Walking etiquette

[GodAtum]

At some busy UK railway stations, there are one-way systems for pedestrians to regulate foot traffic. While tourists obediently follow the instructions, the locals seem almost to take pleasure in walking up the wrong side.

However, on London tube escalators there are instructions to walk on the left and stand on the right and most people obey these requests.

So why is there a difference?

 

[tony_mac]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28352045
(For context - link to the BBC article which posed that question)

Answer - because there is no advantage to stand or walk on the 'wrong' side of the escalator. There is an advantage to walking the wrong way, be it shorter or quicker.

 

[Cletus]

In the areas under King's Cross for instance there are those keep left signs, but they are so small and few in number, also only in English.

The footprints are fine for escalators, but I think arrows could be put down to help.

 

[bb21]

At some busy UK railway stations, there are one-way systems for pedestrians to regulate foot traffic. While tourists obediently follow the instructions, the locals seem almost to take pleasure in walking up the wrong side.

However, on London tube escalators there are instructions to walk on the left and stand on the right and most people obey these requests.

So why is there a difference?

LU stations are busy places for the majority of the day, so having such a system aids more effective passenger flow. Places like Sheffield aren't normally outside the peaks, so it is rather daft in my view forcing people going up to take the stairs leading to Platform 2 and down via the stairs leading to Platform 5 (or the other way round I cannot exactly recall). It's all about the perception of their purpose and effectiveness. If I walk up the wrong stairs at a quiet time I am hardly going to inconvenience anyone.

On top of that, the etiquette on the escalators is a more deeply established practice than anywhere else.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As we speak, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28352045.

Advice for foreigners on how Britons walk

...

At some busy UK railway stations, I have seen one-way systems for pedestrians - staircases and walkways emphatically marked with arrows and "no entry" signs to regulate foot traffic. While tourists obediently follow the instructions, the locals seem almost to take pleasure in walking up the wrong side.

On London tube escalators there are instructions to walk on the left and stand on the right, some with feet symbols to ensure everyone knows the form. People do obey these requests, for the most part, suggesting that different rules apply underground.

...

 

[Starmill]

In Manchester we don't have the 'escalator etiquette' very much at all - and there's often not even a sign about it. I've always thought everyone gets to the top quicker because there's not a queue forming at the bottom

 

[reb0118]

Keep left!

 

[Emyr]

In Manchester we don't have the 'escalator etiquette' very much at all - and there's often not even a sign about it. I've always thought everyone gets to the top quicker because there's not a queue forming at the bottom

The users of the escalator off Platform 13/14 seem to separate into standing and moving streams without signage.

All hell breaks loose at the top though with passengers heading towards P13 battling against the passengers leaving P13 from the escalator and stairs and heading both left and right...

 

[cjp]

In Manchester we don't have the 'escalator etiquette' very much at all - and there's often not even a sign about it. I've always thought everyone gets to the top quicker because there's not a queue forming at the bottom

In Hong Kong there is no walking up (or down) the rule is get on a step - on the left or right - and just hold the hand rail until one gets to the end.
No big queues, as in London, at the foot of the escalator just a solid mass of people being conveyed.

I wonder if anyone ever researched the best way to move the maximium number of people - scope for a thesis here on crowd control?

It seemed as though the number of people being moved per minute is greater than in London as there are no gaps.

 

[greatkingrat]

When crowds get sufficiently large, the left side of the escalator tends to jam up anyway.

 

[D2022]

I always assumed, and as such always practised, that walking on the left was the done thing. I also always pass other cyclists on the left, as a car would.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It is in fact in the Highway Code ( although how on earth it would ever be enforced is another matter altogether! ) that pedestrians should walk ( "should" not "must" hence advisory only ) so that the person on the outside faces oncoming traffic.

In effect, this is an instruction to walk on the left on any pavement. Clearly it does not over-ride the advice, also in the code, to walk on the right of a road without a pavement as that is also aimed at ensuring that oncoming traffic is faced.

 

[flymo]

In Hong Kong there is no walking up (or down) the rule is get on a step - on the left or right - and just hold the hand rail until one gets to the end.
No big queues, as in London, at the foot of the escalator just a solid mass of people being conveyed.

I wonder if anyone ever researched the best way to move the maximium number of people - scope for a thesis here on crowd control?

It seemed as though the number of people being moved per minute is greater than in London as there are no gaps.

As a person who uses the Hong Kong MTR on a daily basis that is complete and utter tosh. Come to Kowloon Bay, Causeway Bay or Admiralty stations (or most stations come to think of it) at 8:30 in the morning and see how long the queues are. Took me 3 minutes to get onto the escalator this morning at Kowloon Bay...

 

[SS4]

In Brum the ramp to the Pallasades has instructions to keep left and it is universally ignored

 

[reb0118]

By the left................

 

[Ploughman]

It is in fact in the Highway Code ( although how on earth it would ever be enforced is another matter altogether! ) that pedestrians should walk ( "should" not "must" hence advisory only ) so that the person on the outside faces oncoming traffic.

In effect, this is an instruction to walk on the left on any pavement. Clearly it does not over-ride the advice, also in the code, to walk on the right of a road without a pavement as that is also aimed at ensuring that oncoming traffic is faced.

However take a walk through any busy street and walk on the left.
You will find yourself against the flow.