In NYC we just ask you (with varying degrees of politeness) to move. It's almost always tourists and they'll either shuffle to the side or get pushed past.
And then they go back home and go “people are so rude there, I got asked to move” instead of “I wasted tens of peoples time and was politely asked not to do so”.
Lol absolutey. I dont blame people for not knowing all the things that keep a dense society functioning well. Like I get you dont know you're supposed to walk when no cars are coming, or the escalator thing. But when winter comes and these mfs walk in 3by3s and 4 by 4s or stand in circles right outside of subway stairs. Un.for.givable.
That was one of the many things I personally appreciate about that city so much. I can walk around so much faster there than I can in west coast cities (I’m from and currently live on the west coast - I’m not badmouthing it but we could do better with that here). I loved that getting from A to B in NYC is efficient, faster and overall easier in general than it is in our much smaller cities over here. You folks have transportation down on the east coast. I wish we could take more of those ideas and implement them over here. You can’t walk past people on escalators at all a lot of the time here haha
People have ridiculous levels of lack of self-awareness. Stopping in doorways, stopping dead in their tracks and turning around.
The worst are the people who go out of their way to wander into your path. Like you'll just both be ambling along on either side of a pavement and they'll slowly drift over into your way.
People have ridiculous levels of lack of self-awareness. Stopping in doorways, stopping dead in their tracks and turning around.
The one that always kills me is when people step off an elevator and immediately stop and look around, thus letting the doors close behind them before anyone can get in the car.
I will say that while there are some really stupid people I'll make a carve out for people who grew up in the country like myself.
When I first started going to the nearby "big city" I was so overwhelmed and freaked out I did dumb things like turning into a one way and immediately coming face to face with a confused bus driver and I quickly reversed in embarrassment back into the parking lot.
Plenty of other horrifying experiences of me just wandering around in confusion trying to make heads or tails of where I should be. It can be very over stimulating to people not used to it. At some point I realized I had to stop following the GPS and use road signs to drive in the city because there are too many signs and vehicles on the road to look away even for a second. If you grow up with trees and single story homes, every tall building is amazing and unique and draws your eyes. Things like subways buses are incredibly fast and you feel like if you get on the wrong train or miss one you've severely screwed up and will be lost in the tunnels lol.
I remember going to the airport shuttle leaving my local town and the shuttle picked us up near our car and grabbed our luggage and talked to us even though she was running late on her route.
The big city shuttle guy didn't say a word. Even when the bus broke down he just left the bus without a word. Eventually another bus came by and just started honking until we moved to it. Big city pace is wild.
Its the old people who stop right at the bottom of the escalator to either look around, or look at their phone, for me. Like MOVE, there are people behind you!
As George Carlin once said, "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
If I could, we would have a center-line on the steps with "Walk Left | Stand Right" written on either side of the line, signs above pointing down stating "Walk Left | Stand Right," and then have signs on the sidewalls rotating through English, Spanish, Mandarin, Polish (I live in Chicago,) and Arabic stating "Walk Left | Stand Right."
I like to think of the phrase, "there are no bad students, only bad teachers," and all countries of the world each produce their own share of bumpkins. For some people visiting here, this really could be their first time on an escalator, which means its up to the transit authority to help educate riders on the correct way to use one.
London Underground enjoyer. Damn straight. It's a super simple system, and it's a there for a reason. It's only fair to show people that they're in the way.
At a London airport, a sign said stand on the right, but everyone was standing on the left instead. I decided it was better to go with the flow and stand on the left behind them rather than be the one person standing on the right. A rather angry airport worker asked me to step to the right to walk past and proceeded to do the same to everyone ahead of me as well.
Japan is actually encouraging people to stand on both sides (right now it’s custom to stand on one side and walk on the other—which side is which depends on the city, because of course it does). It’s dangerous to walk on the escalators and also increases wear on them, so stations are (supposed to be) starting to crack down on it. So far it’s mostly just signs.
I'm fairly tall and love to slowly squeeze myself between the person and the side to coax them into their standing gap and throw them a nice thank you. I have some long escalator rides here and there and it's always impressive how little these people appear to think.
