Pedestrian Traffic Calculations Among Linearly Connected Vertical Nodes

Typically escalators and stairs handle pedestrian traffic among vertical nodes that are near to each other, such as department stores, shopping malls, underground railroad, etc. Although the traffic handling parameters of stairs and escalators are individually understood, it is often not appreciated how they work together. A method of calculation is presented that puts together these concepts. Additionally, a software that implements this method of calculation is distributed at a small cost. The designer can enter various combinations of escalators and stair width connecting pedestrian traffic nodes to determine the resulting level of service and arrive at a recommendation.