Here in the Washington DC metro area, we have a pretty good rail system, called Metro. At most of the Metro stations, there are escalators that go from the platform to the main level and from the main level to the street level.
Now, the general rule here - unofficial, though - is that people who are walking up or down the escalator do so on the left, while those who are standing (riding) stay to the right. This, of course, mirrors American driving conventions.
So I got to wondering. If we walk on the right side and drive on the right side in America, do those who normally drive on the left side walk on the left side of an escalator, too?
Don’t look at me like that! I was just wondering!
[I figured I’d put this in IMHO because there might not be an actual **rule** or law about this in other lands; therefore different people might look at it in different ways.]
Well, on the London Underground you are requested officially (notices at top of escalator) to stand on the right and walk up or down on the left. It’s pretty well obeyed EXCEPT by tourists who annoy the hell out of residents like me who are in a hurry and can’t get past a group of tourists taking up the whole width of the escalator!
We stand on the right too, at least those of us who can read, there being numerous signs on the London Underground asking you to do so. You could say, though, that this mirrors British driving conventions, where moving traffic is on the left
i was a tourist in the london underground… and almost every escalator had a “Stand to the Right” sign every few feet along the entire length of the escalator… so unless the tourists are from non-english countries, they’d get the message…