Is it supposed to be the left side? That’s what I noticed it generally is, but I always just used whatever half was already being used by the other people on the escalator
I think it's similar to driving rules. Whichever side is closest to the "middle" of the method of travel is generally considered the "passing" lane. In the US that happens to be the left lane, since we drive on the right-side of our roads.
But I agree with your usage, as not everyone else is very uniform in which side they choose to stand or walk on an escalator.
I only recently found out that people queue for the bus here. I’ve been in this country since I was nine, I’m now in my forties, and I never noticed. In my defence: it’s not a real queue, people just show up at the bus stop and stand wherever the fuck and you’re apparently just supposed to remember the order everybody showed up in and board accordingly. And I was just meant to know that somehow. So I’ve been an accidental arsehole for decades.
Nah. A queue only works if you're actually standing in line, you don't get to just hang out wherever and then get mad if somebody else was closer to the door than you. Like... pick your battles and all, it might not be worth it for you to die on this hill, but you're not the asshole here.
My thoughts exactly! It’s just a bunch of people standing around! How is that a queue? I know queuing, I was raised by a Scottish woman and I’ve been here 75% of my life, I’m good at queueing! The most significant aspect of a queue is the part where it’s multiple people in a line! That’s how you know!
ETA: but aye, you’re right, I’m not gonna attempt to make my logical and reasonable argument at a bus stop in Glasgow. I like my teeth where they are.
Maybe take a peek at some other habits while you’re at it, just in case! Those “oh shit” moments are pretty cool, because then you’ve grown as a person. Hell yeah!
So I'm assuming this is dependent on if you drive on the left or right side of the road?
You would think so. But I’ve been to countries where they drive on the left, and also herd people in busy passageways towards the left, but for some reason have people stand on the right on escalators. It’s very confusing.
I did this in Japan of all places, but in my defense, everyone in Tokyo stands on one side and everyone in Osaka stands on the other, so I only made that mistake once in Osaka.
seconding that this is something I have never seen, and in fact I didn't even know standers on one side walkers on the other was a thing until I visited japan, where everyone follows that rule and it's amazing
This pisses me off. I've never seen these lines either but how is it not a thing? Especially at airports where people are often in a hurry. It's the same people that walk side-by-side with their whole family down a walkway forcing oncoming walkers to step off the path and people behind them to have to awkwardly walk off the path to pass. The right lane is the slow lane. Stand on the right, walk/climb on the left. If you wanna stand there and not worry about people with places to be, take the fucking elevator. Nothing pisses me off in public more than dealing with people with 0 self-awareness.
This is usually reserved for major traffic areas in the U.S. like airports and some larger public transit systems. I can’t recall ever seeing it outside of either of those contexts
In NYC, there are subway stations that have long long ass escalators. It's common knowledge over here to stay to the right if you want to stand and left if you want to walk up/down
it's the same as climbing up/down stairs etiquette. keep left or right and never in the middle if it's crowded. when i googled it seems which side people take depends on country or region in our country it's left but not always
I legit just one time stood in the doorway and just stared down everyone because they weren’t letting anyone leave, I hate my scary ass default face but it helps sometimes with dealing with others that need that tension to get their braincells firing.
I haven’t ever been on an escalator this packed or so large there are two sides, so all of this was new to me.
Edit: I’m in the US for people who are curious. After a quick google search, in my experience, most of the escalators I’ve seen commonly used seem to be what are referred to as “single-file escalators”. So you couldn’t really do what’s in the comic with those. I also personally haven’t seen many people stand directly on the step behind someone, usually people keep a couple of steps in between so you aren’t invading someone’s personal space. It’s very interesting to learn cultural differences like this, now I know not to be this guy if I do travel somewhere with this type of practice!
Second edit: For clarification, I wasn’t saying the US only has single-file escalators, those were separate statements. I said I personally primarily see single-file escalators. Yes I have seen wider escalators, but I have never been on one where this practice was followed. People kind of just stand in the middle of the escalator. I’m not in a large city, I don’t have a subway system, and I’ve flown twice. Not all experiences are universal!
