In recent years,the utilization of the escalator in public buildings and large transportation hubs has become more and more frequent and popular. Its capacity is a vital factor in the design of the escalator because it has a direct bearing on the crowd evacuation. However,it is difficult to describe the corresponding dynamics characteristics.For some traffic facilities with complex dynamics characteristics,empirical analysis proves to be very effective,workable and precise. Therefore,by filming the peak flow of the ascending escalator in several stations of Guangzhou Metro and by processing the relevant data,the corresponding diagrams of basic traffic characteristics are established to describe the behaviors of pedestrians in the escalator entrance and on the escalator at a stairway width of 1 meter. The results of the analyses show that the actual escalator capacity is 8655 persons per hour,which accounts for 90% of the theoretical one.