerous to step onto, but I never saw anyone actually have an accident. The metro in Prague is also deeper than most.
[0] https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/prague-s-speedy-len...
- gniv
I remember taking the escalators in Moscow in the 80s and thinking they were freakishly fast. According to this article they are not that fast. I wonder if they lowered the speed or it was just my lack of familiarity with long escalators.
- mixmastamyk
The speed is fine, need to be safe for old folks and kids. The important part is that people move over so those in a hurry/need exercise can continue walking.
- big_toast
LA: 0.46 meters/s (1 mph)
Hong Kong: 0.75 meters/s (1.7 mph)
Kyiv: 0.9 meters/s (2 mph)
Kinda slower than I expected in general. I assume the speed is mostly dictated by boarding/alighting safety.