Why do we stand on the right on Tube escalators?
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- Опубліковано 1 лют 2025
- Still we rise.
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Hi Jago. It was me that asked that question and many thanks for making a response video on it. I feel absolutely honoured.
This was naturally my first question on my first visit to London in 1990. Thanks for asking and thanks Jago for covering it,
In my world travels, three months in the UK and Ireland, (driving) two months in Japan(driving), and being an American. The driving conventions could go either way. No problem. An earlier trip to England in the 80s my wife and I rented a car and we immediately set off to see Stonehenge. In my head I was thinking, 'The other side." Seemed to work. (I immediately fell in love with roundabouts! ) This worked great until we pulled into the (now gone) Stonehenge parking lot, saw what my ancestors had built was closed, so we headed to our room above a pub. I pulled out of the car park and immediately did 'the other side." But because I was now somewhat acclimated to the British side... this 'other side' was on the right. Yikes. (I've met several people who've been in accidents because of this.) My son in Japan said that before you start the car, put both hands on the wheel and say out loud, "This is Japan. We drive on the left side of the road here." That worked brilliantly.
I also read that in Tokyo pedestrians on the sidewalks keep to the left, but in Osaka they keep to the right. In Tokyo this does seem to be the case, but if you're window shopping, no one is going to try to squeeze between you and the store front.
In Osaka, where I only spent two days, people just seemed far more likely to bump into each other than keep to one side or the other. The rest of Japan seemed to follow no convention. (Which is what I think was happening in Osaka.)
But what I've noticed the world over, in many situations, like crossing an open square, is that all things being equal people approaching each other have a tendency to move to the right. This may be linked to most people being right handed. Of course this doesn't mean that the right side drivers are more right.
What I've noticed from escalators in the Tube, and other places is: if there's a clear flow pattern from the design of that location the escalator direction will serve that flow more than a convention. (And in the Covent Garden Tube station where I, in my 60s impetuously decided to not wait for the elevator but run up the stairs... They turn to the right. (The station monitors seeing a guy with white hair running up those steps, started calling on the loudspeaker to not take the stairs. Then they made a wisecrack about a heart attack! The sign says 170. I think it's more. I wouldn't have done it had I thought... but once stuck in... I told my son there's now a blue plaque for me in that stairway...)
I also noticed on my way out to Greenwich on the tube, is a couple very long escalators, (right side) where if going up, you stare at the top of the down escalator the people on that side can suddenly appear to be parallel to the ground and going straight down. This works until just before you're halfway up. If you then look straight up on your side, the people in front of you will appear to be horizontal on their backs going straight up. And you will feel completely weightless (not floating). It's an amazing hallucination that I only noticed on those two escalators. (I even visited the tallest escalator in the Americas where it didn't happen.) Key to this illusion, or is it a hallucination?, is that the escalators are in round shafts and there are no squared off tops. I was so thrilled I mentioned it to someone and they told me, 'Everyone knows that.' But... I don't think they do. Someone try it and let me know.
My first day in Sydney, Australia I stood on the right on an escalator, and was rudely pushed aside by someone else, which alerted me to the fact that they stand on the left there.
and a Yerkes mention as the cherry on top. You are lucky indeed.
I was told that in the middle ages knights would stand on the right of escalators for jousting purposes.
lol
I thought that the knights used paternoster lifts?
@@rumleech No, it’s because they were going to catch the tube.
But that wouldn't keep their sword hand free.
Not that kind of jousting.
There used to be signs saying "Dogs must be carried".
Many disobedient people did not to bring a dog to carry but used the escalator anyway - how unbelievably rebellious!!
There is a recorded announcement on the Whitechapel Elizabeth line escalator that still says it now. “….and dogs must be carried at all times”. I am always tempted to say “but I haven’t got a dog”.
It left them almost 'catatonic' so the 'tail' goes.
The swine !
The same with those ‘Please remember to take all your possessions with you’ announcements. I can never carry all of mine and always leave some at home.
My friend used to say "dogs must be folded on the escalator"🐕🦺🐕🐩
3:34 "It was considered too dangerous for public use" Oh dear, imagine how insane that thing must've been for -Victorian- Edwardian era engineers to consider it not safe enough.
"This moving stair idea is just too dangerous! We'll just have to stick with catapulting passengers up to street level."
Would have been fun for a kid to ride it though.
@@euansmith3699 Surely it would've been a trebuchet?
They hadn't invented the hi-viz vest or orange cone yet...
1911 is a few months post-Edwardian
0:55 dunno why I was expecting the tardis to disappear after the ambulance went past
Apparently that police box is a fake.
@@SIMONWINTER-m6d Define fake? Is it fake as a Police box, or fake as a Tardis? And who adjudicates on their authenticity?
@@DelticFilm or a fake Police Box masquerading s a fake Tardis?
@DelticFilm It wasn't a genuine police facility.
@@SIMONWINTER-m6d neither is the Tardis.
