Unsuck DC Metro: Frustrated Riders Trudge Down Up Escalator at Wheaton

Rory · 736 weeks ago

If there is just one escalator moving, it usually goes against the main flow so that the few people moving against the flow don't get trampled. The practice doesn't really anticipate that all other escalators will be blocked, though.

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WTF · 736 weeks ago

Also, it's easier to walk down than up. Always.

Sam · 736 weeks ago

Sure, but when there are 2,000 people going down and 3 coming up... sometimes it makes more sense to use the working escalator to move people away from the station quicker.

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James · 736 weeks ago

Wow...lazy much?

Sam · 736 weeks ago

I don't think it's an issue of laziness. It's an issue of safety. Franconia-Springfield has this same problem. In the afternoon, an entire rush hour train unloads and a handful of people enter the station. Springfield has two street escalators. Up until last week, one was being replaced and the other was an up escalator. It isn't uncommon for the entire street-exit walkway to be completely packed because everyone has to cram down a single, small stairwell. Meanwhile, two or three people come up the escalator. Yes, it is easier to walk down stairs than up them. But when there are only two or three people entering a station, they should use the stairs or elevator and they should have the escalator going down. It isn't because people are lazy, it's because before the entire station can fit down the stairwell, another train is pulling in. It doesn't make sense to use a slower method in the afternoon when emptying a station.

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Matt G · 736 weeks ago

Ummmm, help me out here. Were the other escastairs not just stationary? Why would people be venturing down the up escalator? The only way I can see this is if the others were blocked off, and the only available one was going up - which is the better direction if it has to be working. Going up Wheaton steps is a helluva lot more than going down them. Gravity is a useful friend.

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yatesc · 736 weeks ago

"...there was only one escalator in service, and it was operating in the up direction."

I think Dave was trying to say that the other two were closed off, not just stationary.

Matty · 736 weeks ago

Did you not read that there was only one set of escalators in service? Meaning, the other ones were out of service and people were supposed to walk up and down the one escalator that should have just been in stair mode. It wasn't and people had to walk down the escalator going up because we all know how long the elevators take.

Matt G · 736 weeks ago

I read it, and was confused. Still am. Define "Out of Service." Blocked off? Or Stationary/able to be used as stairs? If all were blocked off except the one going up, then the E-Stop button solves this problem pretty easily, given the situation.

Granted, I agree, it's pretty unacceptable that people should have to deal with this circumstance in the first place. I'd have marched up to the sleeping station manager and demanded corrective action with my finger poised over the "send" button to what I'd tell them was Richard Sarles' personal #. (they don't know, heh)

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Frank · 736 weeks ago

So why didn't some commuter stop the escalator? Seems like a logical option to me.

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Grax · 736 weeks ago

I think it is fair to assume that the other escalators were blocked off - nobody would walk down an "up" escalator if an immobile escalator was an option. Really.

It is a shame that wmata management lacks any creative thinkers that can modifiy operations as needed. For example, in this case, they could have instructed ride-on buses to take passengers to Forest Glen, and provided metro buses as shuttles to Forest Glen. As far as I know, Forest Glen has never had an escalator problem and it never will. Those high-speed elevators, which take a passenger from street level to some point in the bowels of the Earth in about 20 seconds, are a thing of beauty, perhaps the only thing of beauty in the entire metro rail system.

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Patrickj · 736 weeks ago

They need to duplicate the six-elevator bank at Forest Glen in 20 or 30 places in the DC Metro.

Grax · 735 weeks ago

Please start with Bethesda and Medical Center! Oh please, Mr. Metro!

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Mark the Shark · 736 weeks ago

Matt G.
The third escalator is completely torn apart--it doesn't even have steps in it. And it is blocked off (has been since at least November). The second one is often off and has been blocked for repairs several times in the last week or so.

Frank:
That's really not a good thing for a commuter to do.

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WTF · 736 weeks ago

If WMATA won't take care of it's "customers" its "customers" need to take care of themselves.

Matt G · 736 weeks ago

Thanks for the clarification @Mark. I usually don't ride the Red line past SS.

