escalefters, or escalumps
Mood: cheerful
Posted on 2007-08-11 12:24:00
Words: 165

Funny article in the Washington Post about people who stand to the left (the wrong side) on Metro escalators, and how they're trying to combat that. Two interesting things:

- The 230-foot-long set of moving stairs at the Wheaton stop is the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere, according to Metro! Maybe we should go sometime :-)

- You might wonder why they can't just put a sign up, but apparently


Metro also does not post signs advising riders where to stand. Agency officials said they are prohibited from putting up "Stand to the Right" signs because the national safety code for elevators and escalators does not allow non-cautionary signs to be posted within 10 feet of an escalator.

That seems kinda silly to me. There's also a Maryland law stating that you can't have people walk on an escalator if it's not working (i.e. just using it as stairs), which seems bizarre unless there was some sort of horrible escalator accident. Which is pretty hard to imagine.

3 comments

Comment from wonderjess:
2007-08-11T11:40:16+00:00
I totally rode the longest one IN THE WORLD in Moscow (Park Pobedy! woo-hoo!)! It was very exciting. Also, Russians have an efficient system to deal with left-standers (or, in my case, left-walking-too-slowly-ers): they just grab you and push/pull you to the right side.

Comment from gerdemb:
2007-08-11T13:34:16+00:00
In Japan, of course everyone follows this rule without any prompting - the advantages of a homogenized society. Interestingly in one part of Japan the standers stand on the opposite side. This is a topic of endless speculation and one the first things someone will warn you about when visiting the region.

Back to the Washington Metro, I can't understand why a non-cautionary sign can't be posted (close or not), but what about painting symbols on the escalator steps themselves or using audio warnings?

Comment from gregstoll:
2007-08-11T13:51:56+00:00
It sounds like they're going more in the way of audio warnings. (random announcements every now and then)

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