What Commuters Get Wrong About Escalator Etiquette

Few things are more irksome to a frequent subway rider than those passengers who violate the unspoken rules of the metro. In addition to the person who tries to shove into a car as the doors are closing, or who manspreads across multiple seats, perhaps the most hated prototype is the traveler who clogs up the escalator by standing on the left side. Among Washingtonians, these people are referred to as “escalumps,” and they are often a serious source of complaint for hurried commuters eager to make it to work on time.

At first glance, the need to prohibit escalumps seems intuitive. “People who stand to the left instead of standing to the right are like speed bumps,” a D.C. metro spokeswoman said back in 2007, “and they slow down the pedestrian flow through the stations.” But recent evidence has found fault with this popular logic—instead finding that having everyone stand on an escalator can actually relieve subway station congestion.