Escalator etiquette is one of those things that bugs you intensely for about two minutes a day as you battle your way up a moving staircase full of gum chewing dead eyed tourists, but then flits from your mind the minute you make it out into the fresh damp air of the outside world. I  personally find it hugely embarrassing that all my Australian relatives  resolutely stand on the wrong side every single time, looking slightly concerned and confused at my furious head jerks to the right without actually twigging their meaning, oblivious to the long line of huffing businessmen squashed behind them.

Now I see why.

This great article in the Times explains that whilst modern (and Australian) escalators finish straight on, making it incidental which foot you use to step off, in days of yore a.k.a the 1920’s, when the first escalators were introduced on the Underground, the ’shunt’ design meant they finished on a diagonal, with the right side making first contact with the stair end, therefore making it logical to stand on the right so you don’t have to lunge across the stairway and trip up when disembarking.

That said, I still think it makes more sense to stand on the right, as most people are right-handed so will have a better grip on the handrail, although I think these guys would have something to say about it.

Photo by avlxyz used under a Creative Commons License