Safety and speed concerns with LA Metro escalators
Problem
Passengers slide down handrails due to slow escalators, creating safety hazards; additionally, LA escalators are notably slower than those in other metros, raising questions about whether the current infrastructure meets safety and convenience expectations.
Pain points
- Passengers slide down handrails during peak hours to save time
- LA escalators are generally slower than those in other cities
- Concerns about safety risks
Questions to verify
- Can we collect actual speed data for LA Metro escalators across lines?
- Are there other cities' fast escalator examples for comparison?
- How satisfied are passengers with escalator speed?
Evidence
quote · @Anonymous
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.
quote · @Anonymous
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.
quote · @Anonymous
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.
Disclaimer: this card is distilled by AI from community discussions as “pain point evidence”. It is a starting point for need analysis and validation, not a “validated market need”. AI has analytical limits; please open the original discussion above to manually verify before key decisions.