Escalator / Travelator Farce at Manchester
People having to use their legs ...
Yes, we can make a joke of all this from the comfort of our homes. But bear in mind that some Manchester Airport customers are elderly, frail or partially disabled. The airport is not exclusively used by young, fit athletes. To be fit for purpose, the airport must cater for the needs of the whole community. Some customers travel with heavy luggage and/or young children. Others may be exhausted, disorientated and jetlagged following the longest journey of their life. Is it too much to ask that the principal gateway airport serving Northern England ... for some travelers their first impression of this country ... can actually switch on its escalators and travelators? As I suggested earlier, if cost is such a concern then fit motion sensors to the things. The technology has been around for long enough.
I can tell you from personal experience having arrived back at T2 in the early hours to find all the (blue-tube) travelators inactive ... the response from other customers is not positive. "Does anything work in this dump," they said, "what a ****ing sh**hole!" Strangely enough, I didn't overhear any comments to the effect that MAN's management was wonderful for trying to save the planet.
This attitude of penny-pinching in the name of environmentalism makes MAN look like Hicksville Municipal. It makes for a shameful introduction to a region of England which deserves far better. I have in the past been accused by certain posters on here of being a Manchester "fanboy" for defending certain MAG decisions. Well, I will defend decisions which are worthy of defence, but I will also offer negative criticism when it is richly deserved.
This long-running escalator / travelator saga makes Manchester a laughing-stock, especially when linked with the sanctimonious claim that the decisions are driven by environmental concerns. MAG management: you are NOT amateurs (although this farce does rather give that impression). Get this sorted out. Fit motion sensors to your escalators and travelators ASAP. When nobody is using them they will be idle. German airports have routinely used this system for years ... its hardly a radical idea. If you don't put a blanket ban on accepting any diversions again this Winter, you might just raise enough extra revenue to pay for the installation costs (and have plenty of change to spare).
MAG managers: time to show us some positive management skills!
SHED.