Concordia’s ‘inconvenient’ escalators

School’s back, sports teams are off to the games, student activists are preparing for another round of demonstrations, and the Hall building escalators are breaking down again. It might be a new year, but some things have not changed, in spite of Gabriel Baugniet’s best efforts.

Last fall, the part-time lecturer in classics, modern literature and languages started a petition to protest the shutting down of the Hall Building escalators at peak periods of the day. A few weeks and 300 signatures later, she received a response from Michael Di Grappa, the vice-rector services, that the administration was “looking into” the problem.

As of today they are still looking.

The escalator shutdowns are “incredibly inconvenient for disabled people, anybody who has any trouble walking or stair climbing or anyone who’s asthmatic,” said Baugniet. “It’s a pretty dismal situation.” She had seen a few escalators stall in the past, she said, but never a deliberate shut down during peak hours.

Last month, Baugniet was among a large crowd taking the escalator from the Mezzanine to the fourth floor, when it stopped in mid-flight. People were pitched forward, and one girl ahead of her fell down. “If an escalator suddenly stops, just like that, you’re sort of still travelling forwards. It’s like when a car brakes suddenly.”

Leo Bissonnette, the director of the Office for Disabled Students, agrees with Baugniet’s analysis. Bissonnette, who is blind, has been caught on the escalators before when they suddenly stopped. He was not sure whether they stopped accidentally or were shut off, but in either case he said this causes a dangerous situation for all students, faculty, staff, and particularly for the mobility-impaired. He has a seeing-eye dog specially trained for riding escalators, but others may not be as lucky, he said.

Also, the immediate reaction of most students, even those with no mobility problems, is to take the elevators, he said. Although there are signs asking students to cede space to those in need, Bissonnette said that most students are in such a rush they rarely give up their spot and instead hope others will. This usually results with those most in need of using the elevators – particularly students in wheelchairs or those with a not so apparent problem, such as asthma – being left outside.

Darren Dumoulin, Concordia’s security operations manager, said in an interview that the administration is not out to get students by shutting down the escalators during peak hours; rather, it’s a stop-gap solution to a growing problem. “The sheer volume of the people becomes dangerous and they can’t actually step off of the escalators anymore, because too many people are in front of you preventing you from doing so.”

He also insisted the security department makes sure no one is on the escalators before shutting them down.

When the Hall Building was built in the 1960s, the escalators and elevators were designed to accommodate a much smaller traffic flow, said Dumoulin. Because enrolment is increasing each year, the current facilities are overwhelmed. While the motors can still handle the heavier load, there is not enough space to accommodate everyone.

For instance, the entrance to the escalator leading from the Mezzanine to the fourth floor is right against the wall, creating a “funnel” effect, said Dumoulin. When the escalators are moving, people from all directions are pulled into one enclosed area, and they can find themselves trapped inside the crowd.

In a worst-case scenario, someone could potentially slip on the steps and fall, or be injured beneath under the crowd of other falling bodies.

Dumoulin said stopping the escalators ensures that everyone moves at the same speed, reducing the risk of accidents.

“That’s absolute nonsense,” said Baugniet, “because it’s far more dangerous when the escalators are stalled, because the traffic jam gets even heavier. Everybody’s squashed against one another.”

Richard Young, the director of facilities operation, insists that his department is “trying hard” to find a solution to the escalator problem. However, nothing has been decided for sure, and Young is unable to say how long improvements would take or how much they would cost.

His department has already contracted an engineering firm to research alternative solutions, including putting in a new elevator, building an open stairway between the Mezzanine and the fourth floor, and adding variable speed motors to the escalators. With the new motors, different flights would move at different speeds in order to better manage the flow. “This is a long-outstanding issue that we’re trying to resolve in the best way possible.”

The situation will most likely get worse before it gets better, though. According to Dumoulin, once the natural science department is moved to the Science being built on the Loyola campus, most of the laboratories on the top four floors of the Hall Building will be converted into classrooms, resulting in even more students flooding upstairs.

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