School portraits / The school day, measured vertically
Two Stuyvesant Students Timed the Stairs Against the Escalators
Stuyvesant High School is ten stories tall and has escalators. Two student reporters carried 12-pound backpacks up seven flights with a stopwatch to find out which is faster.
Stuyvesant High School, on the Hudson in lower Manhattan, is ten stories tall, and it has escalators. In the 2022-23 school year, two reporters for the student paper, The Spectator, answered student questions about the building. One was the eternal question: is it faster to take the escalator or the stairs?
They timed it. Standing still, a two-story escalator took 38 seconds. Then you walk down the hall to the next escalator, about 26 seconds. That is a minute and four seconds for every two floors.
Then they climbed the stairs from the second floor to the ninth, at a walking pace, carrying backpacks of about 12 pounds, counting the time they needed to catch their breath. The first flight took 19 seconds. Then 21. Then 23, 25, 28, 30, and the seventh took 33.
19, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30, 33. That is not just data. That is the sound of a person getting tired, in numbers.
Their conclusion: for them, the stairs were faster no matter how many floors. They added the caveats. Students carry different loads, are in different shape, will tire themselves to different degrees, and face different crowds.
They also watched the busy escalator during the passing period and counted. In the first minute, 43 students got on. Twenty-two of them waited for an empty step or two before boarding, because it feels awkward to stand right behind someone's backpack.
The escalators have a history. In June 2021 the paper reported that after an escalator malfunctioned with students on it, causing injuries, they had been out of service for much of two years. A student recalled one semester's route: tenth floor to third, then ninth, then first. The school was replacing all thirteen.
Tenth to third to ninth to first. That is not a schedule. That is a workout plan.
Our house has two floors and a landing. The middle one has timed himself going up the stairs. Four seconds. Then he timed himself with his backpack. Five seconds. Then he timed himself carrying the youngest, who asked to be included in the study. Eleven seconds, with a two-minute recovery.
He has concluded that the stairs are faster without a sister. The youngest has asked for a recount.
Sources
The public records, school pages and published accounts this story draws on. Where the story imagines a scene or a line of dialogue, that is the column’s telling, not a quotation.
- Olivia Zheng and Uma Sukhu: Moving Stairs and Other Investigations (The Spectator, 2022–2023) stuyspec.com
- Stuyvesant Continues Building Renovations Amid Remote Instruction (The Spectator, June 2021) stuyspec.com
- Stuyvesant High School public reviews niche.com