Quite related, but I found quite amusing, I remember some article mentioning the "unwritten" rule that you should stand on the right on escalators on the Underground. They also added a picture of such escalators, with the written "stand on the right" notice fully visible and legible...
Yep. It is very weird. As an Australian, we drive on the left, walk on the left of footpaths and stand on the left of escalators. So it feels strange when visiting London and having to get used to standing on the right side. It is definitely NOT the convention here to stand on the right of escalators.
In Christchurch NZ, people stand all over the esculator. I stand in the middle because I dont want to touch the rails after kids with ice creamy sticky finger swing off them. But you cant wiz up or down as people are in the way both sides, unless its emptyish. Brits just have more etiquette.
Maybe standing on the left is caused by the earth’s spin in the Southern Hemisphere?😂
Bizarre. It is the convention in London, Paris, Prague, and Washington DC to my personal knowledge. Of course you are all standing on your heads so I suppose it's reasonable that some things would be different.
Does the Dalek at the Tardis go "Escalate . Escalate"
Thank you.
"You will stand on the right and hold the handrail!"
The first escalator in Cambodia was installed in a shopping mall about 15 years ago. They had to place staff at top and bottom to help people get on and off. I’m sure it would have been the same in 1911.
@@bob_the_bomb4508 No free Cognac I'll bet !!
@@RichardWatt I obey.
Yay Yerkes, how we have missed him!
Drink!
Drink!
Seems odd now to have an American expert on urban transit now. Don't think there are too many now? There view now in more lanes for more cars.
Only comments in Japan people walk on right except Kansai, Edinburgh allegedly walk on right as well.
"with somewhat loose ethics"
I quite like the notion of someone presenting me with a cognac, should I appear “rattled” on the way up the escalator during rush hour at Euston. 🤣 🥃
These days I reckon we should be presented with a free Cognac at the end of every tube journey - oh and at the beginning as well !!
I was offered a prosecco on checking into a hotel.
@@PMA65537 How about an extra pillow ?
@@SIMONWINTER-m6d Not to mention someone walking through the trains between stations, with a tray of cognacs.
@@fosterfuchs Absolutely, and at bed time !!
Legend is, the one-legged man riding the escalators to show how 'safe' the were, ended with a Mum audibly telling her kid: "See that? It's what you'll get if you ride one of these things." I have no idea if this is true or not.
I love that Jago isn't afraid to confront the really big issues.
I guess one reason why escalators might not have been retrofitted to a lot of deep-level tube stations so quickly is that in many cases they wouldn't fit within the envelope of the original station. A lift goes straight up and down, whereas an escalator travels a significant lateral distance. When the lifts at Angel were replaced with escalators, they had to build a whole new entrance to the station on a different street from the original one, because the horizontal travel introduced by the escalators was so great.
Escalators weren't introduced until they figured out how to dig 45° tunnels. In the days of the City and South London Railway, they only knew how to dig horizontal tunnels and vertical tunnels.
@@katrinabryce actually, 30 degrees is the standard escalator angle, but the original “Type A” escalators were built at a shallower angle (but angle remained when the escalators were modernized)
@@stevieinselby a few stations were closed because of the other stations having new entrances that are closer, because of the escalators going in. Some stations though got around this by having escalators zigzagging as they go up
At Wynyard Railway Station in Sydney, when the escalators were brought up to modern safety standards, the hardwood treads from the original escalators were incorporated into a sculpture. The art installation looks like the original moving stairs have been suspended from the ceiling in the form of twisting loops. You can see a timelapse of the construction and read some more about it by doing a web search for the ABC article on it.
Yes,I have seen those, they look great.
@@sonoticinese the way they were repurposed and presented is stunning, have no idea how the state government managed to do that but here we are. A nice bit of preserved heritage
So Sydney Metro has a shiny new Mobius Strip, while Sydney Trains has a twisted set of wooden stairs that don’t go anywhere. What’s that Skip? Wynyard Platforms 1 and 2…..
@@tacitdionysus3220 I haven't been on the Metro...but if it's a Moebius Strip, does that mean you'll be stuck on there forever? 😛
@@thhseeking Think of it as, "a creation with endless possibilities" - (I should have been in Marketing)
In Australia, we stand to the left on escalators
Obviously due to being south of the equator.😁
That’s wild.
We drive on the left as well, so from a practical point it is a uniform message of “keep left”
That'll be because of the Coriolis Effect, I guess." 🤔
Quite a feat considering you are all upside-down.
A TARDIS, parked next to a giant pot noodle. Well, it's London.
That pot noodle could be The Master's TARDIS
It's getting moved apparently
To me it's a police box
@@hairyairey The pot noodle?
@Bruce-h8w You are naive, you have more chance of seeing Doctor Who coming out of one!?!
In Melbourne, Australia, We have the steepest (or used to) escalator in Southern Hemisphere at Parliament Station. If you ride it for the first time going down, it seems like it's ALMOST vertical!! Most disconcerting.
