The Speed of Karlovo Namesti

Since February 4th of this year, I've been based in Prague, Czech Republic. I've been here studying, traveling, and for the most part, experiencing all that life has to offer. It has been one of the most incredible spans of my entire life, and I've become quite nostalgic as of late, because this happens to be my final week here.

Since arriving in Prague, I've seen incredible sites, formed strong relationships, and lived a full and very happy life. The process of studying abroad is an amazing one that I implore all students to take part in. It has changed my life to say the absolute least.

However, I don't want to stray too far into the deep and murky abyss of my thoughts as they relate to my experiences abroad, because I could probably go on forever. Rather, lets get back on topic. So, what was the topic anyway?

The reason I bring up Prague is because today's post relates to a burning question that has plagued me and my friends since we have arrived here those many months ago.

Prague has a variety of modes of public transportation. For instance, you can take the bus or trams around the city, and they work very frequently and are usually on time. There is also a very organized and efficient Metro (or Underground) system that you can take around the city. There are three different lines that intersect around the city center, which makes transfer and navigating the system very simple and easy.

One of the unique things about the Metro, and I'm sure you would take notice of it if you were to take it yourself, is the massive length of the escalators that take you down to the Metro stations. They are ridiculously enormous. If you are afraid of heights, taking one of these escalators may alarm/scare the shit out of you. They are certainly not for the faint-of-heart. A Metro stop called, Namesti Miru, is actually the longest elevator in the European Union at 285 feet (87 m).

Aside from their sheer size, getting on to one of these escalators is a task in itself. The steps whiz out of the platform very quickly and if you're not paying attention you may slip.

Additionally, as the escalator comes to the end at the bottom or top platform, getting off can be just as complicated as getting on. I've had friends who have gotten caught in the escalator, because it is going so fast.

This presented me with an interesting experiment that I have been meaning to conduct. My friends and I have been impressed with the size and speed of these escalators, but I wanted to know more.

I wanted to determine the speed and length of one of the escalators I use most frequently when traveling the Metro.

This happens to be the Karlovo Namesti Metro stop. Karlovo Namesti is a stop on the Yellow Line or B Line; whichever you prefer. It literally translates as "Charles Square."

If you exit at this Metro line you will either end up at Charles Square, a modern day park that used to be a cattle market when it was originally founded in 1348 (Source), the Emauzy Monastery (Source), or Fresco Vento, a popular pizza place that I like to eat at.

This particular experiment refers to the escalator found as you exit towards Palackého náměstí, a pretty park next to the river.

• Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to figure out the speed and length of the escalator found at the Palackého náměstí exit off of the Karlovo Namesti Yellow/B line Metro stop.
• I hypothesize that the escalator's speed is 5 mph (8 kph) and the length of the escalator to equal 150 feet (46 m).

I will now run you through how I came to my conclusions.

• Observations

Essentially, in order to figure out speed, all one needs to know is a time and distance (speed = distance/time). Therefore, I needed to establish a standard distance that I could measure the movement of the escalator through over time. My first attempt was a failure.

Next to the handrail of the escalator, there are silver metal strips that are placed evenly apart from one another through the length of the escalator.

My plan was to figure out the distance between two silver metal strips, and figure out how long it takes to go from one strip to another. This method works well, except for the fact that I don't have access to a ruler or measuring device long enough to record the distance between the two metal strips.

In an attempt to simplify things, I took a picture of my glove between the two metal strips and expected to be able to figure out the distance based on the picture. This ended in catastrophe, and my findings were inconclusive and wrong. I abandoned this method seeking other means.

