The software works when there's low traffic as well. It adapts to the number of requests and passenger counts across the day.fabricator wrote:The thing is though, there are hardly any people around most levels, so not much point in having the fancy software for high traffic areas.
I've never encountered another lift that behaves the same as the Myer Center atrium ones, certainly not one that forces the contents on my stomach further down. Even the ones inside Myers itself behave in the conventional manner. All which makes me suspect the atrium lifts have and 'express lift' setup, that is higher speeds+skipping floors to achieve those speeds, which implies they have software from Asian style elevators as fitted to skyscrapers.
I put it to you, that one reason the 4th and 5th floors aren't used it the elevators, suicides and people falling over the railing. These things have put people off travelling to the higher floors, as there is a sense of risk (which in reality doesn't really exist).
It's all in your head, due to them being glass. They run on the same software, travel at the same speeds and skip floors in the same ways as the other elevators in the building. It's just that you can see through the walls, so your brain registers it differently. It's a bit like how if you are sitting in a stationary vehicle and another vehicle near you moves backward, you feel like you are moving.
The reasons the upper floors aren't used is that tenants up there (with the exception of destination tenants like Lyncraft and Fernwood) never got enough walk by traffic to stay in business. That, coupled with the state's recession across the 1990s, and the closure of Dazzleland has seen a lot of tenants move out. Centre management's reaction has been to consolidate tenancies and add more floorspace on the lower levels. You may have noticed the continual downward migration of the likes of the ABC Shop and Priceline. Empty stores is not a good look and impacts negatively on foot traffic even further. Centre Management are in a bind as what to do with the upper two levels. Their floor space is an odd, thin, ring-shape that doesn't suit many non-retail tenants. As a result they are still empty.
The Myer Centre experience has been reflected in other similar vertical 'shopping malls'. One that comes to mind is in manhattan and is a very similar layout to the front of the Myer Centre (the name escapes me...). It too is suffering on the upper levels. It seems that the contemporary shopper doesn't think in three dimensions, that's why a lot of malls are only one to three levels and all spread out.
Edit: it's called "Manhattan Mall" Dah! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Mall
Recently they "solved" the problem of the upper floors by removing all but the lower three.