It's a horrible experience! Especially trying to walk down it quickly when there's a train to catch.
Excellent. Just the right combination of humour and fact to make watching it a pleasure. Keep up the good work.
Fascinating thanks for sharing. In Melbourne Australia (and maybe all of Australia) they stand on the left!!
Yep, we stand on the left in Sydney, too. Except for recalcitrants.
@@thhseeking Despite the "standing on the right has become the convention all over the world" comment, in Australia we stand on the left. Because we drive on the left and walk on the left. None of that American/European rot for us!
That's the thing that's always confused me about the UK until I saw this video! I also hail from a southern hemisphere country that drives on the left and the UK escalator rule has always completely baffled me! It would make perfect sense in Germany, France or America but they drive on the left for Pete's sake! Why do they stand on the right? It still doesn't make sense but at least now I have a (tenuous) explanation ;) :D
If escalators were invented in the 21st century they'd have us all stand on the left. Because most people are right handed... and would need to hold the left handrail so their right hands could hold their phones.
It would be the other way around because left handed people are a minority and must be pandered to about how "oh, aren't we so great for helping you out, despite not really doing anything that actually helps you"
🤷🏻♀ I'm right handed, hold my phone in my left hand, and use the right hand to operate it.
@@katrinabryce I use my right hand for something completely different - holding a pint off beer !!
I'm left handed and hold my phone in the right because all the interfaces are designed for the right handed. But fair enough 😊
Buy a sensible sized phone, then you can operate it one-handed. Phone size today is ridiculous.
An interesting fact is Tokyo stand on the left, Osaka on the right, Kyoto on both sides (one benefit is higher standing bandwidth and probably less accidents).
Hong Kong stands on the right.
Singapore stands on the left.
And I've seen signs in Bangkok saying to not walk on escalator, so they stand on both sides (which actually seems faster when it's busy).
They actually did a trial of standing on both sides in London a long while back, I remember it being at Holborn I think.
Standing on both sides means both at the same time with no option to walk or standing on whichever side a momentary trend-setter who got first on the escalator decides?
@@michaelleiper maths modelling suggests standing both sides is quicker, presumably because people that dont want to walk have to queue for their right side slot
@@richard4cz Signs on escalators where I live, to my recollection, would have you stand in the middle, one person to a step, with a hand on each rail. Less wear on the machinery, and probably safer (depending on the width).
Ever used the little brush things on the outer edges to polish your shoes?
but it is dangerours there are mechanicy bits under there that can rip your feet off
@@highpath4776 Also really only cleans one side of your shoe.
@@arthurvasey I've thought about it. But, I realised that after applying the polish to the brush, I'd have to go around at least twice to reap the benefit.
I've probably tried it, as a kid. And then was yelled at for lingering, because I was always being yelled at for lingering.
@stephenlee5929 one has to surreptitiously face downhill without looking an idiot. Or only polish shoes out of rush hours when you can controversialy stand on the left without annoying too many other travellers. Pretending to be foreign can help. 😂😂😂
Good evening. I do remember there was a pilot scheme I believe at Holborn station for passengers to either stand on both side of the escalators to help with congestion.
Yes! It didn't work well, so it was ended after a while. I do remember some comment in the LURS newsletter, indicating that staff at some stations hit with the issue of clearing football-crowds at times would be placed at start of the escalators chanting instructions 'stand both sides!'.
@@PerCPH2200Chanting "stand both sides"? Not "the reff. Is bleeding blind" ?
At school, we were taught to always walk along the corridor on the left. This rule stuck with me for life. I always walk on the pavement on the left, as most others did until recently. So if one walks on the left, stand on the right. However, like most English ways that have disappeared, people now, for some reason, insist on walking on the right.
The custom in Sydney is to stand on the left.
You're on the opposite side of the planet, so that makes sense. 😊
Fair enough! Thanks!
@@SpiritmanProductions And upside down!
Same in other Australian cities. I'd always been brought up (in Sydney) that it was like driving: keep in the left lane unless overtaking (or in this case, charging up or down at speed).
I do seen o recall signage at Edinburgh's Waverley station advising pedestrians to stand on the left of the escalators. I thought I had taken a photo as evidence but can't find it to confirm!
Very surprised that this Yerkes bloke hasn't sued young Jago yet. He seems the type to do such a thing, even from beyond the grave
At train stations in Perth, Australia, the common practice is to stand on the left and pass on the right. I do not know why, but it does fit with how we drive on the left.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, we drive on the left, unless we are overtaking and we apply the same rule to escalators at train stations. The result is zero confusion. Much simpler than the confusing rules that apply in London where you keep left on roads but keep right on escalators.
I've rarely gotten confused about whether I'm in a vehicle or not.
Given that Londoners don't get confused about such matters, I assume they're just smarter than Australians. 🙄
Technically you do 'keep left' on escalators - when you walk down or up them. Just like you're told to 'keep left' when walking through corridors in Underground stations.
