Escalators at subway stations in Shanghai are usually battlefields during rush hours, with one stream of people who prefer walking, blaming another fixed pool of people standing and blocking the way.

Unlike many other cities in the world with subway systems such as London and Hong Kong, standing on the right side to keep the left side for walkers on escalators has never become common practice in Shanghai since the city inaugurated its first subway in 1995.

Every weekend afternoon, volunteers and staff at subway stations erect signs requesting commuters to "stand on the right, walk on the left" and broadcast announcements promoting "a small step on elevation, a huge leap to become civilized" at some of Shanghai's busiest stations such as People's Square and Xujiahui. Passengers who heeded the suggestions were sometimes offered a free gift, or a sticker praising their "kind cooperation".

Despite efforts by volunteers and staff of Shanghai Metro during Expo 2010 Shanghai, escalators at subway stations in the city have never reformed. The "gifts for proper steps" are no longer seen in Shanghai's tubes.

In late November, Shen Weimin, spokesman of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, said in a press conference that "standing on the right, walking on the left" may not help strike a balance on escalators. His comment sparked widespread discussion over the safety of the campaign for civilized steps on elevators.

Shen said an escalator may wear out if weight distribution between the left and right are different and imbalanced.

Among the 22,788 letters received at the Shanghai office, many mentioned the cancellation. Of the broadcast of standing on the right and walking on the left at subway stations.

"Isn't it dangerous to walk on the elevators? If some people are in such a rush, won't they even run and bring even more dangerous to others", asked Tang Yumei, a 62-year-old resident in Luwan district.

Currently in Shanghai's subway stations, volunteers and staff are no longer suggesting passengers walk on the left side on an escalator. Instead, the suggestion, "please grip the handrail" is added to the broadcasts during rush hours.

Matt Turner, a frequent passenger from the UK, who commutes from Jing'an temple to Tianshan road almost every workday said he is quite confused about Shanghai's decision to drop the "standing on the right, and walking on the left" campaign.

In London, Hong Kong and Taipei it is a common sense, and there is no need to broadcast the directions because everyone knows how to behave on elevators, but in Shanghai things are quite different and confusing, because if he stands on the left some people would blame him for blocking the way, but if he walks, some people on the right side would say he was rushing and causing a danger to them.

"My decision is to never use the escalator again - I just walk on the staircases - you can't blame me for walking on staircases, can you?" said Turner.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

(HK Edition 12/14/2012 page11)