I am curious, given that I deal with this on a nearly daily basis.
There lies before you an escalator, but of the single-wide variety. There is absolutely no room for any passing by anyone. As you approach this escalator, you note that the people who got on it just before you decided to walk the escalator rather than simply standing. You, however, have chosen to just stand once you’ve boarded and ride it out because you’re lazy/tired/sick/just don’t feel like walking.
Moments later, as you’re nearly halfway the length of the escalator, someone boards behind you. They proceed to walk the escalator until they are nearly all the way to you.
I’ll do you one better and tell you how I feel about two-lane escalators. “Stand right, walk left” applies under normal circumstances, but the right lane becomes a walking lane as well when the escalator is “saturated”. The escalators I use most often lead up from an underground LRT (train) platform. During the morning rush it’s common for well over a hundred people to go for the escalators, with a bottleneck at the base even when both lanes are full of walkers. If someone decides to stand in the right lane at this time, it delays and annoys many people; IMO, this strays into “being a jerk” territory. If one really prefers to stand, the courteous thing to do is to wait the minute or so it takes for the crowd to pass, then stand in the right lane.
I voted the “other factors” option, because if there’s no one in front of me and I’m physically capable of walking that day, I’m already walking. Dammit.
And don’t even get me started on the moving walkway question.
If it’s a single-wide, I’ll stand my ground. If I were capable of walking up steps, I wouldn’t be riding an escalator. If there’s room for someone to walk up to the left of me, I’ll squeeze over to the right and give them as much room as I can. But if there’s no room, they can wait.
As I said in another thread, I hold on to both handrails. It’s just plain safer that way, and I’m not the steadiest guy on my pins. Someone asked “Seriously?” as if I had said I go up escalators with my fly open and my dong out. What’s so “seriously?” about holding on to both handrails? Anyway, if some ass insists on going past me, he’ll either ask very politely, or commit assault and battery. His choice.
I stand my ground. Which doesn’t seem quite right because there’s nothing making me do anything else. I don’t care if you’re coming up fast behind me, it has no bearing on what I’ll do next.
Just want to add, I’m in the same situation as Trinopus. I have balance issues and I’m not the steadiest customer on my feet. Like him, I hold onto both handrails for safety. That’s more important to me than someone else’s haste on what is basically no more than a 30 second ride to the top.
If I’m not carrying luggage or something that prevents me from seeing where I’m stepping, I’ll walk. If I can’t see where I’m going, I’ll stand so I don’t fall down (I have a gift for falling). If I’m so exhausted I can’t walk up an escalator, chances are I’m in bed anyway.
I have Central Core Disease, described to me as a relatively mild form of MD. The reason I take escalators is because walking up stairs is hard for me, and embarrassingly slow. So I stand my ground. If my CCD were magically removed right now, I’d still stand my ground, because fuck you, it’s an escalator.
While you certainly don’t need a valid reason to stand on the escalator rather than walking up/down, I hate it when people give this excuse.
Walking on the escalator is different from just walking up steps because the escalator gives you extra speed, so you get there faster. That’s why I walk up/down the escalator.
Hate it or not, tough shit. Not all of us have a visible handicap, and it’s really annoying to be considered a lazy sack of shit because people can’t SEE my issue. I’ve considered carrying a cane that I don’t need, just so people will have that visual clue.
