Toronto Notes

TTC escalation procedure

by: Karon Liu
February 12, 2009 12:00 PM
Comments: (1)

The TTC wants to show you how to use the escalator. Again.

In the newest incarnation of the escalator-safety ads, the “walk left, stand right” mantra that previously existed has been replaced with “stand facing forward.” That’s right, walking on escalators is too much for the public to handle.

Promoting the well-being of commuters and transit workers has always been part of the TTC’s mandate, but the latest ads reminding people to not to sit on the moving stairs and that spitting on bus drivers is a no-no makes the TTC seem less about safety and more about coddling. The Technical Standards & Safety Authority, the local organization responsible for making the escalator rules, states: “Escalator steps are not the correct height for normal walking and should not be used in that manner” in its brochure (yep, there’s a brochure) released in November during escalator safety week (yep, there’s an entire week).

“Practically we’d rather to have people walk but it’s hard to promote that,” TTC Chair Adam Giambrone says. He suggests that commuters walk left and stand right during rush hour, and only stand when the station isn’t as busy. So even if he doesn’t expect completely idle passengers on the TTC’s 294 escalators, he says it’s a general guideline that people should follow.

The ads also recommend people with mobility devices such as strollers use elevators instead of popping a tried and true wheelie on the escalators (note that less than half of the 69 subway stations have elevators).

“It seems counter-intuitive not to walk [down the escalators] but there are many reported injuries and I have seen people trip,” he says.

It seems like only yesterday (well, 2005) when the TTC held Escalator Safety Week where elementary school students showed the public how to walk left and stand right. Oh, what rebels people were back then. People also used to smoke in hospitals and not wear seatbelts.

But the ads aren’t just there to patronize the public’s escalator etiquette; they also deter criminal activity with as much effectiveness as those decals telling people not to rush subway doors. Given that at least one transit worker is assaulted everyday according to TTC statistics, the best solution is to remind people that shoving, spitting or verbally abusing transit workers is a bad thing because if there’s anything a raging lunatic would pay attention to, it’s a poster in between a promo for Being Erica and an Axe study on the effects of bad hair gel.

Still, Giambrone says, “It never hurts to remind people.”

Up next, the TTC enlightens riders on how to stand on the subway platform. Oh, wait…

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