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The following are our findings:
1. People get annoyed or scared at the loss of time when they have to stop on many floors before they arrive at their destination.
a. In the Green Building, many course 12 students need to ride the elevator to very high floors. Because the vertical distance between the ground and the first floor (containing 54-100) is so large many students take the elevator to the first floor, not to mention the all the other students and faculty that need to access other floors. The high traffic can make students late to class.
b. People who are claustrophobic/afraid of elevators are especially concerned by this. The more people who enter or exit on earlier floors, the more time such a person has to spend in the elevator.
2. People are annoyed with the lag time caused by people holding the elevator for others on their floor.
a. In McCormick, the elevator makes a distinctive clicking sound when it changes floors. Students were observed electing to walk downstairs, sometimes from floors as high as the 7th when the lack of clicking indicated the elevator had not moved for some time.
3. The constant need to tap an employee ID to enter or exit the elevator was an inconvenience.
a. This slowed everyone down since users had to tap their ID in order to open the elevator doors to prove they had the appropriate permissions to be on the floor. In crowded elevators, it was sometimes difficult to coordinate.
4. In buildings with higher security, employees may only be authorized to visit a certain subset of floors.
a. One person we spoke to had a friend on the 22nd floor. Unfortunately he did not have access to this floor, so every time he wanted to drop by he had to travel all the way down to the first floor to obtain security clearance to travel back up to the 22nd floor.
5. In elevators that service only higher floors, the high velocity ride makes some nauseous.
a. In very high buildings, elevators may be set up to service only a specific subset of floors in an attempt to reduce wait times. Since an elevator won’t need to stop until it reaches the first floor of its set, it can move very quickly at first. This can be a problem for those who are easily nauseated.
b. We interviewed one person who was afraid of elevators, and this was the primary reason for his phobia. He was most afraid of the idea that the elevator was going up, but he couldn’t tell precisely where he was at any given time.
6. The lack of cell service in many elevators was an inconvenience.
a. In McCormick, people were frequently observed to experience dropped calls if they needed to travel more than two floors. Unfortunately, most elevator users need to travel more than this.
b. One person we spoke to works in a very tall building. He often needs to visit other floors and sometimes he needs to continue an important call at the same time. Unfortunately, he cannot do both.
7. Buildings, especially tall buildings, are designed around elevators. In skyscrapers, making elevators even slightly faster or more efficient can have a significant positive effect on the circulation of people in the building.
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