November 30, 2006: Paris by night panorama

[Bromskloss]

I have heard they have a very fast moving walkway at one of the railway stations (forgot which, not the one I used anyway). On the order of 40 km/h someone guessed, with some care taken to gradually accelerate its passengers. Cool! Had I only known that when I was there. Does anyone know what I am talking about? How exaggerated is it?

Oh wait. Wikipedia:

The speed of a moving walkway is usually 3 km/h, but there is a high-speed version at Gare Montparnasse station in Paris. At first it operated at 12 km/h but too many people were falling over, so the speed was reduced to 9 km/h.

Boring.

[glatt]

How would you gradually accelerate a walkway? It's a unit. The entire walkway would have to be going the same speed.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by glatt

How would you gradually accelerate a walkway? It's a unit. The entire walkway would have to be going the same speed.

Yeah, unless they make them wait in a line for their turn to "ride" while the other people accelerate away.

Anyway, why do people stand still on walkways? Or escalators for that matter?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Anyway, why do people stand still on walkways? Or escalators for that matter?

Probably for the same reason they circle around parking lots for a minute, looking for that one spot just a few feet closer to the store's door.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by glatt

Probably for the same reason they circle around parking lots for a minute, looking for that one spot just a few feet closer to the store's door.

Heheee, they drive me nuts, too.

Don't get me started on a rant about people and their shopping carts. :p

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by glatt

How would you gradually accelerate a walkway? It's a unit. The entire walkway would have to be going the same speed.

You could have multiple parallel walkways moving at increasing speed, but that would make handrails an issue.