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Citing safety concerns, the TTC is removing their "Walk Left, Stand Right" escalator signs system-wide.
After we got sent a tip by reader Tom Mertron of Toronto Rants, a quick trip on the system this afternoon showed that only one of the four downtown stations that we checked -- St. Patrick -- still has the signs in place beside the escalators. At the others -- Museum, Dundas, and Queen -- they've been removed, and all that's left behind are the screw holes where the signs used to be. At some other stations that Mertron went to when he started noticing the missing signs, ugly streaks, stains, and scrapings also mark the signs' former homes.
According to TTC customer service, the signs were removed because they are trying to "discourage people from walking on the escalators because there have been so many accidents that have taken place." Really? If memory serves us, the only big event in recent memory was that escalator pile-up in November that injured eight people. A horrifying and shocking incident, to be sure, but the very definition of a freak accident. To put it bluntly, eight people injured out of 430,000,000 trips taken on the TTC in a year isn't a significant enough problem when, say, far more people die each year by throwing themselves in front of trains.
But it's the logic of this move on the TTC's part that's so confusing. The signs -- so associated with the TTC that they appear in many travel guides as a cute quirk of our transit system, and that we featured the design in our t-shirt suggestions -- are there for etiquette, not to remind people that they have movable legs. Removing the signs won't discourage walking on escalators, because they never encouraged it in the first place. Instead, the signs, simple and crude as they were, promoted order and kindness over chaos and confusion. Getting rid of them is not, by any stretch of the imagination, going to stop people from walking up escalators. All it will do is make etiquette for that one little bit of the subway-going journey worse.
Photo by Marc Lostracco.
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Look at that now!! TTC has nothing else to do but remove what could be useful?
Anyone around to help explain?
Great, now the TTC will turn into the Montreal STM where people stand all over the place on escalators and impede those who want to walk. Frustrating to say the least.
An unfortunate decision by TTC policymakers, but one that I suspect will have the desired effect. Having people standing on both sides of the escalators and impeding the walkers is precisely the point.
Obviously it won't make a difference during off-peak hours, but you can bet that at rush hour, the escalators will be jammed full with little walking. And that translates into less potential liability and lower insurance premiums.
Ugly and not at all in the public interest, but effective.
Not like there are escalators where there need to be, anyway.
Case in point, Dufferin station: the Dufferin bus is filled with lone parents with infants in strollers, yet there are no elevators and a single escalator (beyond two flights of stairs).
I had conversation recently with a friend whose job entails sorting out the insurance settlements of people who have been injured in various ways. She commented on the incredible number of people she deals with who have been injured on escalators. Apparently it happens all the time, it just doesn't get reported.
Kevin: There are loads of stations like that. Coxwell is another one. And High Park. Practically every second station on the Bloor-Danforth line, really.
Every single escalator everywhere should have these signs on them, just like they have a stop button sign and safety notices. It's a courtesy thing that many people don't even realize. I had someone visiting me from outside of Toronto and she actually asked me why everyone was standing on one side while the left remained free, and was totally tickled to find that there was a general understanding to make room for the walkers.
Moving sidewalks at airports have signs to stand only on the right. Escalator accidents are not only limited to the TTC and we're all used to what an escalator is all about. I really am sad to see these signs go, and I'm irritated at the TTC for getting rid of yet another iconic image (like not using their official font anymore). The Commission has a serious void in understanding when its cultural identity is concerned.
Speaking of accidents, the funniest thing I've seen on an escalator was when a friend of mine got her skirt stick in the handrail as she stepped on. The handrail was moving at a different speed than the steps and it slowly -- to her panic -- started pulling her dress up past her waist until reaching the top when it released. I was laughing too hard to help.
kudos to the TTC! i have less concern for the signage than i do for commuters zooming up and down the escalator with little care for the safety of others patiently enjoying the ride. anybody walking on these marvels of the 20th century are merely compensating for their lack of daily exercise. you wanna walk - take the stairs! let the elderly and infants ride safely and on their own time.
Stand right. Walk left.
Only in retardo Toronto could this be a complicated notion to understand.
Sorry, but 'patiently enjoying the ride'? You must not be in a rush very often - I say public transit is for getting me to where I was supposed to be 5 minutes ago, not for an enjoyable experience!! That few seconds saved walking up the escalator can make the difference between just making or just missing a train.
Sometimes there are no stairs as an option, jjamesd. I'd rather climb the stairs than climb an escalator any day of the week (bad knee), but I'd also rather climb an escalator than stand there if no other option is available.
A few weeks ago I was on a TTC escalator that came to a sudden halt. Miracle of miracles, nobody even lost their balance. But since half the TTC's escalators at any one time seem to be turned off, something you don't notice until you're standing right there, part of me doesn't think this will make any real difference.
Seriously, what is wrong with the people running the TTC? This is the dumbest thing yet.
I guess people who are puttering along in the passing lanes on the highway are also simply "patiently enjoying the ride."
Patiently enjoy the ride on the right, thanks. It's a simple courtesy. Walking slowly while a shuffling couple in front hold hands stretched across the sidewalk in front of you may not get you to your destination much slower, but it's annoying and inconsiderate, even if they aren't aware that they share the space around them with other people.
Does the TTC not have things to do? This is so silly. There are already too many people who don't adhere to proper etiquette on escalators, either through plain bad manners or ignorance. Those signs may not deter the willfully loathsome, but they do educate people who just don't know the rules. There is absolutely no logic to removing them.