Here in New Zealand most people don't seem to care which side of the escalator they travel on.
you stand on the right because it's the passive form of using the escalator. Those actively using them (by walking up or down) keep left, like everything else in the UK
It's the opposite in Australia. Keep left, like we do on the road. The right-hand side is for people walking up the escalator.
Why would the fact that you "drive" on the left affect which side people "stand still" on an escalator? Why aren't you saying "keep left" to the people actually walking on the escalator?
@@thepoleisred5899 Probably the same logic that puts the 'slow lane' on the outside and the 'fast lane' on the inside, when such a thing exists.
@@thepoleisred5899 Comes from when there's not enough room for more than one person going in each direction. That carried over to escalators and the right-hand side is the fast lane, just like on the road.
@@thepoleisred5899 Just like the roads. You park or go slow on the left. You overtake on the right.
@@thepoleisred5899because people *overtake* others on the escalator, on the footpath, or on the road, on the right. All three are the same. It’s only London, not even the whole UK that does it backwardsz
Cheers from Reno, NV.
Jago! Two days ago, while visiting all the Millennium bridges, I'd reached London and this exact question occurred to me as I was leaving a station. Thank you for answering that which I didn't even manage to ask.
Thank you. It confused me as an Australian when I visited London. You go on the right on the escalator then on the left down the walkway.
The true answer is 'because you'll be pushed out of the way if you stand on the left'.
You Sir, are Not Wrong.
I got yelled at the first time I went on the escalator in the London Underground because I was standing on the left. I live in Australia, and there wasn't a sign to show what side I ought to stand on. I thought the reaction was a bit over the top. I learnt very quickly.
Watched a TV show following the going ons at a deep level station, was quite entertaining watching some of the staff try and convince people to use both sides of a escalator long enough basically no one walks up/down it.
The true answer is to allow people to go down quicker than you, including staff!
A push is rarely necessary. A loud statement directed at nobody in particular conjecturing something about the ancestry of people who don't know which side of the escalator to stand on despite the signs every three feet usually works, unless they don't speak English, in which case the loud noise usually works anyway.
Being only an occasional traveller to London, I have indeed observed that this strange practice of standing on the right of underground station escalators, which seems to be a well-established habit, while those apparently in a hurry run down or up the left side. However, I have noticed that people from London and surrounding counties tend to stay on the right as well when on escalators in shopping centres, shops or mainline railway stations. Here in the provinces, we stand where we want because no-one is in such a blinding rush to run up or down an escalator and assume that most people standing on the right are visitors from the London area who are having trouble adjusting to our genteel style of life.
5:58 In Singapore, we universally stand on the left and walk on the right on escalators!
Yep... I have remember to swap sides every time I visit.
Yes I am that man causing chaos at City Hall MRT during rush hour..
Same in Japan ... except in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe).where people stand on the right.
@@gryff8400I thought that was Mr.Kahn and his sidekick MR Tool !!
And that actually makes sense because Singapore also drives on the left. Japan is the most interesting, in Tokyo they stand on the left, and in Osaka they stand on the right
Same in Australia.
In Hong Kong we also stand on the right, but I know for a fact that some other places around the world stand on the left. Regardless, when someone is standing on the wrong side and blocking the whole lane, I imagine the muttering under one's breath and the judging gaze are universal.
Another interesting fact: some recent MTR (underground) stations in Hong Kong are basically built deep into a hill, so we got some lift-only exits. Granted, the Edwardians didn't have high-speed lifts and the luxury of building eight lift shafts at once, but we also have the full Edwardian experience of the overflowing queue of passengers.
'...wherever it is that Victorian transport magnates with complex legacies go after death.'
As subscribers to this channel, we all know the answer to that.
The transport museum?
@@paulsengupta971 I was going to say Bank, but I like your answer better.
@6:00 standing on the right is not the convention all over the world, in Sydney Australia we stand on the left and walk up/down stairs on the left also , just as we drive on road on the left, I believe this is also true in other Australian states
I remember the wooden ones. I grew up in Northumberland and would go to Kings Cross to get the train home to the North East.
The wooden escalators would bang and grind and grumble as they carried me and my fellow passengers up to the rail station.
I was due to go home for my Birthday but I was warned to attend a court hearing (I was a new Police Constable in the Met Police) the day before my birthday and the day I had booked my train tickets, the 18th November 1987.
This of course was the day of the Kings Cross fire, caused by a cigarette setting fire to the accumulated flammable litter that had accumulated under the wooden escalator.
Amazing really that the cause of the fire and the wooden escalator was still in use in the late 80’s.
It wasn't until the Kings Cross Fire that the physics of fire flash-over on steep inclines was fully understood. And the "no smoking" ban on the Underground was strictly enforced after that.
@@ktipuss The trench effect, I believe.. Smoking had been banned on the tube before November 1987, but many still lit up as they left the station via the escalators..
Yes, before King's Cross, a smoking ban ready existed on the trains, introduced in 1983/84, after the fire this was immediately extended to cover all areas of stations, including booking halls and areas outside the ticket barriers.
