Tag Archives: escalator

London Escalator Etiquette

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I can’t say how much I love the rule of standing on the right on the escalators in London. Keep to the right if you are just standing so that people can run down (or up) the left side.

Stand and hang out or run down the stairs, your choice!

If you want to get a dirty look and a curt “excuse me” from a Londoner stand on the wrong side. The other people standing will also shoot you a dirty look. It’s a BIG NO NO to stand on the left.

It always takes me a bit of time to adjust when I come home and people are hanging their lazy asses all over the escalators and I have to wait because I can’t squeeze by. I get over it but always think back to the wonderful rule back in London. Why can’t we make this a global rule? Like slower traffic keeping to the right, people standing on escalators should keep to the right.

Maybe I’ll start a campaign and see if I can get it to catch on.

Escalator Etiquette….

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When you step off an escalator KEEP MOVING.

Seems like common sense, right?

Why then are there people who step off and then stop?

Who seem to look around like they’ve just landed in a strange new land and have to figure out where they are. Like they were just transported from the USS Enterprise?

To the people who do this:

You’re at the bottom (or top) of the escalator. Keep moving so that the other people who are on a MOVING staircase can keep moving. If you stop the people behind will bump into you, they will give you a dirty look, some will say something (usually rude). From a moving staircase the only way to move is forward and with others coming you shouldn’t block the exit.

When you got on the escalator you must have had some idea of where you were going?

You must know that you were on a moving staircase, that other people on the escalator can’t stop. People who are getting off the escalator need somewhere to go and now you’re blocking their path.

If you are so stunned when you hit the top or bottom of an escalator and have lost your bearings, continue forward and step off to the side. This way you are out of the way and can figure out where you are and what you are doing. Even Captain Kirk used to do this after actually being transported.

If you don’t, I will bump into you and probably say something rude.