"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

[Guy Profumo]

Hanging's too good for 'em.

And now it seems the BBC agrees!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23444086

[Guy Profumo]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

And just for the avoidance of doubt, I mean you at Leeds City Station.

Particularly on the "up" escalators onto the footbridge - if the trains only run every hour, you holding the rest of us up might make us miss our trains!

[Andy C]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

In Japan you do stand on the left. It's like a foreign country.

[Janik]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Guy Potger wrote: if the trains only run every hour, you holding the rest of us up might make us miss our trains!

If trains only run every hour, then give yourself a bit of contingency time so making it isn't dependant on flying through the station completely unobstructed. That way 30 seconds extra spent on an escalator will be neither here nor there, and if you miss the train its your fault for turning up at the very last minute, not the people who got in your way (escalator, ticket barriers, whatever) in those last desperate seconds.

FYI, I don't have a set pattern of behaviour on escalators. Sometimes I stand, sometimes I walk. But getting het up about walking not being an option is just madness.

[Anton Gramscescu]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Andy C wrote: In Japan you do stand on the left. It's like a foreign country.

Depends where you are. In Tokyo it's the left, in Osaka it's the right. Or vice-versa, I can't remember.

[Errorist Sympathiser]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

In Andrew Martin's Underground Overground, a history of the Tube, he talks to an escalator engineer who claims that walking on escalators is the worst thing you can do and damages them.

[Guy Profumo]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

…and, he's back in the room!

So. This "experiment" at 'Olbon tube station where people are encouraged to stand on both sides during the peak periods?

This is nothing new, is it?

I remember Heath (or Honeysett?) cartoons from the 1980s requesting people do exactly this on the Tube during the busy periods?

[Ginger Yellow]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

It's new in that they're considering making it the general policy.

[Guy Profumo]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Ginger Yellow wrote: It's new in that they're considering making it the general policy.

Clearly I've misinterpretated it.

I thought it was for the busy times of day, and at the busier stations - possibly with "tidal flow" lights above the lh and rh "lanes" on the moving staircase.

[Ginger Yellow]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Well, yeah, but it's the policy vs 3rd party suggestion aspect that I was highlighting.

[Incandenza]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

In the US, people just standing on an escalator/moving walkway stand on the right, people who want to go by pass on the left.

That follows our road traffic patterns. Curious why in Britain you drive on the left, and would pass on the right, but don't follow the same on escalators.

[Guy Profumo]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Ginger Yellow wrote: Well, yeah, but it's the policy vs 3rd party suggestion aspect that I was highlighting.

They were "official" LT/LU posters at the foot/top of the escalators - the portable board thingies they write details of disruptions on nowadays - so probably policy even then.

[Fussbudget]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Man, I would hate to have no option to walk at all and always have to stand on escalators. Not just to save time, but it's also a good bit of exercise and I find standing on an escalator (or in a lift) immensely boring. I'll use regular stairs instead if they're an option (though I don't think they are at Holborn.)

[ursus arctos]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Aren't there also stairs?

[Fussbudget]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

I can't quite remember to be honest, I thought Holborn had 3 or 4 escalators next to each other with no stairs in between. Some stations definitely do have stairs in the middle but I don't think they all do.

[ursus arctos]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

We have different arrangements, sometimes stairs between the escalators, sometimes stairs in a different place on the platform, but I can't think of a station that has escalators that doesn't have stairs (in part b/c the escalators are quite unreliable).

[treibeis]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

ursus arctos wrote: but I can't think of a station that has escalators that doesn't have stairs (in part b/c the escalators are quite unreliable).

The main station here used to only have escalators to and from one of the tube platforms.

I was once approached by an escalophobic woman who asked me whether I would mind her standing on the escalator step directly behind me and burying her face in my back for the duration of the downward journey.

She was so pale and so jittery that I didn't feel the need to ask her whether she was having a larf.

[Ginger Yellow]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Guy Profumo wrote:

Well, yeah, but it's the policy vs 3rd party suggestion aspect that I was highlighting.

They were "official" LT/LU posters at the foot/top of the escalators - the portable board thingies they write details of disruptions on nowadays - so probably policy even then.

Oh, right, I thought you meant in the newspaper.

[ursus arctos]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

The best thing about that request is that it only involves three words in German

[Fussbudget]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

ursus arctos wrote: We have different arrangements, sometimes stairs between the escalators, sometimes stairs in a different place on the platform, but I can't think of a station that has escalators that doesn't have stairs

Yes, it could be that they all have stairs but not always somewhere obvious.

(in part b/c the escalators are quite unreliable)

Can't an escalator that's broken/turned off just be used as stairs though? I've definitely seen that in London.

[Ginger Yellow]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

We have different arrangements, sometimes stairs between the escalators, sometimes stairs in a different place on the platform, but I can't think of a station that has escalators that doesn't have stairs (in part b/c the escalators are quite unreliable).

Apparently the following stations do not have stairs (from entrance to platform).
Angel, Baker Street, Baker Street, Bond Street, Chancery Lane, Bethnal Green, Holborn, Liverpool Street, South Kensington, Stockwell, Tooting Broadway, Tufnell Park, Vauxhall, Victoria.

[ursus arctos]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Interesting.

Tufnell Park seems out of place in that list.

[Fussbudget]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Actually Bethnal Green is the one that is quite literally out of place in the list. It makes my eyelids twitch almost as much as the fact that Baker Street is on it twice.

[Fussbudget]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

(Sorry just a spot of OCD flaring up there. Thanks for the info, GY)

[ursus arctos]

"The Tribe Who Stand on the Left"

Not OCD at all.

An interesting experiment in how different individuals process information.