Film explains Tube escalator etiquette
source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/london_film_festival/...
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Escalator etiquette in most countries tends to match the rules of the road. In New York and Taipei, motorists and escalator users keep to the right, while in Singapore and Tokyo both keep to the left.
So why do passengers on the London Underground stand on the right-hand side of escalators when the rules of the road dictate that we drive on the left?
The mystery has been solved by a silent film from the 1920s that has been restored recently for The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.
A visual joke in Underground, the first film to use extensive footage of the Tube, shows how the design of early escalators meant that it was important to step off with the right foot.
Unlike modern “comb” escalators, where the end of the moving stairway is at right angles to the direction of travel, older “shunt” escalators ended with a diagonal so that the stairway finished sooner for the right foot than for the left.
The idea was to allow passengers to keep their left foot on a moving stairway as they stepped off with their right.
Passengers who chose not to walk down the escalators were asked to stand on the right so that anyone wishing to overtake them at the end would be able to take advantage of the extra section of moving stairway.
When Underground was released in 1928, most Londoners were familiar with escalators but Asquith was the first film director to make them an important part of the plot.
Underground will receive a gala performance as part of The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival on Friday at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
So why do passengers on the London Underground stand on the right-hand side of escalators when the rules of the road dictate that we drive on the left?
The mystery has been solved by a silent film from the 1920s that has been restored recently for The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival.
A visual joke in Underground, the first film to use extensive footage of the Tube, shows how the design of early escalators meant that it was important to step off with the right foot.
Unlike modern “comb” escalators, where the end of the moving stairway is at right angles to the direction of travel, older “shunt” escalators ended with a diagonal so that the stairway finished sooner for the right foot than for the left.
The idea was to allow passengers to keep their left foot on a moving stairway as they stepped off with their right.
Passengers who chose not to walk down the escalators were asked to stand on the right so that anyone wishing to overtake them at the end would be able to take advantage of the extra section of moving stairway.
When Underground was released in 1928, most Londoners were familiar with escalators but Asquith was the first film director to make them an important part of the plot.
Underground will receive a gala performance as part of The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival on Friday at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
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