Wooden escalators were the norm on the tube until the construction of the Victoria Line, which had metal ones installed from the outset. Existing wooden ones were very slowly replaced over the years, ..meaning there were still lots around when the Kings Cross fire occurred in 1987. A purge to get them all replaced as soon as possible was then undertaken, with the last to disapoear being the two at Greenford on the Central Line, with one being replaced by a metal one, the other by an "incline lift" in the shaft, a forerunner of those on the Elizabeth Line. The other station with up escalators to the trains, and wooden ones at that, was Alperton , with had them sealed off and removed from srrvice.
@@ianmcclavin Alperton's escalator, numbered 3 (maybe there had been others at one time) was out of use in 1988 and bricked off in 1990. It also happened to be atypical in that it was made by J.E. Hall, so maybe they were only too happy to close it after the Fennel Report (which started a jihad against wooden escalators, even though this fire could have still started even if it was a metal escalator, it wasn't the material of the escalator, it was all the gunk that had accumulated underneath since before World War II, and the state-of-the art fog spray apparatus didn't properly activate.)
Jago, you are actually psychic. I was literally thinking about this last night! This man is truly underrated. :D
I was discussing on the picaddily line fb group the escalators at finsbury park
@tantaf123 WARNING ⚠:
Mr.Hazzard has access to your mind algorithm !!
@@highpath4776 Very good!!
@ did you notice my particular mistake there?
@@highpath4776 That's what the very good was about !!
In Sydney we stand on the left, always. There are signs. I had an interesting first day on the Tube (in Earl's court none-the-less, coming up from the Picadilly line, newly arrived from Heathrow), being nearly bowled over until I saw the sign! Londoners were NOT happy with me (and my bag too).
Londoners are a grumpy bunch in general, to be honest.
I have another thought to throw into the mix. The spiral stairs at many stations seem to curl clockwise as one descends. It is far easier and safer to descend them on the left, rather than the right, as there is more space for ones foot on the left hand side of each step. When ascending it's just as easy to ascend on left or right, therefore for these stairs it always seems sensible to me to ascend or decend on the left. I don't know if this relates to escaltors, I just find it interesting :)
its something to do with descending defending knights having space to swing a sword
@@highpath4776 Particularly important at Elephant and Castle I guess.
@@highpath4776 It would be the other way around then.
The basic idea for spiralling staircases in medieval fortifications was to deny the ascending assailants either the space for the use of their weapons or the opportunity to protect themselves adequately with their shields, while giving these benefits to the descending defenders.This was done by making the staircases curl clockwise on ascent, not on descent. That way the assailants would either have their right side open for the defenders to strike onto, or, if they are side-stepping as they move up to protect themselves with shields, they would have fewer angles to attack the defenders. The situation would be reverse for the defenders.
Of course, this all depends on the right-handedness of the participants, but a lefty would already be seen as a sign of sinister forces at play on a level field, being as it is an uncommon and thus hard to train against opponent. By the way, this is why, as Sue Brunning of the British Museum had shown, there was an effort on the part of the Sutton Hoo undertakers to clearly display that the lord buried there was left-handed.
@@F1ghteR41 And what happens if one assumes the attacker is coming from above (the stations being underground)?
@ Well, in Medieval times that would just be bad luck. After all, engineering is an art of compromises.
And as the Battle of Berlin had shown, in modern times the assailant would still likely come from below, because all it really takes is for the attacker to find one unguarded entrance and exploit it. And the chances of this are the higher the bigger the system is and the closer the tunnels are to the surface.
Whato Jago,
A tot of brandy for using an escalator sound like a good idea. It should be brought back at once. However, what happens after my 12th ride when I can no longer remember my name?
Smelling salts, obviously. 😅
I look forward to your hagiography of Yerkes.
Visiting Australia I realised very quickly that fellow travellers took my standing on the right of the escalator quite poorly!
Non-escalator related but I was recently in Austria and walking in town I eventually figured out that they walk on the right of the pavement/sidewalk. Very efficient once you get the hang of it.
There's a joke in there about Austrians being notoriously right-learning, but I feel it would be unkind to say it.
I’ve always been intrigued about this so thank you, Jago!
Charles Tyson Yerkes is mentioned and balance has been brought about to the force once again
A thousand shareholders cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.
"Trumps & Yerkes, two days running . . . & I normally have such a delicate stomach!" : )
I was in London decades ago and I remember a campaign (or at least some signs) with the slogan "Stay right, walk left". I think that also contributed.
Yay, Yerkes! I was beginning to stock up on Rum and now I can begin to consume again.
Very interesting - you could say, elevating.
On the Osaka subway escalators, it is expected to stand on the left. It was never explained why. In all other cities (at least the ones I have visited) in Japan, everybody stands on the right, walks on the left.
I think Osaka rejoices in being "not the rest of Japan" :) But there are plenty of places where people stand on the left, including elsewhere in Asia as I recall.
