By "which" you mean "which is which"?
Or you mean "Which is preferable"?

I cannot answer the latter. As far a I know, it is unanswerable.

Elevators are better, because they can never break--only become stairs.

>>208330
That is true and a most impressive feature,
but you cannot make love on an escalator.

♪Love in an escalator
Livin' it up when I'm goin' down
Love in an escalator
Lovin' it up till I hit the ground♪

See? it sounds ridiculous!

>>208330
Using a broken escalator as stairs is not only dangerous, but may cause further damage to it, resulting in longer repair times and higher costs.

>>208332
Then what do you do if it breaks while you're using it?

>>208333
slide down the rail

>>208334
OK, so it becomes Super Fun Happy Slide!
But what if you're going up when it breaks?
Then what? Can you slide up?
Even with all your science you cannot answer that.

>>208335
good point. i guess you commit seppuku and die rising to heaven

>>208336
And here's something more terrifying: What if you're going down and it breaks, so you slide down the rail, but while you're sliding it gets fixed and resumes it's movement.
Then you would go down at the speed of escalator plus the speed of fun! Can the human body, nay, the fabric of reality take that?

Which ?

>>208338
Now you're making things even harder...

>>208339
I didn't realize you were like that Chileanon...

>>Then you would go down at the speed of escalator plus the speed of fun!

This is actually not true.

If you are sliding down the rail then there is no rigid connection between the rail and you. You slide at the speed gravity dictates.

If there is no sliding then you are fixed to whatever speed the rail is moving.

Both cannot be true at the same time. Either you are fixed to the rail or you are not.

Now then, if you were walking down the escalator rather than sliding, and it started up suddenly, then you'd be traveling faster. And oh how awesome it would be.

>>208343
You act like there's no such thing as friction. You could be sliding and still have a frictional force between you and the rail, so that if the rail speeds up, so would you.

>>208341
Like that?
Like what?

>>208343

>if you were walking down the escalator rather than sliding, and it started up suddenly, then you'd be traveling faster.

Exactly the kind of thing I kept thinking about at night when I was a child. I thought things like "If you're climbing up a ladder inside a rocket-propelled spaceship which is also moving up, you're actually moving faster than the spaceship! Cool!"

BTW, elevators are superior because:
-They don't move diagonally, therefore get you faster to your destination
-You can make love in them, as I said before
-You can pretend to be on a Star Trek episode
-They don't force you to stare at the fat ass of strangers while you're going up

Elevator music sucks, I'll grant that, but I bet "escalator music", if existed, would suck so much that it would make you forget all the kick-ass tunes you ever heard.

And look at that! They don't let you do anything on an escalator!

>>208344

Friction exists, but the whole point in this case is that the friction is very low!

If there was a lot of friction then you wouldn't be able to slide down the rail, or at least not fast enough to even bother talking about it. If you can slide down fast enough for it to be fun, the friction is negligible.

I remember a while ago my little brother (15) decided to do this on an escalator near the Adelaide train station. The first of two worked quite well, he shot off the end rather quickly indeed. The second however, slid down very fast, then juddered to a halt, and remained that way for a couple of months. So it is entirely possible to do so, but not advisable.

(Sorry on his behalf if there is anyone from this fair city here.)

>>208346
So when you're walking inside a train in motion you are actually moving faster than the train!

fucking dorks

>>208361
Your brother was stuck on an escalator rail for two months?
That's rough.

>>208365
How do you think they got food to him?
Drop it at the top and pray to god it slid down into his mouth?

>>208373
There was too much friction, it wouldn't slide down. Sadly, he starved.

>>208395

Was it a case where your brother's body kept tumbling in the opposite direction of the escalator rail, and thus was caught in accordance to Newton's law's of motion?

>>208404
Perhaps he suddenly gained a deep and utter fear of being dragged underneath the escalator along with the rail, and thus began desperately crawling in the other direction?

Pros of escalators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdVo-bqSOI

Cons of escalators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLd-rJMoeko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47rQkTPWW2I

>>208524
Was totally expecting this con:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5c9e6uAUF8

and this as a pro, as it's something I can see Yots and Koiwai doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2GyaO1XcfQ

>>208537
This was likely pointed out before, but isn't it pointless to put that sign there?
It like those drive-tru ATMs with the braille.