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Comment by jadell | Hacker News Reader

How easily these can be used by people with disabilities? Someone in a wheelchair or on crutches who can't move fast enough would be frustrated or, at worst, seriously injured by one of these.

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The same applies to escalators (which are, if you think about it, simply a less extreme version of a paternoster.)

Typically buildings with escalators will also have elevators too though, explicitly to allow for people who won't/can't use the escalator.

Typically buildings with paternosters will also have elevators too, the paternoster just decreases the total amount of floor area that has to be used ferrying people up and down. In the one I saw, the elevator was literally on the wall opposite the paternoster. Disabled people aren't the only ones who can't use paternosters; they're also unsuitable for moving bulky or heavy items between floors.

The (admittedly just two) places I have seen had a "normal" elevator for this purpose.

I believe this is the reason why, at least in Germany, no new paternosters are allowed to be constructed, and existing paternosters are usually converted to conventional elevators during renovations.

Why is that relevant? Of course they cannot safely be used by such people - they'll just have to use something else - like stairs or regular elevators.

Why is that not relevant? Accommodation for disabilities is an important purpose of most elevators, and it's a reasonable question to ask.

Let me just hop up all those stairs in a wheelchair

"Like stairs." Did you take the time to put any thought into that?

Also, jamming multiple elevator shafts into a building is usually non-trivial. If you have to choose between a paternoster and a regular elevator you will always pick a regular elevator because it helps people with movement disabilities (among other reasons).

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