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Todd · 736 weeks ago

For what it's worth, I think that the rule is that if only one escalator is running it's supposed to be going up. That doesn't always happen - I often see stations where the only operating escalator is going down - but I believe that's the rule. It was made when a man had a heart attack climbing the Bethesda escalator.

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Whatever... · 736 weeks ago

I have little sympathy for people complaining that the sole working escalator is operating in the up direction.
At least going down, you have the benefit of this little thing called gravity.

(If the other non-working escalators were BLOCKED, then ignore my snark and update your post so that's clear)

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anon · 736 weeks ago

These duplicated issues with escalators mean they were not checked out here lately? I thought just lately someone had inspected them.

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Dave · 736 weeks ago

Sorry for the confusion. There are only 2 escalators capable of operation right now at the Wheaton station (See "Mark the Shark" comment above. The one escalator that was operating was doing so in the up direction. The other escalator was indeed BLOCKED OFF, not just out of service in stair mode.

I wish I could have taken a video, because watching the people trying to take a running start to board the escalator in the wrong direction was pretty ridiculous.

I think we can all agree that during the morning rush there are more riders entering the system at Wheaton than exiting. That being said, would it not make sense to have the exiting riders use the small elevator? There would have been far less people affected that way. Just my opinion.

For the record - I waited on the elevator.

@VeggieTart · 736 weeks ago

Unbelievable. And if there is only one escalator working and one stationary, I'd rather the working one also be going up. I don't mind (much) walking down an escalator because, as others have said, this thing called GRAVITY does help. It's still an annoyance that Metro can't keep at least its INSIDE escalators working (and Wheaton escalators are well-protected), but I'd rather walk down than up.

But that there were two escalators blocked off is what's unacceptable.

n.b., the Wheaton escalators are the second-longest in the world.

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Jeff · 736 weeks ago

According to their own tests the average speed of a metro escalator is 80 fps, the average setting for a non-metro escalator is 100 fps, up to 120 fps. With such long escalators one would think speed would be important, but then again, one would think safety would be important as well.

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ANON · 736 weeks ago

The escalators in metro run 90 fpm, which is feet per minute and almost all the escalators in this area run the same speed.

NOT FPS so at least have some knowledge on what you are talking about.

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lover · 736 weeks ago

LOL, hi metro escalator worker! Seriously though, I saw the same internal study stating metro escalators are set about 20% slower than the industry average, and it was an internal study that measured the speed of all the "working" escalators.

Also, it was obvious the poster Jeff mistyped FPS, funny and rather telling that you cared to harp on such an unimportant point.

anon · 736 weeks ago

He mistyped it three times?

By the way? It's not "an unimportant point." Seconds and minutes are kind of way different from each other. So yeah, it was a significant error, made three times. ANON was right to point it out, else people here might have thought the escalators moved at 80 feet every second.

Sam · 736 weeks ago

Non-Metro escalators go 80 miles per hour? Nice. Where can I find one of those?

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lover · 736 weeks ago

Typos are funny, unless you're over the age of 20 and have a life.

nurse betty · 736 weeks ago

to add to the poster. I too was there that day but I ended up catching the elevator. no one is reporting how the elevator was jammed packed and got stuck. a few guys in front of me had to pry the doors open....Thank God.

Anon · 736 weeks ago

The escalators, as with everything else in the Metro system, exist to provide lifetime employment to union workers. When they break down, which is often, it means they have to be repaired, again, and again and again. That's music to the Great Society Subway's ears.

Get this straight. Metro was designed to be a JOBS program, first and foremost. Everything that came after was a bonus. Once you realize that, everything you see at Metro begins to make sense.

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ANON · 736 weeks ago

You're an idiot

sara · 736 weeks ago

I think the only way I've stayed in shape all winter is walking up Metro escalators, but I top out after about 90 steps without stopping (the Medical Center escalator -- which is always running) and 170 would take me longer. I'm aware that there are many people (older, unwell, disabilities, etc.) who can't do it.

There seems to be a PATTERN in which escalators Metro bothers to keep running. In general, escalators that serve high-profile government agencies or high-rent commercial neighborhoods (such as at Medical Center and Friendship Heights) seem to be kept in running order. If the neighborhood is low-rent, Metro lets the escalator go unrepaired for months. There may be exceptions (I haven't done a survey).

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