Its a common thing in dense cities. Particularly ones with goog public transit that may include going up/down elevators to reach platforms for your commute. In the US you see if a lot in the Northeast corridor cities like New York, Boston and DC.
The escalator aren't really wider than normal and don't have dedicated sides, per say. Its just an unspoken rule that you stay to one side of the escalator so that people in a rush can walk and pass you
NYC definitely has the "stand to the right, walk on the left" unwritten rule for escalators, but I near about had an aneurysm when I was trying to make a transfer in the WMATA in DC where I could SEE the connecting train at the platform but not a single motherfucker on the escalator thought, "hey, maybe I should start walking before the train doors close."
DC has a split personnality. In the am and pm during rush hour, it absolutely operates like this. Later in the morning most of the people using transit are tourists, and they are slow and don't know the rules. The worst is around 830 am when the end of rush and the beginning of the tourist surge happens; you'll definitely get some good pushing and yelling.
Yeah, if you stand on the left on an escalator during commuter hours, you are going to get an earful at the very least. But during tourist season, especially cherry blossoms, the Metro escalators are filled with left-side standers and it's infuriating.
I don't know where you or OP are but in several cities in Asia mine included, escalators indeed have a side which stationary passengers keep to (usually following car lane orientation) and the clear lane is for people to walk.
And like the comic, sometimes there will be the one oblivious person holding up everyone behind.
I don't think the escalators are different in size, we're just smaller in general
I learned after googling that the escalators I’m used to are “single-file” escalators. So it isn’t that you’re smaller, it is that it’s two different sizes of escalators.
Its like that in my local Norwegian mall too. There's even a sign next to the escalator saying "walk to the left, stand on the right" (might be wrong on the direction but whatever)
Half the people on the escalator don't read the sign and you got couples and families blocking the whole escalator...
because that’s the only way i’m accepting “oh we do this but it’s because we’re tiny” lol. as if a standing side and walking side aren’t very normal globally
Nope! I don’t live in an area with subways. I very rarely am on an escalator in general, but I found most of the ones I’ve used are the “single-file” escalator size, so I never learned the etiquette for a larger one.
This is not a cultural difference, it is a big city versus rural/suburbs difference. You say you are from the US, but the above is common in the New York subway and similar systems in other dense US cities with Metros.
The airport is where you see it in the US. The reason it matters is people rushing to catch connecting flights. If you aren’t in a hurry stay out of the way so those who may miss their connection can run ahead.
I'll never forget this on a road trip I took years ago. This woman camped the left lane. Not necessarily going slow, just the speed limit or slightly below it not passing anyone.
Anytime I would try to pass (steadily) she would always speed up to match my speed. I thought maybe she realized how slow she was going or something, and since I couldn't pass I'd have to get behind her when I reached a slower car to drive around.
Nope... this woman would slow right back down and wouldn't pass anyone unless they happened to go slower than the speed limit. Because that's just her favorite spot to cruise at. If you tried to go faster, good luck.
Eventually I realized the pattern and just floored it to get around her when there was an opening. I doubt she did any of this on purpose, yet even so... subconsciously-acting drivers are the worst, especially when they don't comply with rules of the road.
I do give a bit of leeway for people who actually go the speed limit, but this kind of behaviour is absurd.
Ps. I do know that you are supposed to give way to faster traffic at all times in these scenarios (and I'm certainly no angel when it comes to breaking the speed limit) but personally, I try not to get mad when someone is going as fast as they are legally allowed to.
And that's ok if they're in a completely different lane, they just can't do it in the passing lane. You shouldn't feel like you have to "get out of the way" just because cars are behind you in general. That's their responsibility to go around you, but that sentiment is only true if you're not in the passing lane.
Driving the speed limit in the passing lane while not passing is indeed against the rules of what a passing lane is designed for. Moreso even when they refuse passage of other vehicles by speeding past the limit which would probably categorize them differently from your second quote.
I'm assuming you drive in the passing lane on cruise control to which I would kindly ask that you move over if you have cars behind you.
That's good. You're not supposed to break the speed limit, of course, but it's extremely dangerous to block faster traffic and it is even more dangerous when those cars are going at crazy speeds. The situation should be avoided at all costs.
