Escalators In Shopping Centres.

[Tornado]

Every time I go to a shopping centre I am amazed how lazy people are.

The escalators in Big C are the flat type (walking platform) and people stand and wait, instead of walking. The world is getting very lazy, do these people think that they are at an amusement park and this is an amusement ride?

[Up2U]

The flat escalators are not so easy to walk up, especially for people who are unused to escalators of any type (my mother-in-law, for instance). Also these (Carrefour, Big C, Tesco) store escalators have treads that anchor the shopping trolleys, round which only my daughter can climb.

The things are designed for one to stand still on them - another advance of science that reduces the beneficial exercise that one would otherwise enjoy.

Do as I do - run up the escape stairs, two or three treads at a time. And run down again with a dozen shopping bags. (Still beat my daughter to the top, or bottom)

[Pink Mist]

Every time I go to a shopping centre I am amazed how lazy people are.

The escalators in Big C are the flat type (walking platform) and people stand and wait, instead of walking. The world is getting very lazy, do these people think that they are at an amusement park and this is an amusement ride?

They are called Travelators Tornado, the treads are actually for shoe traction. Over the years shopping trolley wheels have evolved and now anchor in the grooves. Travelators are usually only used for inclines of about 11 degrees maximum, after that an escalator is required (in countries that have regulations governing these things).

[Tornado]

Well I seem to walk up and down on them without getting stuck in any grooves.

This "Travelator" is at a 45 degree angle and yes there is trolley grooves - it still is very easy to walk on......

Anyway not a serious thread, just an observation.

[Axel]

These things are supposed to make your life easier. Stand still and hold on to the handrail.

Or, as I do it, I still walk on the travelators, makes one much faster, unless, of course, people are blocking your way.

[Pink Mist]

Well I seem to walk up and down on them without getting stuck in any grooves.

This "Travelator" is at a 45 degree angle and yes there is trolley grooves - it still is very easy to walk on......

Anyway not a serious thread, just an observation.

As I stated in countries with regulations covering these devices.

45 degrees that must be awsome and uncomfortable.

[NedKelly]

They're great if you are in a wheelchair and there is no lifts !!!!!!!!!!!

[megashox]

..Over the years shopping trolley wheels have evolved and now anchor in the grooves...

They have - but the one's at Carrefour Ratchada seem to have been side-stepped by the evolutionary cycle.

Last week a Thai gentleman let go of his trolley on the way down one such contraption, and caught me square on both shins.

By the way, I did not get even an apologetic nod from that "gentleman".

[Pink Mist]

They're great if you are in a wheelchair and there is no lifts !!!!!!!!!!!

and you are going down on an up travelator

[fatter than harry]

fellas, I think your missing the point of the Big C travelator. With the right kind of shoes, the right wind speed and a lack of general public obstacles one can take a run and slide all the way down

[Simbo]

It never ceases to amaze me. The posts that catch peoples attention.

something as trivia as whether it is better to run, skip or just loll and watch the world go by on an esculator can have everyone hammering at the keyboard in responce. Too much time on your hands, I say.

[igotworms]

I love it when people congregate at the bottom of escalotors either after going down or waiting to go up. Big C in Phuket is the worst for that. They decide that their conversation is more important then the queue waiting to get on or off the escalator. Most Thai people will wait till their finished....I just put my head down, and bull doze through while repeating, Koh Toad! Koh toad.

And don't get me started on people budding into line-ups (queues) at 7/11s or any kind of shop. I know a British guy who went crazy for this reason, after living here for 2 years, he vowed never to return. Ha! All because of the queues.

I think the first sentence I learned in Thai was: "I came here first!"

[Tornado]

It never ceases to amaze me. The posts that catch peoples attention.

something as trivia as whether it is better to run, skip or just loll and watch the world go by on an esculator can have everyone hammering at the keyboard in responce. Too much time on your hands, I say.

yes you are right.

You also participated in the thread - thanks

[dfwbkk]

  It never ceases to amaze me. The posts that catch peoples attention.

            something as trivia as whether it is better to run, skip or just loll and watch the world go by on an esculator can have everyone hammering at the keyboard in responce. Too much time on your hands, I say.

yes you are right.

You also participated in the thread - thanks

...ahhhhh...it's still dragging me in..... help me please.....!!!

/// DFW

[daveh]

... do these people think that they are at an amusement park and this is an amusement ride?

I have the same exact thought. I always say to myself, "It's not a ride folks." Thankfully, I never answer.

I particularly like the travelators at the airports. Because someone stops a luggage trolley on it so no one can pass, it is usually much faster to walk next to it than it is to "ride" it.

