One of the world's shortest escalators

Jeffrey Hill writes in Next American City about escalators. “You know, it’s just stupid,” says mechanical engineer Matt Dermond. “If you have a place like a mall, you could install an elevator for the elderly and the disabled and tell everyone else to take a walk. It’s not the kind of machine that you can make practical. Because it’s not.”

There is definitely a place for escalators; many subway systems couldn't work well without them. But like the ones show...