I _think_ the way it works is in Osaka, one stands on the l̶e̶f̶t̶ right; in Tokyo, one stands on the r̶i̶g̶h̶t left, and, in other places, it’s one or the other, so you have to watch what everyone else does.
One site says “The proper etiquette is to stand on the right side in the Kansai region, which encompasses eight prefectures, including the major cities of Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama. Outside of the Kansai region, people stand on the left side” but another site mentions _nine_ prefectures.
One would think that someone might have published a map of the “stand on the left/stand on the right” elevator practices of Japan to nail it down definitively but I haven’t found one yet.
It's the other way around. At most places in Japan, you stand on the left, and there are some exceptions (like Osaka) where you stand on the right.
@ Oh, yeah, you're right. I reversed them in my first paragraph but the site I quote gets it right. Fixed now. Thanks! 👍
@@jeff__w someone indeed might've, in Japanese for Japanese railfans, in which case there's no hope of finding it with English search terms :)
I think we all know where CTY went on his demise... The ultimate deep level tube, with a one way escalator!!
Cracking Vid as usual, keep em coming!
You learn something new every day.
Another lovely video! Liked how you used the street noise for the TARDIS at the end...
Long time since I used a Tube escalator, but I distinctly recall little signs in the "central reservation" at some stations with "Stand On The Right" to remind us - mind you, this was back when escalators were often wood slatted.
They are still there, tend to be blue sign with white lettering.
@@stephenlee5929 even appear in the video.
The “problem” starts if you’re visiting from Australia, because you will totally not expect it, and get yelled at for standing on the left
Thank you for escalating this issue .. and lifting the subject onto our thought plate. In our local Asda we have a moving walkway which rises from the underground parking to street height and it is a bit scary, especially when going down with no one in front of you! 🤣
take the lift then
In the original 1970s Waitrose in Andover they had an escalator for the trolleys! The site was on a slope with the car park at the rear. I can't remember whether there was one for the shoppers or they used stairs. There was a similar arrangement at the Waitrose in Malborough, again a sloping site. In both cases I can't recall if the shoppers could push the trolleys onto the escalators or it had to be done by a member of staff which would increase the stores staff costs.
@@Alan_UK If you cross a Shopping Trolley with a Police Box do you get a Dalek?
@@highpath4776I got the joke about Finsbury park but this one escapes me.
In Australia we both drive cars on the left and stand on the left on escalators - with walking on the right
I was always told, when I was a kid, that the reason people stood on the right was so that people who wanted to walk could do so without being impeded by stationary people.
Even now, if I'm on an empty escalator, if I'm walking, I use the left side and if I'm standing, I use the right side. It's automatic.
I do this on every escalator, even ones in supermarkets and department stores. And everyone around me does the same.
On an empty escalator I walk on the the right-hand side and I even switch lanes on a partly occupied escalator. But to my excuse: I'm German, the Autobahn is in the DNA I guess. :-)
@@martinmuller2809 I have never been on an empty escalator.
Sure, it's better to have everyone stand on the _same_ side ... but why the _right_ and not the left?
@@stephenlee5929 If you ever travel to Manchester in England, I suggest visiting Sports Direct in the Arndale Centre. There's very rarely anyone on their escalators.
@@martinmuller2809 I walk on the right side of an empty escalator too. There are plenty of times I've been walking down an escalator only to have someone run past me. I would much rather have the crazy people (who don't realise what sort of injuries they would get if they tripped) stay on the left, rather than encourage them to weave in and out of different passengers.
Otis. Excellent soul music, rhythm and blues.
One strange thing I've noticed in my four visits to London is that if given the choice most people will walk on the right when using the sidewalk/pavement. Granted London being a major tourist destination tends to get a lot of visitors from "right hand" countries. Now all my visits were during the summer months but I've seen walking videos ("Watched Walker" and others) shot during the winter when tourists are somewhat less common and yet most people still tend to walk on the right. I find this somewhat curious in a "left hand" country. The holding on the the escalator handrail does make sense as most people are right handed.
Though as a left handed person, I prefer holding handrails with my non-dominant hand because handrails are usually not the cleanest surfaces
Of course you walk on the opposite side to where you drive. So in a country where they drive on the left, they will walk on the right.
so when a vehicle comes up behind you , you don't get dust or mud in your face...
"...during the winter when tourists are less common..." Posher people in the colder months!
You're quite right, Jago. In Los Angeles on the subway, people usually stand on the right, walk on the left. However, until now, I had thought it was just because that's how we drive: Slow on the right, fast on the left. So Britain should be the opposite. But it isn't. The principle that most people are right-handed makes lots of sense. And you can still walk on the right if no one is in front of you.
Britain does the opposite *except London* who are just mad.
Just got back from Perth WA and Singapore and both stand on the left. It was strangely reassuring to catch the Picadilly at Heathrow and stand on the right 😂
I remember a lift at Earl’s Court, back in 1968. And I remember the escalators in the Tube had wooden steps.
