NationStates Jolt Archive

I was skimming the news this morning and came across this:

Passengers stand on both sides over walking ban on train station escalators

YOKOHAMA -- "Don't' walk along escalators!" That's what Yokohama Municipal Subway officials have asked passengers by putting up warning signs at all of its 32 stations starting this fall.

The move was prompted by a series of complaints filed by passengers with the Transportation Bureau of the Yokohama Municipal Government. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also says that escalators are not designed to be walked along by passengers.
article continues (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071126p2a00m0na020000c.html)

I was a little surprised that anyone objected to walking up the escalator...

(The rudeness, yes, but just walking?)

The London Underground has a "Keep Right" policy; if you're standing stand on the right and let walkers past on the left. Seems simple enough to me.

I've always been irritated by idiots who can't even keep still long enough to enjoy an escalator ride.

If we were meant to walk up escalators, God would have given us legs.

Well, walking up escalators gets you there faster than just riding it. I say, if there's noone else on the thing, just walk up it if you feel you need to. If there's someone else on it, then obviously don't push past them to climb up. Just wait behind them, and ride.

The London Underground has a "Keep Right" policy; if you're standing stand on the right and let walkers past on the left. Seems simple enough to me.
That's what I do. It's not a policy anywhere I go, but it's common sense.

That's what I do. It's not a policy anywhere I go, but it's common sense.

Ditto.

Well, walking up escalators gets you there faster than just riding it. I say, if there's noone else on the thing, just walk up it if you feel you need to. If there's someone else on it, then obviously don't push past them to climb up. Just wait behind them, and ride.

This is what I do ... I confess perplexity that there are other ways to do it. But then escalators here aren't wide enough to pass people.

If stairs are available, I try to take those (most days, sometimes I am lazy) but if they are not, I try to at least walk up the escalator to get some exercise.

I walk on the left, or ride on the right, and, of course, don't push past people. If the escalator is blocked, I step to the right and just ride.

What gets me is people who
1) take SHOPPING CARTS up and down escalators. This is just silly and dangerous.
2) Step off the escalator and stop dead, trying to figure out where they are going next, so that everyone behind them has to push past as the escalator ejects them. That is inconsiderate and dangerous. And why is it that most people who do this are also the ones so loaded down with bags that it seems like the only way past is to knock them over and climb over them?
2A) Stand at the start of the escalator trying to decide if they are getting on or not, but looking annoyed when people try to push around them because we KNOW we want to get on. Step out of the way, for goodness sake!
3) walk the WRONG WAY on the escalator. This is mostly kids, but if they are running and not paying attention, they tend to blunder into people, which is most annoying.

If I'm alone, I'll usually walk up the elevator, but I don't pass people because I don't want to bump into them. I'm a fan of stairs, the escalators are usually crowded in comparison.

Well, walking up escalators gets you there faster than just riding it. I say, if there's noone else on the thing, just walk up it if you feel you need to. If there's someone else on it, then obviously don't push past them to climb up. Just wait behind them, and ride.

What if you're in a hurry?

I hate people who don't have the patience. I am disabled, I use crutches, and if you push me and I lose my balance it's all over. You're fucked. I'm fucked. You're sued. :rolleyes:

I hate people who don't have the patients. I am disabled, I use crutches, and if you push me and I lose my balance it's all over. You're fucked. I'm fucked. You're sued. :rolleyes:

I don't have any patients, which is probably good, given that I'm not a doctor.

I hate people who don't have the patients. I am disabled, I use crutches, and if you push me and I lose my balance it's all over. You're fucked. I'm fucked. You're sued. :rolleyes:

You hate people who aren't doctors?

Omg, Typos!!!! >_<

Omg, Typos!!!! >_<

That neverending font of ridicule.
The Fountain of the Uncouth, if you will.

Makes sense now that I fixed it.

Screw you impatient bastards. LOL.

Makes sense now that I fixed it.

Screw you impatient bastards. LOL.

*pushes you off escalator*

*pushes you off escalator*

Ahhh the daily commute to work, nothing better for getting people all het up.

Hands up all those commute Zenists out there? \0/ It really is the only way to avoid an early cardiac arrest.

lamamamamamamam ummmm!:D

The London Underground has a "Keep Right" policy; if you're standing stand on the right and let walkers past on the left. Seems simple enough to me.

yea, i just go by what london does. i think they have the same signs in airports round here too

don't see anything wrong with it tbh

I walk up/down them if there's space to get by. Unless my legs are tired.

If there was the option to walk up a flight of stairs at the shops, I'd use it, but there isn't so I walk up the escalator. It's faster and I like spending as little time at the shopping centre as possible.

As a resident of Japan in the Summer and during School Breaks, I can confirm that people are absolutely at a loss when somebody fails to stand on the correct side of the escalator, thereby impeding the flow of businessmen/women in a hurry. It's a situation that rarely occurs, considering how many people make use of mass-transit.

In all honesty, I can't imagine a Japanese Subway devoid of suit-clad businesspeople hurrying down escalators in a vain attempt to reach the next train. My mind. It is blank. :D

As a resident of Japan in the Summer and during School Breaks, I can confirm that people are absolutely at a loss when somebody fails to stand on the correct side of the escalator, thereby impeding the flow of businessmen/women in a hurry. It's a situation that rarely occurs, considering how many people make use of mass-transit.

