Escalators: Walk or Stand?

JR East, the East Japan Railway Company, wants Tokyo commuters to stand on both sides of station escalators instead of reserving one side for impatient people who want to walk. A study found that most escalator accidents happen when walkers stumble over luggage or run and slip, so the all-standing policy is safer and more efficient.

Good luck with that. The policy was tried in Hong Kong, London’s underground and DC’s Metro, but it didn’t go over well. Standing to one side on escalators and walking on the other is too firmly embedded in urban behavior. In Washington, there’s even a song about it:

Walk Left, Stand Right

Here’s a musical tip on escalator etiquette for the DC Metro subway system.

“Stand Right,” sung by Aaron Myers, accompanied on piano by the composer, Oren Levine, with Percy White on bass.

See the musicians Friday Dec. 18, 8:00 pm at Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill.

h/t: Perry Stein

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-mxo

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