NevilleChaimberlin: your last words were certainly tongue in cheek but that is OK.
Daas Yochid: To frame the discussion properly- riding on a car or bus or subway is-min hadin- muttor if you don’t have to pay. The problems are “maris ayin” and hence, people do not use public transport nowadays. I don’t see how that translates in an issur for escalators or Shabbos elevators. If you can find it, look in Rabbi Goldschmidt from Moscow’s sefer where he addresses this with a verbal input by R’Moshe Feinstein zz.l