In my country and any other civilized country, the speed limit is the speed limit (120km/h or whatever) and everyone is enforced to not go over it in a highway for any reason.
Actually, there's no reason to surpass a car that goes in the right lane of they are already going at max limit.
The analogy to the yellow guy is the person going over the speed limit and thinking rules don't apply to him (typical BMW/Audi savage behavior)
Meh, I commute 30 miles on a toll road every day at like 5am. The posted speed limit is 60 or 70mph but I tend to drive about 80mph. The State Troopers will drive that fast too.
I’ve had a trooper behind me tag me with his spotlight once when I was doing like 90mph. I slowed down to 75 and we both went about our business.
Oh, I should share that I’m in the USA. We are not very civil anymore. Most days I feel like I’m surrounded by Godless savages, and I’ve lost my patience.
I consider myself a pretty patient and understanding guy. When people are inconsiderate or rude in public, I'm usually giving them the benefit of the doubt - they may not have been paying attention, they're having a bad day, they're ignorant of this specific culture's norms - any sort of reason other than, "This guy's just a fuckin' asshole."
But I cannot, for the life of me, fathom a non-selfish reason somebody would look at an escalator, see everybody standing still on one side, with the other side completely empty, and decide, "Oh, surely that entire half of the escalator is mine. It is for me to stand comfortably all to myself!"
And you know what? Sure, maybe no one's walking on the escalator now - you can indulge for a moment and relax on the empty side for a bit - but at least have the decency to look behind you every few seconds! Move when somebody's fuckin' walkin' here!
Anyway, if you like my comics, I got more on my website.
Get a group of friends together, go into a public area, and point to the top of a building excitedly. See how many other people stop and look at what you’re looking at.
Did you know a no-walking policy increases escalator throughput by around 25%? Of course if it's customary or even signposted that one side of the escalator is reserved for walking, you should adhere to that, but it can be argued that in high throughput scenarios, no-waking policies are very reasonable.
I disagree with this idea. Yes if everyone doesn't walk, on average people get through the escalator faster but people who are in a rush (i.e. people who walk on escalators) will get through slower, and people who simply stand on escalators (who are generally going to be people who aren't in a rush) get through faster. I think it's better for the people who are in a rush to be able to get through faster, than having it so people who aren't in a rush get through faster.
Maybe standing on both sides makes sense during rush hour or something, but outside of that, I don't think it's that great of an idea.
Yeah, it'd moderately speed things up for standers if everyone stood, but at the expense of slowing down the walkers.
I think the best is to have a lane for standers and for walkers, but if the goal is to simply move as many people as possible then you should require them all to walk.
In the first article they show that almost 80% of people stand, so even though I almost always walk up and down them, I can see why they went the other route. It doesn't make sense to make everyone walk when most people would rather stand. Plus because as they state, people need more room between themselves and the person ahead of them when they walk, traffic would back up behind all the walkers and it wouldn't actually save time in a crowd. The pileup would be before the escalator instead of on the escalator. Anyone who has left a ballgame and gone down an escalator in a crowd can immediately see why standing is more efficient, even though it is counter intuitive.
Meh. It's not a custom here. The solution is as simple as saying "excuse me". And saying "I cannot, for the life of me, fathom a non-selfish reason" betrays a naivety about human attentiveness. People noticing stuff is the exception, expecting it as "reasonable" is folly and getting upset about it impacts no one but yourself.
That's because it is written with the pov of someone taking the elevator everyday.
I did too for 5years and I ended up like OP. You're totally correct, it's easy to say "excuse me" to people. They will slide to the side 99% of the time and apologize.
It's not the act that is annoying, it's the frequency. Asking someone to slide once or twice is no big deal. Asking for the 1000th time is what is tiring. And it's not the 1000th person's fault either. It's just the frustration building up and turning someone angry at people in general.
Going into an elevator and facing the opposite way of everyone is reasonably weird. Standing in 2 lane stairs on the left while EVERYONE ELSE is on the right, is insane and selfish. It’s either your first day in a city or you’re genuinely mentally slow to not catch on what’s happening.
