Over 1,000 Metro riders submitted ideas for our recent MetroGreater contest. Two came up most often, but are sadly not possible: Signs or markings to encourage people to stand to the right on the escalators, and decals to show where the doors will stop on the platforms. Here’s why they couldn’t be winners.

Photo by Benjamin KRAFT on Flickr.

In New York, for instance, markings like the ones above show where the doors will stop and urge riders not to stand right in front of the doors.

The obstacle is simple: On the new 7000 Series trains, the doors are not in the same place as on the older trains. Metro plans to run 7000s on all lines and gradually replace all trains with them, but it will be a long time before any line has no older cars. Therefore, markers wouldn’t be in the right spot for all trains.

Here’s a comparison between the 7000 series (top) and older cars (bottom) by Sand Box John:

Image by Sand Box John. Note that the exterior design of the 7000 ended up somewhat different than in this sketch made from early plans.

It’s too bad the markings aren’t possible, but moving the doors closer to the center on the 7000 series does make some sense, as they could better distribute crowding between the middles and ends of the cars. It would have been even better to build them with four doors per side, but perhaps in the future. (If so, however, that will push off the day even further when these markings might be an option.)

Walk left, stand right?

Most of us stand on the right side of an escalator, if we’re not walking up or down it, and walk on the left side. Thirty-three separate people submitted variations on the idea of educating people about this custom. It could be a sign, like this one that entrant Kristoffer Wright mocked up:

Image by Kristoffer Wright.

Or, what about footprints, as in this idea by London designer Yoni Alter:

Photo by Yoni Alter.

There’s one straightforward problem with the footprints in DC: Many Metro escalators sometimes run up and sometimes down (though many do not). On those, at least, the footprints would make no sense with the escalator reversed. Not only would the feet be facing the wrong way, but the “walk” footprints would then be on the right side, giving people the wrong suggestions. (“You should walk backwards down the wrong side of this escalator”?)

As for signs, reversibility isn’t the issue, but safety is. According to WMATA Assistant General Manager Lynn Bowersox, people walking on escalators “is the single biggest point of customer injury, and Metro does not want to endorse that.” They know people walk on the escalator as an “informal commuter practice, but it is a safety concern and we do not want to encourage walking or running on moving conveyances.”

Transit agencies around the globe have a wide range of views on whether this is a safety issue. Ryan Young, one of the people who submitted the idea, pointed out a few worldwide examples. Chicago, for instance, officially recommends “walk left, stand right”:

Image from Chicago CTA.

Toronto, on the other hand, ended the practice in 2007 for safety reasons. Young also found this Polish article showing a “walk left, stand right” sign in a Warsaw department store and advocating for similar ones in the subway.

We could quibble with Metro’s decision, but the fact (right or wrong) right now is that Metro’s safety is under a microscope. We have people like US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx insisting that safety is the only priority and that he’d sooner shut down the Metro than have any safety problem whatever. In that climate, doing something on escalators that could be a little less safe, even if the change is slight, is probably not wise.

Personally, I still will be walking on the escalator and politely saying “excuse me” to people who stand on the left.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.