HIGH-SPEED PEDESTRIAN CONVEYORS - A REVIEW

The report reviews research on high-speed pedestrian conveyors carried out over the past ten years for the Transport and Road Research Laboratory. The problems investigated mostly arise from the need to accelerate passengers to a speed sufficiently faster than their normal walking speed to make it worth using a conveyor. A general review is made of different types of accelerator, and the constraints imposed by considerations of safety are discussed. An assessment of the market in the United Kingdom for these conveyors indicated that few locations would generate a sufficiently high passenger flow to make them viable. The economic criteria used, however, involved the discounting of future benefits at an annual rate of 10 per cent - a lower discount rate would make a conveyor viable at lower passenger flows. The future prospects for conveyors in this country do not seem rosy in the short term, and even in the long term a fairly drastic reduction in their cost would be needed to make their economics comparable with other forms of transport. /Author/TRRL/