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offwidth

offwidth

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So here I am in the Atlanta airport; those of you whom have been here know that they have pretty long (high) escalators. The one beside me stops. With people on it. Two interesting things happened...

  • A couple of people turned around and walked up the escalator in order to take the moving one next to it.
  • Another group of people (not a word of a lie..) said to each other..."how are we going to get off this thing?"
 
When I visited London (a few decades ago), one big difference from the USA was how people used escalators. People who wanted to just passively ride the escalator would stand single-file on one side, leaving a lane for people who wanted to walk up the escalator while it was moving.

This immediately struck me as the correct way to do things, but it assumes a significantly large segment of people who WANT to walk up the escalator.
 
The moving sidewalks in airports always strike me as so odd. I've always thought they were meant for the running late people....but everyone seems to just stroll onto them, give their legs a break, and casually amble off of them at the same slow pace....
 
crazycanuck said:
The moving sidewalks in airports always strike me as so odd. I've always thought they were meant for the running late people....but everyone seems to just stroll onto them, give their legs a break, and casually amble off of them at the same slow pace....
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Seems to depend on the country/area. Here at Munich Airport you see the people usually walking the sideways mover. Escalators depends on how full they are. There is the little rule "Links gehen, rechts stehen" means the left side of the escalator should be free for people in hurry or those that like to walk. And you usually get unfriendly remarks if you break those unwritten rule. :)
 
offwidth said:
So here I am in the Atlanta airport; those of you whom have been here know that they have pretty long (high) escalators. The one beside me stops. With people on it. Two interesting things happened...

  • A couple of people turned around and walked up the escalator in order to take the moving one next to it.
  • Another group of people (not a word of a lie..) said to each other..."how are we going to get off this thing?"
Click to expand...

The exact same thing happened to me on the London underground (subway/metro). It's absolutely mystifying. I suppose it's very easy, especially for people who travel/commute a lot, to go into auto-pilot; they spend so much of their journey thinking about what's either going to happen later on or what already happened earlier that they are ill-equipped to cope with whatever's going on in the present moment due to a severe shortage of 'mental RAM'.

Of course there are some people who just haven't exercised their common sense enough.
 
Steve W. said:
When I visited London (a few decades ago), one big difference from the USA was how people used escalators. People who wanted to just passively ride the escalator would stand single-file on one side, leaving a lane for people who wanted to walk up the escalator while it was moving.

This immediately struck me as the correct way to do things, but it assumes a significantly large segment of people who WANT to walk up the escalator.
Click to expand...

Doesn't the rest of the world?

Typically there's a stairwell between the up and down escalator too. My favourite thing is to go up this and try to beat those walking on the escalator without turning it into a run :D
 
Hello,

I have always considered stairs as an oppotunity to do some exercise, with or without carrying a weight. I never use escalators, plus they are so slow ! This is almost a lifestyle. Here in Paris, I see everyday most of the people huffing and puffing every time they have to use normal stairs instead of escalators.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Steve W. said:
This immediately struck me as the correct way to do things, but it assumes a significantly large segment of people who WANT to walk up the escalator.
Click to expand...
Actually, what I want to do is walk up the down escalator for a little extra work, now, how to get the people on it to stay to the right!?!?.. o_O
 
After a long flight, I like walking on a regular unmoving surface to get the blood going again. Like Glen said, I do the same thing...
 
Brookes said:
And you usually get unfriendly remarks if you break those unwritten rule.
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America is unfortunately notorious for lack of social rules in favor of individuality and litigation.:(
 
offwidth said:
So here I am in the Atlanta airport; those of you whom have been here know that they have pretty long (high) escalators. The one beside me stops. With people on it. Two interesting things happened...

  • A couple of people turned around and walked up the escalator in order to take the moving one next to it.
  • Another group of people (not a word of a lie..) said to each other..."how are we going to get off this thing?"
Click to expand...

I hate saying this but when I'm out and about I see things that just makes me shake my head. If there's ever some kind of catastrophe I just wonder what those folks will do.
 
Steve W. said:
When I visited London (a few decades ago), one big difference from the USA was how people used escalators. People who wanted to just passively ride the escalator would stand single-file on one side, leaving a lane for people who wanted to walk up the escalator while it was moving.

This immediately struck me as the correct way to do things, but it assumes a significantly large segment of people who WANT to walk up the escalator.
Click to expand...
Yep - if you stand on the left you're gonna get trampled and tutted at (politely of course, it's still England and we do have gun controls).
 
Steve W. said:
When I visited London (a few decades ago), one big difference from the USA was how people used escalators. People who wanted to just passively ride the escalator would stand single-file on one side, leaving a lane for people who wanted to walk up the escalator while it was moving.

This immediately struck me as the correct way to do things, but it assumes a significantly large segment of people who WANT to walk up the escalator.
Click to expand...
that is also common here in Germany.
 
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