In all honesty, I can't imagine a Japanese Subway devoid of suit-clad businesspeople hurrying down escalators in a vain attempt to reach the next train. My mind. It is blank. :D

Yeah the same in London, I just laugh at all the rushing people, as trains come and leave every two mins, some people I guess just can't wait for two mins.

I walk on the escalator. Riding the escalator can be useful for the mobility impaired, but the rest of us shouldn't be doing so.

I walk on the escalator. Riding the escalator can be useful for the mobility impaired, but the rest of us shouldn't be doing so.

Just because I'm able bodied doesn't mean I can't be lazy from time to time.

The London Underground has a "Keep Right" policy; if you're standing stand on the right and let walkers past on the left. Seems simple enough to me.
This.

In the US, it's reversed (stand left, walk right), but it's still a good system.

Doesn't matter - where I live the escalators in malls, airports, etc are all one person in width- in fact, some persons are a bit tooooo 'width' to even fit on them.
They're VERY narrow.
So I walk if no one is in front of me, and stand if that's not an option.

In other areas I've lived, if the escalator is wide enough for two persons to stand side by side comfortably, then slow traffic should keep to the right - blocking etc just shows how sad your life is that you have to control someone you don't even know out of your petty desire to ensure we're all as miserable as you are !

This.

In the US, it's reversed (stand left, walk right), but it's still a good system.

Um... what part of the US ??
Most places in the US still pass on the left - just like the roads ,lol- you're not that one little white minivan on hwy 69 doing 50 in a 65 in the left lane, are you ?
:P

I try to keep a lane clear in my immediate vicinity. At the Atlanta airport, where I see people walking up escalators most, I've timed the difference between walking and riding. The walkers save about 10 seconds over the riders. Not enough to make or miss a flight, but occasionally enough to make or miss the shuttles to and from the terminals.

Thats very true. Often the people I see running past me, I meet up with waiting for the same train on the platform.

I was skimming the news this morning and came across this:


article continues (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071126p2a00m0na020000c.html)

I was a little surprised that anyone objected to walking up the escalator...

(The rudeness, yes, but just walking?)

I try to keep a lane clear in my immediate vicinity. At the Atlanta airport, where I see people walking up escalators most, I've timed the difference between walking and riding. The walkers save about 10 seconds over the riders. Not enough to make or miss a flight, but occasionally enough to make or miss the shuttles to and from the terminals.

Follow the rules of the road, slow asses keep right. Works pretty well.

Ditto.

Thirded.

I'm surprised that people standing on the wrong side of the escalators in Châtelet-les-Halles (Paris' busiest underground station) don't get beaten up from time to time. They're my pet peeve.

Thirded.

I'm surprised that people standing on the wrong side of the escalators in Châtelet-les-Halles (Paris' busiest underground station) don't get beaten up from time to time. They're my pet peeve.

The thing about unspoken rules is that sometimes people don't know about them.

The thing about unspoken rules is that sometimes people don't know about them.

Yes. That's what keeps me from smashing their brains in. :(

Yes. That's what keeps me from smashing their brains in. :(

Heh so much anger, caused by...... people standing still on the walking side of the escolater!

Yes. That's what keeps me from smashing their brains in. :(

Well you are French, nobody would mind if you yelled obscenities at them.

Well you are French, nobody would mind if you yelled obscenities at them.

Indeed. We're all used to it. :)

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Where I am, the mall is the only place with escalators, and outside of the stores themselves, there are stairs between each set of them (down esc, stairs, up esc). Hence my extreme unction towards those who walk/run on the escalators and inflict others with their oh-so-precious "hurry." If they want to show off their athleticism, they can do it on the stairs!

If I ever find myself on an escalator in some city or at an airport, I'll remember to stay on the right, or whichever side the sensible people happen to be planting themselves on. After all, the whole point of a moving staircase is that IT does the moving!

I stand towards the side.

but really... man I hate it when I'm on the excalator when there's a power cut.

sometimes I can be stuck there for HOURS! :p

If stairs are there, I'll use them. I can bound up a flight of stairs faster than the escalator goes anyway and I'm quite short so I imagine long-legged types could do it even faster.

Fergi America;13246145']I've always been irritated by idiots who can't even keep still long enough to enjoy an escalator ride.
What's to enjoy, exactly? I have better places to be than on foot-eating moving stairs (yes, I once got my foot stuck in one)

This.

In the US, it's reversed (stand left, walk right), but it's still a good system.Really? Best I can think, I've always seen stand right walk left

Thirded.
ditto.

I stand towards the side.

but really... man I hate it when I'm on the excalator when there's a power cut.

sometimes I can be stuck there for HOURS! :p
Escalator temporarily stairs. Pardon the convenience"-Mitch Hedberg

Proper etiquette on escalators dictates that you behave like you do when driving a car, depending on what country you happen to be in. So, in the US the people who are not walking stick on the right edge, whilst the people who are walking ought to stick to the left edge.

I don't get it...I just stand on escalators...wherever.

Well, walking up escalators gets you there faster than just riding it. I say, if there's noone else on the thing, just walk up it if you feel you need to. If there's someone else on it, then obviously don't push past them to climb up. Just wait behind them, and ride.

Pushing past is one thing, but most escalators that I'm aware of are made for people to ride two by two. So much so that the odd escalator made to ride single file still seems to have people turning sideways for walkers.