We were lucky enough in the last few days to get a ride in one of the two new shiny lifts at Covent Garden. The station has been exit only since February of this year whilst two of the lifts have been replaced, and we can now report on the new lifts!
New Covent Garden Lift
We timed it, and on average the lift is about 8 seconds faster than the old ones. Their capacity is also 56 people – six more than the 50 of the old lifts. All this will help get more people moving. But perhaps the smartest thing is that the doors now have intelligent software installed, meaning that they can sense if no one is getting in or out at a certain leve, and rather than lingering around for wasted time, it’ll shut the doors and whizz back up or down to collect people who may be waiting at the other level.
All in all – people should be shunted up and down more quickly than before!
The respite is only for a couple of months over the Christmas period though – come February of 2015, Covent Garden will become exit only again whilst the other two lifts are replaced, and you’ll have to wait until November of next year for the station to be fully open again.