Then Kings Cross 88 happened, and they had to replace all those old oes.
Sorry, 87, not 88.
Whilst in Singapore in March 2024 we made use of the MRT system where on the excalators the rule is to stand on the left and walk on the right. I actually prefered this to standing on the right as being right handed, in the event of losing balance whilst walking I would instinctively reach out to my right. London may have the first metro in the world, Singapore has learnt from others and produced an excellent metro system. Regards, Ian Simpson
In Glasgow Central they stand on the left.
Easier to spot the Cockney that way.
That's if they can stand at all.However no free Cognac or Scotch.
In Glasgow Central they completely ignore the signage and stand wherever they like. I know this from experience of having 6 minutes to get from a late running Avanti arrival to the last train to Larkhall.
In Japan, you stand on the right in the Tokyo-influenced part of the country, and left in the Osaka area. (Or the other way round. It's been a while since I lived there.)
Anthony Asquith's film Underground (1928) has lots of shots of escalators (new at the time) and it does seem to show there was still some splaying at the exit to encourage standing on the right. Fabulous film!
Up here in the north we generally stand on the left on escalators. They seem to stand on the left in Japan when I was there as well.
That escalated quickly
Thank you for another great and interesting video. For someone who hasn't been on the underground for years, l had forgotten how many steps, and long corridors there are. Ow well l will up my steps.
@5:58 "...standing on the right has become the convention all over the world."
Australia ignores that and generally travels on the left side of escalators and also footpaths. Confuses that hell out of overseas visitors. However our practice has always made sense to me. We drive on the left side of the road, overtake on the right, and do the same on footpaths.
Jaggerzz me ol China.,I moved to Aus in 1972, escalators were not really common in Sydney unlike London, people on the escalators just seemed to stand anywhere, you had little to no chance of being in a hurry and walking up the escalators.
I think everyone should walk up the escalators, yesxits better forcheslthcto walk but the real reason is the escalators uses less energy so reduces co2 emissions.
OK nuff jokes.
Now people tend to keep to the left, perhaps because we drive on the left.
But this doesn't make sense especially if you are from London like me.
I know it's crazy, but on the roads there is no lane sense, you can overtake on the left, whilst on motorways it says keep left unless overtaking, nobody does.
Yet everybody keeps to the left on the escalators.
It's bleedin ,mental init.
Thankyou Jago for another educational and also funny video,, I think most would agree that it takes their minds of the crazy world we live in.
I like the Tardis, I want to stick one in my back garden, that way when I go in it I will have a model railway room the size of a massive warehouse.
In Montreal Canada there is an incline plane escalator for their tube station. It was a shock to me and was very long as the station was the deepest in the city.
Just some info/fun fact: Here in Berlin, people usually also stand on the right side, and try to give space for walking passengers on the left side. But there are some stations and times where people behave differently. Also, downward escalators usually are on the right side, with the upward escalators are on the left side. But in some stations it's differently. This has to do with the main passanger flows. For example, at the southern end of the U9 (Rathaus Steglitz) the downward escalators are located on the left side, and people tend to stand on the left side within the main hours. That's simply becasue departing trains start from the left platform there. For people not knowing the specifics of some underground stations here in Berlin, some habits might be a little bit confusing...
5:58 in Japan the default side to stand depends on the city you are in
In Indonesia we stand on the left ( and drive on the left too).
I call reading that the most dangerous part of an escalator is not the comb at the top and bottom but the side walls. Soft shoes (and feet!) can be sucked into the gap. Hence modern escalators have brushes at the side to keep feet away. But I'm still wary of the combs and think it is always good to start to walk as soon as the escalator flattens out but many people don't and then exit slowly.
I really hate it when someone doesn't start walking at the end of the escalator because then you have very little time to start to walk yourself, I've nearly gone into the back of someone who didn't step off until the last second and then just stood there...
I went in Debenhams at Oxford Street about Easter 1987 and their escalator had a sign telling you to stand between the yellow lines. But there were no yellow lines.
@@PMA65537 you just reminded me about the yellow lines! A few shopping centres had two yellow lines painted at 1/3 and 2/3 the width when I was wee. I don't know why they didn't just say "stand in the centre" as that's less space to print! They were gone a little while after the turn of the millennium as I recall.
If we are in Japan, we also stand on the left side. Also walk into the door on the left as well as drive on the left side of the road...
Certainly wondered why the stand to right occurred on the Tube, interesting.
While on the Sydney Trains the escalators are signed for people to stand on the left, to allow others to walk up or down on the right.
My thoughts on this it was due to in Australia we drive on the correct side of the road, that being the left 🤔.
Has it escaped your attention that here in Britain, the origin of all civilisation (conveniently forgetting Africa) that we also drive on the correct side of the road but stand on the right.I reckon you Aussie chaps stand on the left so your right hand is free to hold what I believe you call a tinny or is it tinnie.We just call it a Cognac.
