We were all outraged and highly suspicious when TFL announced the ‘new tube rule‘ a few months back. After all, the main reason we tend to get so frustrated at tourists is because of their bad London underground etiquette. “STAND ON THE RIGHT” we silently (and sometimes not-so-silently) scream at their huge rucksacks and gormless faces…”DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYONE IN LONDON IS IN A RUSH?” Well, we can eat our words. It turns out that standing on both sides is actually quicker…
*Hang our heads in shame*
I saw a guy take a bite of Kit Kat bar without breaking it apart first. Sir, we live in a society with rules, please adhere to them.
— Adam Lynch (@_AdamLynch_) January 27, 2015
are universally outraged over, (no doubt that poor man was tracked down and forced to issue a public apology)…we have very few doubts regarding the sh*t-storm of a reaction that these, undoubtedly traumatised, commuters would have released onto TFL. We like rules. And we like people who stick to them, thank you.
Valiant staffer at Holborn tube trying to get people to stand on both sides of one escalator to ease congestion. Commuters look mortified.
— Kora-Lee Holmes (@KoraLee_Holmes) November 25, 2015
However, the trial was conducted over a three-week period between 8.30am and 9.30am at Holborn, starting with the new rules on just one escalator and opening it up to all three by the third week…and now the results are in. There was a 30% increase of passengers moving through the station during the allocated times, up from 12,745 to 16,220.
BUT (and this is a big but), Holborn’s escalators are one of the longest in London – 23.4 metres high – meaning that people will probably tend to be less bothered about walking up them anyway…Or is that just us…? So we reckon they’ll have to try it out at other stations with shorter escalators to really know the deal. Watch this space…TFL are still considering whether to make this a rule across the entire tube network.
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