[Simbo]

Thanks for the laugh, mates. I'm still chuckling.

[daveh]

Oh, and by the way, it is not a Thai thing either. Before I left California, they were having some power problems. They were not producing and importing enough electricity to supply the state. As a result people were asked to cut back in order to prevent black outs.

During this time, there were news crews that would go around pointing out people and businesses that were wasting money. They went to lighting shops after hours and showed how they kept all their display lighting on all night. They also went to a shopping mall and suggested to the manager that they turn off the escalators. His reply was priceless, "But then, how would our customers get upstairs?" He seemed rather sincere and clueless to the fact that when escalators are not powered, they still can be used as stairs.

[Simbo]

but how can they get up stairs? Sounds like a Thai reply.

[Begs]

but how can they get up stairs? Sounds like a Thai reply.

But it was not a Thai reply was it, it was an American reply.

[Axel]

On a more serious note:

It is horrible, to be stuck in an elevator (lift for you other guys) during a black out, but really, to be stuck on a travelator until the electricity comes back....

[chingy_]

but how can they get up stairs? Sounds like a Thai reply.

But it was not a Thai reply was it, it was an American reply.

its not American reply, we just don't reply on that, we do our grocery, shopping online, no need to go anywhere

[Bluecat]

The escalators in Big C are the flat type (walking platform) and people stand and wait, instead of walking.

If it is there, it HAS to be used.

Otherwise, why would it be there in the first place?

[Simbo]

Chingy! don't take it to heart.

[stroll]

Do as I do - run up the escape stairs, two or three treads at a time. And run down again with a dozen shopping bags.

'Amazing Farang 2004'

[medicinebox]

I like the ones with glass sides. If you stand near the bottom you sometimes get a rare upskirt glimpse.

To avoid detection, take a paper Mcdonalds cup, cut the bottom out, and pretend you are drinking it, while secretly looking through the cup.

[Bluecat]

To avoid detection, take a paper Mcdonalds cup, cut the bottom out, and pretend you are drinking it, while secretly looking through the cup.

Your eyes are quite close to your mouth.

In order to perform such a feat.

Or maybe the MacDo cups are very big,...

But anyway, why do you bother, they want you to look at them,...

[Pink Mist]

Oh, and by the way, it is not a Thai thing either. Before I left California, they were having some power problems. They were not producing and importing enough electricity to supply the state. As a result people were asked to cut back in order to prevent black outs.

During this time, there were news crews that would go around pointing out people and businesses that were wasting money. They went to lighting shops after hours and showed how they kept all their display lighting on all night. They also went to a shopping mall and suggested to the manager that they turn off the escalators. His reply was priceless, "But then, how would our customers get upstairs?" He seemed rather sincere and clueless to the fact that when escalators are not powered, they still can be used as stairs.

It's actually not a practice to be encouraged, using escalaltors as stairs and in some countries with regulations governing this is illegal due to the nature of the step and angle ratios. When I was in the trade, we were allways told by our employer never to advise owners or the public to use escalators as stairs, due to the tripping and falling hazard the presented.

[marquess]

Escalators are real bug bear for me, here. People just standing around and blocking way. The Sky train is worst of all, the train is on the platform and people aren't even moving on the esculator

[RDN]

I told my Thai g/f about the escalators in London Waterloo train station. I said they are very steep, very long and go down to the underground trains. People run up and down them while other people stand on the right side. And if you are running and find someone standing on the left, you can say "Excuse me!" and they will move over to let you through. She didn't believe a word of it .

And in Big C I've given up trying to make people who stand in the middle - with one hand on each rail - give way .

But in Robinsons I now walk up the emergency stairs - even to the fourth floor to buy electrical products. I'm fed up with their slow escalators and that to get from the first floor to the second you have to walk past all the expensive cosmetics and rip-off skin whitening crap. The stairs are usually empty and I get some pleasure from looking at the surprised faces of the staff when they see me emerging onto their floor by the well-camouflaged emergency exit .

Back to the question originally asked: "Etiquette on escalators" - it's the same as etiquette when walking: I was here first, you walk around me (if you can).

But don't give up, things do change in Thailand. I remember when it wasn't a requirement for motorcycles to have their lights on. Maybe one day BIC C and other stores will hang signs above the escalators: "Please stand on the right". But don't hold your breath.

[BillyZ]

This may sound stupid, but I thought those travelators were somewhat magnetized and that they engaged a mechanism in the wheels that acted as a disc brake or something like that.

Maybe it's just my simple brain thinking too much....