You hate it when people walk down/up escalators instead of standing and waiting for it to carry you. the entire point of escalators is so that you wont have to waste energy walking down a long and tiring staircase! it wont make you look athletic or fit to walk as if the escalator was broken or something. amirite?
Escalators are slow. If you walk on them, you go faster than if you were standing, and you also go faster than if you were going up regular stairs.
The London Underground would love you.
Maybe they're just trying to be really efficient.
They were actually meant to take you up quicker because you'd have to WALK less steps than on a regular stairs to go up the same distance...