escalator insanity
every day my commute to the office takes me through the Exchange Place Station (Jersey City) on the PATH train that connects New York with various points in New Jersey. the PATH is like a subway, but runs under the Hudson and is mostly a commuter line.
if you get off a train in Jersey and think you've been here before -- you may have seen that old Law & Order: SVU episode where the PATH station stood in for a NYC subway station.
the station is six stories below street level and is accessed via escalator. the escalator is decorated with these incredible light sculptures.
looking down while riding:
looking up from the bottom:
you can see from the photo that there are 3 escalators flanked by 2 staircases, all the equivalent of 6 flights of stairs. you can also see that one escalator is currently out of service. and this is where the insanity lies.
normally, it's understood -- like an unwritten rule -- that people who want to just stand and ride the escalator will do so on the right, while those who want to walk on the escalator will do so on the left. it generally works out.
but yesterday the PATH employees were in the station, telling folks "don't walk down the escalator, either ride one person per step or use the stairs." guess they were afraid the escalator would break.
did folks listen?
of course not.
if you get off a train in Jersey and think you've been here before -- you may have seen that old Law & Order: SVU episode where the PATH station stood in for a NYC subway station.
the station is six stories below street level and is accessed via escalator. the escalator is decorated with these incredible light sculptures.
looking down while riding:
looking up from the bottom:
you can see from the photo that there are 3 escalators flanked by 2 staircases, all the equivalent of 6 flights of stairs. you can also see that one escalator is currently out of service. and this is where the insanity lies.
normally, it's understood -- like an unwritten rule -- that people who want to just stand and ride the escalator will do so on the right, while those who want to walk on the escalator will do so on the left. it generally works out.
but yesterday the PATH employees were in the station, telling folks "don't walk down the escalator, either ride one person per step or use the stairs." guess they were afraid the escalator would break.
did folks listen?
of course not.
I love neon. The PATH setup reminds me of the DC Metro. They don't have any neon, though.
ReplyDeleteWhen did you take that picture? It was completely empty! Did you wait until just after the train pulled away to get that shot? Granted, when I commuted, I never took the PATH but the emptiness of the station seemed odd to me.
ReplyDeleteI work in Jersey City but our company headquarters is on Wall Street. I had to go to headquarters in the middle of the day for a meeting. the pictures were taken around noon-ish, right after the trains pulled out.
ReplyDelete