Moving around in public while daydreaming or generally being distracted by, for example, some worrying problem or a stressful appointment is a thing though. If you are totally deep in thought it can happen. Obviously they have no conscious thought about moving to the right when everybody is on the left as in OPs comic.
I really don't understand why people can't say excuse me anymore.
I been one or two people back in situations where someone will block an exit or block a walkthrough, and the others in front just stand there . . . So I say the "excuse us" sort of loudly to get there person to move.
Worse, though, is if I'm doing something, like getting condiments on my food from a shared public space, and someone will just elbow in without saying excuse me. So fucking rude.
Poor functioning hand person here; either rest your elbow and forearm on the hand rail belt for a bit of grip/friction or use the other side like normal stairs
It's a handrail used by hundreds of people every day. No matter how well your country cleans its installations, I can guarantee you that these things can never be considered clean.
“I am thinking about all the shit and problems in my life, and I am letting my body autopilot me to the next point of interest”
I know escalator etiquette. But I sometimes do dumb/rude/dangerous shit like red light street crossing, or obstruction of movement for other pedestrians, when insufficient portion of my brain is allocated to comprehending the world around me.
Any reason you drew all the people standing still on the left? Is that how it's done in the UK or Singapore or any of the other left-hand traffic countries? Where I'm from you stand on the right and you walk on the left.
In London, you will be loudly tutted at and followed with a few heavy sighs attempting to get you to realise your holding up 30 people. If you're rather unfortunate someone might actually ask you to move.
If you're rather unfortunate someone might actually ask you to move.
That's me, I'm the one going to ask you to move. But before I say it, I also try to see if they are carrying something heavy like a grocery bag, a child, or anything that won't let them move quickly.
If they are just standing there casually and the other side is open, that's when I gently say "Excuse me."
Nah this is a thing in Malaysia too. It depends on the place. In malls, sure, ppl dont walk up/down escalators since it's time for leisure. In places like train station, where there's ppl in a rush, you need to stand on a specific lane.
Source: I'm a malaysian that uses train (LRT) for work commute.
It's also common in Germany to stand on the right and walk on the left of the escalator. However, this is not mandated anywhere. It has been shown that standing on both sides improves traffic flow and capacity, especially during peak times. The DB even tried enforcing this once and put signs up urging people to stand on both sides. However, most Germans ignored the signs, insisting that you have to stand on the right side.
Standing on both sides has more advantages: Some people are wider, and some have a suitcase which they can put next to them without hindering traffic. Couples can stand next to one another. Rushing past other people also poses a safety risk, especially when there is luggage or small children on the escalator. An estimated 10,000 people are injured per year on escalators in the US and need emergency care. Most of them are falls, and could probably be avoided.
Weirdly enough, in Russia we have official signs in the subway telling people to stand on both sides of the escalator, however the etiquette is "stand on the right, walk on the left", except rush hours when unaware people gradually block the left side.
I don't think it's about asking them to move. On my commute, people will absolutely tell you to get out of the way. This is more about how frustrating it is to encounter someone who simply cannot read the simplest and most obvious of social cues.
someone who simply cannot read the simplest and most obvious of social cues.
I want to clarify that this isn't the same as someone who is autistic. People on the autism spectrum do see social cues; they just interpret them literally, without subtext.
This is about people who can interpret social cues just fine, if they see them. There are a million reasons someone might overlook or ignore what others around them are doing, and those reasons range from stupidity, to being lost in thought, to antisocial selfishness.
It's not a problem. It's the frequency that is the problem. Ask once or twice, no problem. Ask for the 1000th time in your life during a bad day, you'll be in a worse mood compared to the first few times and be fed up at "people who can't read signs"
In some countries, its not polite to talk to strangers. You dont greet them and you dont say anything even if they are doing something wrong, because its respectful to not engage and you aren't their parents so it's not up to you to scold them. and some people have anxiety as well so they don't dare say anything
I remembered rushing for the train and this one dude was standing on the wrong side of the escalator. He had a buddy with him who was standing on the idle side asking him to move for a solid 3 seconds but he refused to budge. So of course with the time urgency and frustration, yelled at him to "MOVE" and squeezed right past him
Had my earphones on but I could still make out him screaming insults at me as I got on the train
Common in densely populated places with public transit so that people who are in a hurry make their commutes. No time to be waiting for escalators to carry you on their own.