• The Jack Wheeler Method

After a while of stagnating and not really knowing how to truly get to the bottom of this problem, I was introduced to the Jack Wheeler Method for determining the speed and length of an escalator. The Jack Wheeler Method was developed by Jack Wheeler, a University of Michigan - Ann Arbor student, in the spring of 2008. It was developed while in Budapest, Hungary. The Method can be explained simply:

• Measure the distance of a step of the escalator
• Take a video of the step entering/exiting the landing platform
• Use simple arithmetic to arrive at conclusions

Just like that, new life was breathed into my experiment. So, by using the aid of a clothes hanger and black marker, I determined the length of a step of the escalator. Then I took videos of the steps entering/exiting the landing platform.

I broke these videos up into various increments. What I mean by increments, is the amount of steps I took into account in each time trial. Therefore, I had four separate videos two of which were made up of 5 step increments, one representing the speed of the escalator going up and the other going down, and two other videos with 10 step increments, representing the speed of the escalator going up and going down.

• Data

The length of 1 step of the escalator is 16.375 inches (41.593 centimeters). This was found by measuring the clothes hanger with the black marker on it using JR Screen Ruler.

• The length of time for 5 steps to enter the platform when traveling down the escalator was 2.10 seconds* (courtesy of Movie Properties on Apple QuickTime Player).

• The length of time for 5 steps to exit the platform when traveling up the escalator was 2.07 seconds*.

• The length of time for 10 steps to exit the platform when traveling down the escalator was 4.20 seconds*.

• The length of time for 10 steps to enter the platform when traveling up the escalator was 4.13 seconds*.

• Analysis

Now that I had all of my data, all I had to do was crunch a couple numbers and the rest would be easy.

If I know that 1 step is equal to 16.375 in. (41.593 cm), then 5 steps is equal to 81.875 in. (207.963 cm), and 10 steps is equal to just double that or 163.75 in. (415.93 cm).

• Let's deal with the sample involving 5 step increments first.

As a I told you before, Speed is just equal to Distance divided by Time. We finally have both distance and time, so now all we need to do is simple mathematics.

When traveling down the escalator, the 5 step increment calculation appears like this:
81.875 in./2.10 seconds = 38.99 in./second (99.03 cm/second).

To put these numbers in more understandable terms, I converted them to miles per hour and kilometers per hour respectively. In order to go from in./second to miles/hour, you multiply by 0.0568181818 miles/hour (Source). Therefore, 38.99 in./second is equivalent to 2.215 miles/hour.

To go from cm/second to kilometers per hour, you multiply by 0.036 kilometers/hour (Source). Therefore, 99.03 cm/second is equivalent to 3.57 kilometers/hour.

When traveling up the escalator, the 5 step increment calculation appears like this:
81.875 in./2.07 seconds = 39.55 in./second (100.47 cm/second).

If we do similar math to the first part we arrive at the following:
39.55 in./second x 0.0568181818 miles/hour = 2.25 miles/hour.
100.47 cm/second x 0.036 kilometers/hour = 3.62 kilometers/hour.

These numbers were all confirmed by the sample size taken of 10 step increments.

Finally, I also wanted to figure out the length of the Karlovo Namesti Metro escalator. This was done by measuring the length of one full ride on the escalator. I found that one full ride was equal to 54.6 seconds. By using the same equation, with a minor manipulation, we can figure out the distance.

Instead of dividing Distance by Time, we instead multiply Time and Speed to give us distance. On average, the escalator travels at 39.27 in./second (99.75 cm/second). Therefore by multiplying Speed and Time, we arrive at the following equation:
54.6 seconds x 39.27 in./second = 2144.14 inches (5446.12 cm).

In a more usable form, we can put inches into feet. There are 12 inches in a foot, therefore, we divide our previous answer by 12 to arrive at how many feet long the escalator is:
2144.14 inches/12 in./foot = 178.68 feet (54.46 meters).

• Conclusions

So, after all of that here's really what you need to know. The speed of escalator is 2.215 miles/hour (3.57 kilometers/hour) when going down, and 2.25 miles/hour (3.62 kilometers/hour) when going up. I am unsure as to why there is a variance in the speed going up or down. The length of the escalator is 178.68 feet (54.46 meters). I think I can finally put this one to rest.