Today, out of boredom because I fell asleep when receiving my medication, I kind of noticed some people don't leave any space with the person in front while others do leave up to a couple of slopes. For some reason, I immediately thought of asking here how everyone dealt with this.

I tend to leave a slope with the person in front. I'm not exactly sure why, but I guess it's so there's some space between me and that other person just so we don't need to stay frozen in a position. I sometimes leave two slopes if I'm carrying a bag during the "cold" seasons, because I remove my jacket inside the underground and then put it back on during the time in the escalators, with my bag staying in the slope right in front of me and allowing me freedom to move and swing my arms

What about you, people from other countries and/or continents? Do you leave any space with the person just in front? Do you act differently if the escalators go up or down? Or you never stay put in the escalators?

If I'm in a hurry and there's no one on the escalators, I'll just walk by. Otherwise, I just stand and chill. If someone is in front of me, I tend to leave a gap or two for them. Unless it's family, then I leave no gap for the person in front, only because they're family lol

This isn't something I typically would think about because I only ride escalators on vacations, which are once a year for my family.

I don't like being too close to other people on an escalator unless they're family like Aria said. So I leave space for the person in front of me, especially if they walk slower. I don't want to trip on an escalator. It has happened before and I don't need those kinds of little scares in my life XD

I do it the same way, regardless of what direction the escalators are traveling.

xxAriaxx : Yeah, I normally don't chill on the stairs if there's nobody, whether or not I'm in a rush. I tend to dislike simply standing there without nothing more to do than listening to my MP3, so I keep on walking.

When it's family or friends, I don't leave a gap either. It's mostly because we're talking throughout the travel, and thus the conversation keeps going on in the escalators and we need to stay as close as we can to not raise our voices.

Pacman+Mariofan : Well, I use the underground as my main method of transportation, so it was a matter of time I thought about this. There are also escalators in certain places of my city because of massive elevation differences, so more chances to think about this.

Oddly enough, I leave no space with people walking in front of me. I adjust my pace to whatever theirs is and follow them on our trip to the top (or bottom). Sometimes they get out of the way because they know they're being slow and there's nobody they can overtake, meaning that leaving no space is a mean to put pressure on them

I usually leave space out of respect for that person since people will think it's weird if you stand too close to them. I also like keeping my distance the exception being if we're trying to cram as many people into the elevator as possible. Given the choice however I usually take the stairs in stead just because I figure saving electricity when you have an obvious and easy way to do so is good for the environment. It doesn't exactly save much at any one point but I figure it must add up over time. I also don't get a ton of exercise currently so I'll take any I can get lol.

Oh, it's cool that you mainly use the underground for transportation. Adjusting your pace to match the person in front of you isn't a bad idea unless they suddenly stop

Why in the world would you want to be slow on an escalator? It goes slow anyways, so if you're going to walk slow you might as well just stand there XD But seriously, I would be kind of nervous to walk faster on an escalator so I would understand if somebody wanted to take it safe and slow.

I like to leave a gap between me and the next person. However, during my trip to Italy, we always had to huddle close together so no one else would take the spot, leaving us pretty cramped. There was also this "rule" about everyone sticking to the right side so anyone in a rush could walk up or down.

Zlinqx : Yeah, it's kind of weird to have people too close. We already have to deal with that in some spaces, so whenever we have the chance to avoid it better take it.

They're a good chance for some exercise. Whatever implies walking, or even stay on your feet during your travel, contributes to what little exercise you can get. My doctors were perfectly okay with me doing this and never demanded for more, so you could say it's the minimal dose everyone needs.

Pacman+Mariofan : I've seen people walking just to pass the two people that entered the escalator before them and then staying to one side while getting carried to the top. It's like they didn't want to watch another person's back when going up or they don't accept that people are ahead of them, and I'm not sure which one is more ridiculous.

King Sull : Yeah, well, it's Italy, they always take whatever it's not taken haha

The rule "sticking to one side" is present in many other countries. I saw it in full effect in the UK, and they're starting to impose it over here as well. After all, it's just good manners to leave free space to the rest of people.

That would look odd if I was watching someone do that. Lots of people avoid lines and waiting in other ways at all costs, but that's just weird. That's like running in front of someone and then once you're past them, you stroll along like nothing happened.

Sounds fair enough, but most places that I've been to with escalators don't leave enough room for more than one person at a time. Kind of jarring of a change.

Me and my friends used to think it was funny to stand right behind someone and watch how they react, but I grew out of that eventually. Now I just leave a couple of empty spaces. Not so much out of respect for whoever is in front of me but more so for when the person behind me doesn't leave a space open lol.

In New York it's usually every other step. For the most part, I would think that the steps are too narrow for there to be one person on each on over here. It would be very difficult to be able to balance on one step with someone right in front of you, without falling back.

Furret : You would put me under real stress if you intentionally stood right behind me. Good thing I normally pass flying by the fast lane lol

Leaving space in front always guarantees you some freedom, which you might not have if someone is standing immediately behind you. Still, it would be preferable if anyone left a couple of empty spaces in front so everyone can enjoy some free spaces in the few seconds you're being carried away.

zanderlex : I could do with just one empty space between each person, but I'd prefer two just in case you need to move, the best example being putting on your jacket. I'm not tall nor big, yet I'd feel a bit encased without that extra free space.

About losing balance, I can tell you it's not fun to feel like that while you're encased between people in an escalator, but I won't expand on that matter.

EX Palen : This whole thread made me reallly curious about how things operate where you live lol. Something so simple as escalators seem to be a 180 difference here than there.