Escalator / Slide-walk etiquette ??

You would think that would be standard procedure but we've been stuck behind people side-by-side merrily chatting it up and oblivious to others in a hurry to make their flight.

The same goes for escalators at train stations.

We caught on to this in Europe, and were dismayed on arrival back in the U.S., it should be the norm. It reminds me of the difference we noticed in courtesy and keeping right on driving from California into Oregon several years ago. Night and day.

Yeah, Dave! Me, too. First saw/learned this in London many years ago. Have been (kindly, I hope) "teaching" the proper and polite behavior of "stand right, pass left". Can't imagine why it isn't a universal practice!

...London many years ago. Have been (kindly, I hope) "teaching" the proper and polite behavior of "stand right, pass left".

Interesting that the English stand right/pass left while walking but drive vehicles on the left and pass on the right.

...London many years ago. Have been (kindly, I hope) "teaching" the proper and polite behavior of "stand right, pass left".

Interesting that the English stand right/pass left while walking but drive vehicles on the left and pass on the right.

Just returned from Sydney, Australia where it's walking & driving on the left side - pass on the right. Lots of visuals to help the tourists with even lettering painted into the crosswalks to show which way to look before crossing the street.

Should be obvious but apparently its not. I swear some travelers haven't seen a sidewalk before they get to the airport!

Another one - when walking, do NOT dead stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Not to look at a building, not to check your map. "Pull over" to the side first so as not to create a pedestrian traffic jam.

I swear some travelers haven't seen a sidewalk before they get to the airport!

And it's even worst when they are armed with open umbrellas!

The thing that I never "get" in Oslo on the trains and with elevators people go in and out the doors at the same time. I prefer the US way on that one, e.g. let people off the train/elevator and then the new people get on.

..London many years ago. Have been (kindly, I hope) "teaching" the proper and polite behavior of "stand right, pass left".
Interesting that the English stand right/pass left while walking but drive vehicles on the left and pass on the right.

Edgar, we walk on the right and drive on the left so that drivers can see the pedestrians and vice versa. At least that is what was drummed into me at school!

This is also what is in the UK Highway Code, makes it easier to see each other.

You stand to the right on escalators because the majority of people are right-handed and it makes it more secure for them to hold the handrail.

MC,

Does walking right apply to walking on English city pavement? Or just walking on roadways without pavement? Here in the States we also walk facing traffic on roadways without pavements/sidewalks so that we can see the vehicle about to hit us.

The Brits (with their proximity to Europe) remain confused on this one - keep left on the road, but keep right on escalators and footpaths*. In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, India, Thailand and Indonesia. where driving is on the left, I think you will find pedestrians mostly keep left also (and pass on the right). Note, that passing Americans/Europeans in narrow hallways here has led me to many a 'stand off'. lol.
*footpath = pavement or sidewalk

Proper escalator etiquette in South Korea is also stand on right, walk on left.

Is it proper etiquette to stand in a doorway and talk to your friends?

I believe that I have perfected projecting my voice and saying "Heads UP!" without moving my lips or changing my expression. If I don't make eye contact they don't usually know it's me hollering at them. Not that I care. They just need to get out of my way. This works for people looking at their screens while walking, or those clusterf***d at the bottom of a staircase. They look up, wonder who said that, and move.

And don't forget the folks who charge up the jetway and then stop to look around as soon as they reach the gate, oblivious to their fellow-passengers piling up behind them.

Yes, it's common sense to be aware of our surroundings and avoid blocking or colliding with others on foot. Some people are better at this than others, some are accustomed to slower-paced rural cultures, some are dog-tired, some so deeply confused they can't think about anyone else, some (ahem) wider than others, some with multiple bags or double strollers, some (more and more) mesmerized by screens, some actually infirm or disabled (they usually get a pass from the sidewalk police, and should).

I've also seen people rushing so hard in one direction they're unaware of anyone not directly in front of them, phalanxes of people bowling over all in their path, people pushing their way through slower-moving groups (including infirm/disabled), etc. etc.

Right to stand, left to pass on escalators and moving sidewalks, and even stationary sidewalks if your city is dense enough, seems to be a universal norm but often violated for many reasons. But I've enjoyed venting on this topic! :-)

Sorry Dick, but you can exclude Australia from your presumptuous "universal norm". I would have thought, here being a travel forum, that it was pretty easy to accept that some things are done differently in different parts of the world.

great thread, Dick is right, some folks are genuinely overwhelmed..... I just attended a local community theater production of Peter Pan, and custom here is that ALLLLL of the performers are lined up in a receiving line (think 100 well fed Midwesterners in various leotards) any way, crowd behind me was very enthusiastic, and I was keeping various folks from running over the frail 90 pound great grandma in front of me making her way slowly down the line.

