Well, most people seem to prefer to stand on the escalator. On a busy train, let’s say 100 people get off, 50 of whom head up escalator 1 while the rest take the stairs or the other elevator/escalator combo.

Now out of that 50, how many prefer to walk or stand? Well, if everyone stands, then the platfrom will be cleared in 25 turns (two person every two steps) or 50 turns (single file).

Now if 10 people decide to walk that’s 40 people queuing. So that would be 40 turns: quicker than scenario 1b, but way way slower than scenario 1a.

The quickest scenario would be for EVERYONE to walk the escalator and for the escalator speeds to be increased (they used to be a little faster).

In some stations, it wouldn’t matter. But at peak hours at very busy stations with trains arriving every two minutes on BOTH lines… you can see how maximizing people flow would make some kind of sense. The last thing you want is big bunches of people waiting too long to load the escalator as 2 more fully packed trains arrive. Of course, outside peak hours, it is probalby more sensible to let people decide by themselves.

I am guessing it’s just standard models of behavior. In light traffic, it won’t matter. In medium traffic, it might slow some commuters down a little. In heavy traffic, everyone will have to slow down anyway. But it’s impact is felt in numerous ways: the faster you can clear the platform, the more trains can be scheduled, so service will be more frequent esp. at peak hours.

The Neihu line for example the stations were designed for at least two extra carriages on each train but not used. So they have to increase the frequency of trains. There is no option for longer trains on the Tamsui line, only more frequent ones. Exit Gates are also another bottleneck for hordes of commuters, as are exit escalators/stairs. RFID embeds would really help to speed up our transit.