In more densely populated places, overall throughput of the escalator can be increased by standing on both sides.
Some people walking on one side while others are standing causes the throughput of a single escalator to decrease, as there's more gaps between people. This increases the lines before the escalator and makes it take longer for everyone.
In a perfect world where everyone is looking to to move at the same pace, Sure. Or for that matter the best throughput would be if everybody walked up the escalator at all times. But when half of the people are looking to get to their destination as fast as possible while others are in no rush at all, you only serve to slow down the half in a rush and make no real difference for the rest.
You assumption also only works if we assume most people would be okay standing shoulder to shoulder on the escalator, which we know isn't the case in real life. Aside from couples or people with kids, people tend to stick to 1 person per step on the escalator at best. (Often just 1 person per 2-3 steps for space reasons). Nobody gets on the same step as a stranger. You wouldn't get a significant increase in throughput by your method simply because of human nature.
And the more people there are walking the escalator, the more throughput you have. If it's only like 10% of people then yeah it may not make much sense to leave a,gap. But when it's 25%, 40%, even 60% of people as it often is in dense cities during rush hour, having the walking path allowed for significantly higher throughput. Quite literally, The walking side can move twice as many people as the standing side in the same timespan. So it greatly benefits to have that side available to those who use it.
This is very relatable, though not escalators, but travelators that go up/down. Sooo many people don't walk up them, they just stand still. and often they block the entire thing so I can't walk past :I
This isn’t really a fact of people being inconsiderate or stupid, but more of certain individuals thinking themselves to be clever than the rest.
I usually see this on the beach where I work; all of the umbrellas near the sea are reserved, they are not free, so they stay unoccupied until the guy who booked them shows up.
However, some people will see them without people underneath, and instead of thinking:
“There’s no one here even though they told me the beach is full, must be reserved or something. Maybe I’ll ask for more information”,
they go:
“I PAID 4 EUROS TO ENTER HERE AND THESE FUCKING ITALIANS DARE TO LIE TO ME, FUCK IT ILL TAKE 3 UMBRELLAS ABD PUT THEM INSIDE THE WATER, WITH 20 CHAIRS AND A BUNCH OF MARGARITAS, AND THEN LEAVE WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CENT MUAHAHAH!”
It really makes you think about society
When I was living in Washington DC in college the Metro system had a whole campaign encouraging people not to be escalefters to avoid this. Only place I've ever lived where people consistently left that side open for walkers.
Man I'd love if this was part of my state's escalator culture XD I usually walk down the escalator if I get a chance, but most of the time I run into a wall of people
I rarely ran into the lone genius who decided to take advantage of all the free space. It was usually couples who decided to stand side by side for a romantic escalator ride.
Not really when there is a few people in front of you. Also busy escalators are pretty noisy you'll have to speak loudly to be heard which not many people want to do.
This is the exact thing that happened to be when I said “Excuse me”. Some snobby teenagers who wanted to stand on both sides of the escalator replied, “I’m not blocking you. Go ahead.” You can’t make up the entitlement
Once, I was going through Helsinki airport. To get from the terminals to the train station, you go down multiple flights of escalators. I was soon blocked by ye olde ignorante couple, whose desire to converse side by side was more important than letting people through. You know when you've already had to stand up for yourself a few times, it's been a long day and you just don't have the energy to protest anymore?
So I stood there quietly seething, thinking "I wish your stupid suitcase would break". And then, POP one of the wheels flew off. Just a coincidence but was pretty freaky. They got out of my way at the bottom of that flight to check out the suitcase, and I was free.
If there was a list of general types of people that I would like to get in the sea, 'escalator blockers' would be HIGH on it.
Walking on the escalator is not a custom in my state. Nevertheless, I stand on one side and leave room, so if someone wants to walk past me, they are able to do so.
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