When Escalator Breaks, It Turns Stairs
By Artyom Bologov
So just this other day. I had a revelation on failure modes in software and the real world. And I think we don’t pay enough attention to fallback systems when designing software. And hardware. And infrastructure. And social systems. Anything really.
Good: Escalator #
So I was impulsively shopping at this conveniently situated Yerevan moll. And I was looking for a way upstairs, for some time. And here—my salvation—escalator!
Being someone with extra weight (too much Zhengyalov Hats!) I want to exercise in everyday context. Walking more, at least. So I looked for stairs usually accompanying the escalator. There were none.
And so I though: what if the escalator breaks and one wants to go up-stairs? Is the system too fragile and insulated to be resilient to real life?
But it dawned on me: when escalator breaks, it turns into stairs. Plain walkable stairs.
Bad: Bus #
Armenia is all-in on digitization of services. Public transport too. Just recently (a year? two?) they introduced contactless payments in buses. And phased out the cash payments. Like, altogether.
Now, what if
- One forgot their NFC-enabled debit card?
- Their phone is dead?
- They are tech-averse and don’t use NFC?
- They are a foreigner that don’t even have a bank card? (my Iranian friend is literally in this situation right now.)
- Or they care about their privacy, not wanting to be tracked in their movement? (Hi, that’s me!)
Too bad, I guess you don’t use buses now!
Opportunity: Taxi #
Use taxi then! Wait…
Armenian taxi market is being starkly segregated by three actors:
- Yandex Go, this Russian-origin taxi and delivery Leviathan
- GG, the Armenian-native taxi hauling service
- Independent taxi drivers that don’t really want to surrender their ways
From the user POV, taxi hauling services are nice and cheap. (Yandex is particularly nice, if you don’t mind paying to a war-enabling Big Tech landlord.) But I must remember that whenever I use these. I make the market less friendlier to independent drivers. Which means: less diversity and resilience.
Losing / leaving my phone home or elsewhere; or having spotty connection; or having no money on service-bound card / account. I have to search for spots drivers park in. Or cars with checkers riding around. Or call the reliable drivers I know. But what if Yandex and GG would have neatly cut the taxi market in half, squeezing independents out? Tough luck, walk home?
Good > Bad #
We (and here I mean programmers and managers and urbanists and politicians and citizens) should make systems that are resilient. Systems having reasonable fallbacks. And not systems that are locking people out.
So the next time you’re designing some “replacement” system, ask yourself. Will the escalator become stairs when it stops?