I still use the technique I learned by observation 20 years ago on the T in Boston, I just go ahead and gently lay my hand on the forearm of the person blocking my exit and say in my politest voice "move, please" hasn't failed me yet, perhaps because I'm a 5'2" woman. I know some folks have zero tolerance for being touched by strangers, so some day I might encounter epic fail. mean while, it works for me.

is this somehow related to trying to get your bag of the spinning thing at baggage claim when everyone is clumped around it? (yes, I'm one of those people still willing to check a bag sometimes.) years ago, when everyone was jammed up like lemmings at the carousel, I said very clearly to the English speaking golfers next to me (one already had claimed his clubs) "please step back, my bag is coming" He didn't, and I landed 55 pounds of suitcase on his foot. I looked up and him, blinked twice, and said "I ASKED you to move. my bags kinda heavy, huh?" (my brief young and cute interval)

Geez, Doric, I gotta remember not to get in your way! (I find that a polite, maybe a little sarcastic "excuse me" close to the offender's ear works well, so far at least.) :-)

And apologies to David for presuming. I should have realized it's the other way south of the equator. Maybe the Coreolis effect? :-)

Thanks Dick, apology accepted. What a good sport you are. Cheers.
However, it's not a matter of being south of the equator, the Japanese keep to the left as we do.

Edgar, I usually find most people seem to settle on one side or another in a pedestrianised presinct or pn the pavement/sidewalk, and it tends to be the right hand side, I think the facing the traffic bit is so built in.

Probably screamed in by worried parents.

But a lot of the time it is a confusion of people going whereever they feel.

Slow-going seniors and persons with disabilities should ALWAYS get a 'pass'. As should parents holding the hands of children on moving slidewalks and escalators or stairways There are exceptions to every situation, and patience is a wonderful thing. :O)

Although the escalators on the London Underground have a stand on the right policy, the walkways are generally but not always 'stay to the left hand side'. Seems to confuse people at Paddington, especially the relatively narrow tunnel under Praed Street to the Circle/District line platforms (although if going to those it is easier in good weather via the street).

(Corrected - brain ahead of fingers ...)

I think Marco's fingers got in a bit of a twist.

It is stand to the right, walk to the left on the escalators. Stop on the left side of London Underground escalators at the peak and you'll get bowled over....

While it is my impression that Britain has escalator rules to which most people adhere, I find the sidewalks are a free for all with no rhyme or reason on which side people walk.

I could swear that when we were in Edinburgh, that on the escalators people stood on the left and passed on the right, just like the roads. Am I dreaming this?

And for those of us in the hinterlands with neither escalators nor slide-walks, it sometimes takes a a ride or two before the scheme sets in.

Kathy, where do I pick up that pass?

It's in the mail, Lee. :O)

Wray and Ms Jo, you may very well be right. As I said in my first post ... "The Brits remain confused on this one"
I have always put it down to their mixed relationship with Europe - sometimes they want in, sometimes they want out.

The worst are the escalator riders who simply stop at the end apparently without regard to those piling up behind them with no where to go. Just move over!

OK, now we have dealt with that, I have to ask (as I spoke only of escalators and haven't heard of the other thing) what is a slide-walk?

pavement + banana skin = slide walk

Nigel, it's another name for a moving sidewalk - like you see at some airport terminals.

travelator we call em.

Travelator - that's a term I recognise. :-)

Travolator seems to be used as a generic in the UK at least, but like hoover don't make all vacuum cleaners, Trav-O-Lator as a registered trademark (of Otis) shouldn't strictly refer to all moving walkways. The moving walkway between Bank and Monument originally was a Trav-O-Lator and the signs still say so, but the current version is French.

Spell it travelator and you might be on the right side though ....

Travolator -- wasn't he in "Saturday Night Fever"?

Yes, in NYC it's stand to the right, pass on the left for escalators and anything that is moving. When it comes to regular sidewalks, just don't stop in the middle or walk arms locked three or four abreast. :)

Pam

AKA "The Monkees" ?

Mark, same problem with people lugging suitcases down the stairs at train stations who stop immediately at the bottom to pull up the rolling extended handle or wait for their entire party. Step AWAY from the exit path, please!

Here's the abbreviated Jim Gaffigan version of this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDuQhwtxJiA&ab_channel=RBTDRyebreadTheDestroyer