Zeusfaber,
I was involved in a failed experiment a few years ago with an aftermarket escalator control mfr on a project like that where we used a laser scanner looking for feet aproaching the escalator to only turn it on when someone came near. The failure was, when people saw that the escalator was not moving, or perceived that it moved unexpectedly as they aproached, they would not get on it! They tried putting up signs explaining it, nobody read them. Getting on an escalator has become so habituated for us that we don't think about it much, so anything out of the ordinary looks like a red flag. It will take a long tome for that to be accepted.
"Will work for salami"