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Standing is denser than walking, so the throughput is greater (at the cost of latency, for those who would walk). I believe the station only encouraged the break in tradition at peak times, when there are significant numbers of people waiting to get on.

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> Standing is denser than walking, so the throughput is greater

Doesn't this depend on the walking/standing density ratio and walking speed/escalator speed ratio?

Let say the walking density is 1/2 of the standing density. If the walkers walk at the speed of the escalator (i.e. their speed relative to the ground is 2x the speed of the escalator), then the throughput is the same.

Holborn's escalators are over 23 metres tall, as tall as a six or seven storey building. Very few people will walk up the entire escalator, essentially limiting utilisation to 50%.

> Standing is denser than walking, so the throughput is greater

Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency is well studied mathematically. Here's the authoritative paper: https://www.scribd.com/doc/228831637/Optimal-Tip-to-Tip-Effi...

I really feel like that could have used more illustrations.

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