(Also, isn't it possible that people who do actively climb esclators are less likely to be injured, since they'd be paying attention to where they're going and where they're stepping off, as opposed to passengers dreamily "enjoying the ride"?)
Please, Torontoist: Put out a call for a letter/email-writing campaign! This retarded oafery has to stop.
This is the sort of thing that won't be a problem right away...most people who take the TTC (at least when the escalators are busy) will know the rule...everytime I'm on an escalator with a friend from out of town, I give them the reflexive dirty look for standing on my left side.
However over time, this little bit of etiquette most TTC users abide by will dissappear. I can just hear the catcalls of a hurried commuter telling people to get out of his way.
And what if that lane isn't clear, and someone in a rush bowls over the 'standing lefts'?? Isn't that more of a health hazard than the current setup?
This all reeks of some underworked bureaucrat trying to justify his nice salary.
I wonder what TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone's take on this is?
As a daily TTC commuter, the one thing I have come to know about what you can depend on the TTC for is, that you can never depend on them to provide professional and timely service.....never on time,.......filthy buses, streetcars and subways........and the worst attitude of any public transit employees I've seen in 7 countries.
This is but one more example.
There are some really decent people working for the system (and I am pretty good friends with several of them), but overall you risk getting booted off if you dare to complain, even respectfully, as to why the bus was late/early.
The "Better Way?"...............Bullshit.
do we know what they did with the signs? I wouldn't mind having one of them
The sign in the photo is confusing because it looks like one escalator is for walking and the other is for standing. Perhaps they could just improve the signs. Or add a bit more verbiage.
I recall seeing walk left / stand right signs in London. Where the tube is way deeper than here -- so more escalators. It would be truing annoying without the signs there.
This is an unfortunate move to a slower commute. Boo.
I'll second both the jeers at this silly decision and the interest in getting a (now defunct and apparently terribly dangerous) sign for my wall.
The escalator pile-up that made the news recently was due to the damned thing speeding up and piling people into each other at the bottom, wasn't it? That has nothing to do with walking on the escalator — walkers would've been able to clear the area faster...
What a waste of staff time to go around removing these innocuous signs. It amounts to vandalism and nothing more.
Having eliminated the deadly threat of garbage cans, I guess the TTC's management geniuses have decided that ever greater risks must now be managed. Here's one: those subway platforms? A giant train goes rushing by right at the edge! A continuous barrier running from one end of the station to the other is called for, so that nobody can get too close to the tracks. And opening the train's doors at each station? Hah! Death on a stick. Best to keep passengers safely inside.
In fact, it'd be best to lock the stations up altogether, and keep people from being snared in the turnstiles or crushed in elevator doors as well. Now that they've done one thing, they're liable if they don't do everything, right?
Everyone should just make their own "walk left, stand right" signs and when every they see one removed, replace it.
Arrrgh. It's little things like this that make me think the TTC is subtlely trying to actively discourage ridership. And for the record, so many other better subway systems (Amsterdam, Paris, London,
etc) all actively encourage and advertise the Walk Left Stand Right policy. Hell, if you stand on the left on ANY London Tube stop escalator, you WILL be moved. Aggressively. Looks like I'll be 'windmilling' my way up and down the escalators from now on.
I will continue to stand right and walk left. I think people are so used to this rule, that removing the signs won't have an impact on escalator behaviour for a generation.
reading about the TTC just gets more and more depressing.....
What a stupid weaste of time and effort - I try to like the TTC but really.....
This is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever seen.
The TTC is short money, and they're spending precious funds removing useful signs that have become part of the transit culture in this city.
And I will knee people in the back if they get in my way. Fuck that noise, I'm walking on the escalator and people who stand on the wrong side can feel my wrath.
What a surprise- more idiocy from the people running the TTC!
They may take away our signs but they can't shut me up. Often when I find myself stuck behind an oblivious left-side stander on a TTC escalator, I call out the slogan "Walk left, stand right".
I'll continue to do so, sans signs. And I urge you to do the same...
This is just like the TTC removing the garbage cans from platform level "for security reasons", but leaving them elsewhere.
Result 1: bombers can still plant bombs under seats on the platforms and can still bomb bus bays (not to mention the trains themselves, which would probably be a much more attractive target), resulting in lost lives and possibly even the station collapsing. And so we're left with filthy, littery platforms and no discernable improvement in security.
Bus Lie-Jacked
Toronto Police have charged a TTC bus driver with making up a story about a bus hijacking.
This is the bus at Queen and Church late last month.
The driver allegedly told police a gunman ran away after forcing him to drive around for a while. Police say it was a lie. 32-year-old Shawn Forbes is charged with mischief and perjury.
from: www.citynews.ca (Jan 20, 2007)
Writing that up now, #28.
In some escalators, those signs are useless, because the escalator is hardly wide enough for 1 person to ride up (Pape Stn, up to street entrance comes to mind), let alone have enough room for walkers too. In that case, the signs are not needed, and can be removed.
Yet another reson I avoid the TTC as much as possible. The only real time I ride is Dec - Mid/late March. Then I'm back on two wheels.
Mind you Walk left/Stand Right is just courtisy for all escalators everywhere anyway. SO no matter where I am I will say it(& yell if need be).
The Globe just yesterday published a front-page article on the signs' removal. It's well worth a read for the TTC's official perspective on the move. In it, Dexter Collins, the TTC's "acting superintendent of elevating devices," calls young people whippersnappers. I shit you not.