@@SIMONWINTER-m6donly in London. The rest of Britain stands on the left.
@@peter65zzfdfh You must let me know where these very many underground railways are outside of London.As for the relatively few escalators there are outside of London it may surprise you to learn that I have actually left the capital and used them and not once have I seen a notice telling people which side to stand on.
Give me strength - pass the Cognac.
Yerkes! Splendid. Drink! I loved the wooden escalators. They were so... old. We had them in department stores in Newcastle when I was a bairn, but to see them in the 70s on the tube was special. It's awful to see they turned out to be so deadly. The Kings Cross fire is etched in my brain, RIP to everyone who perished.
I did ask you why we stand on the right but drive on the left. My theory; which I probably didn't write down; was that things move on left side of UK roads, so stationary people should be on the right side of moving escalators. It's nice to be disproved by research.
Before Hong Kong's sovereignty change, people there generally followed the "walk left, stand right" convention, but somehow after the handover, railway operator MTR started telling people to "stand left or right and don't walk".
And don't talk. 😅😅
We've been taught a golden connection between where to stand on escalators and road traffic here in denmark:
If you're driving along a highway, or a four-lane main road (two lanes each way), you *ALWAYS* stay in the right hand lane, for other people to overtake you, or in case an emergency vehicle (ambulance, police or firetrucks) has to pass.
It's the same principle on escalators: Stand on the right, in case someone behind you has to overtake you, to reach a certain train, or bus, or metro, or just an important meeting in a nearby building.
As to the 'standing rather than walking up escalator' 'argument': There's a massive misunderstanding as to the difference between 'time to the top' and 'throughput'. For total throughput, of course everyone standing presents the highest amount. But for "speed" (at least for the individual) of course walking or running is faster. If not, then someone had best have a huge discussion with Physics.
I enjoyed this more than I expected
I remember seeing a man stand on the left in rush hour back when I was a kid. His journey down the quickest of all. After having come into contact with someone not expecting him to stop, gravity took hold and expedited his arrival at the bottom with great efficiency. I came to the conclusion that standing on the right was probably not open for discussion for anyone who wasn't in that much of a hurry to reach platform level.
That is the best picture of the spiral escalator that I've ever seen.
I thought it was because we travel on the left. If you want to stop, you pull over, so that would be on the right. ;-)
So there I was, 10 years old, first time on the London tube and not accustomed to escalators and obviously not informed about having to cling to the right hand-hold…
So I’m going up standing on the left side, not realizing the affront I am causing to this social norm when a lady behing just grabbed me by the shoulders and rudely shoved me over to the right side!
I was shocked and couldn’t say a thing but I never stood on the left again!
That was back in 1974 and that’s one lasting memory of my trip to England, along with crossing the channel on the SR.N4 hovercraft!
Hurrah!!! He's back!! This video has a Yerkes number of 124! (the Yerkes number is calculated by the number of seconds that have elapsed in the video before THAT picture appears on screen.) This is the 83rd time he's appeared (I don't know if that's right, but it sounds good).
Nice one once again Jago
In Japan the Tokyo area stand on the left and Osaka area stand on the right. But I think tourism and intercity travel is slowly smoothing that difference out. Another thing you tend to notice is how big escalators tend to be in stores compared to stations or other infrastructure oriented places, and they are accordingly difficult to climb. Perhaps that is on purpose to encourage standing and looking around the store, or to give shoppers more space to stand with bags.
Japan adopts a more complicated system which differs depending where you are. In Tokyo you stand on the right, the same as us, but in Osaka for instance you stand on the left. It pays to observe what the locals are doing and just follow suit.
And in both places there are signs urging you not to walk on the escalator. It is claimed to increase the risk of an accident and (as mentioned in the video) standing on both sides would move more people per hour. But the walkers are convinced it is faster for THEM to walk so the rest of us have to stand to one side for the benefit of the few.
Department store escalators tend to be narrow having only one person width (there are a couple on the tube system too i think and mainly by O and K ) but most tube system ones have been wider ones, generally by Otis. There are a few network rail stations with escalators - Waterloo being one - and the likes of tyne and wear metro and the liverpool underground system
To add to your list, most of the suburban railway stations in the centre of Glasgow have escalators it seems.
2:04 Takes a shot.
Fun fact: in Sydney, keeping to tradition of being upside down of England, stands to the left on its escalators. I totally didn’t find this out the hard way. ~ Daniel
That's just following the convention followed everywhere: standing on the side you walk on.
Standing on the right, not everywhere - not in Australia, we stand on the left and walk on the left and drive on the left.
London is the only city in the UK, and most of the world where driving side and standing side are reversed. Other than maybe Osaka or Hong Kong. It’s not even country wide.
As a long time emigre from London; are there still stairs between the up and down escalators?
I always used to use the stairs because it gave me some much needed exercise but I didn’t notice any on the video; mind you when I whizzing up and down the stairs, the escalators were wooden….and that was before the infamous fire that killed so many poor folk in 1987.