I’m Australian and I’ve never understood cause here escalators are extremely rare. Only in spots where space is too short to fit.
Especially in the last 30 years, we only really use travelators. Particularly in shopping centres, this is a typical shopping centre.
https://share.google/images/uLiI0aol9hl9A9ap9
You can fit twice as many people on them, you can also put baby’s prams on, people with walking aids, disabilities and in wheelchairs use them and most importantly you can put a shopping trolley on them. (They’re even designed to lock the wheels in so you let go and it won’t roll away). Those Target shopping cart escalators are seem so ridiculous to us!
Lifts aren’t very common in them either, there’s usually only 1 per mall.