Originally Posted by
UA_Flyer
Just for the record, having multiple family members in DoD and in active service, the criticism is on the PENFED blast not on PENFED itself.
I agree this is something should be explored. This will also involve changing the direction of the moving walkways and the escalators at the foot of the Concourse C. They should be aligned to be all on the same side, otherwise there will be traffic crossing from opposite direction. This may be a challenge due to all the traffic flow are on the right-side at all US airports (both moving walkways and escalators).
The other theoretical problem is the current flow works for the "Spanish Solution" and reversing passenger flow would break that and cause crowding.
To elaborate, currently the escalators drop passengers trying to leave the concourse into the center between the two tracks so that they can board a train arriving on either platform. Passengers arriving at the concourse are directed to the side platforms (one(?) of which then leads to the ramp) to avoid conflict with passengers waiting to board. If you were to reverse the flow so passengers leaving took the ramp down you'd deliver them to a side platform -- which isn't really designed with the space to have people standing around waiting for a train and there's also the (theoretical) risk of passengers going to the wrong side platform.
Since C as it exists currently is a station where boarding is only permitted for trains going in one direction the "wrong platform" problem is probably not significant, but the "not enough space for people waiting" could very well be -- the middle platform can get a bit tight at peak times as it is and it was actually designed to have people standing around waiting to get on a train.
Fighting the natural keep-to-the-right inclination could also be challenging as a significant portion of the world follows the same custom and I'm not sure I'd be paying attention to the direction moving walkways were going/using that to decide which side of the hall I was on if I wasn't riding on them so you'd likely wind up with everyone crossing over everyone else's path while they find great rates for everyone.