At first the underground escalator rules were simply "stand right, walk left" in
Shanghai ,China, but later because The Municipality were afraid of passengers who walk on the
left increasing the risk for children and pregnant women who stand on the
right, especially during holidays when many people carry big bags in their hands,
they banned walking on the escalator.
Although many cities in China haven’t
forbidden walking on the underground escalators, in many situations, both sides
of the escalators are full of people.
During rush hour the amount of
people in China’s Underground, is obviously more than western countries with low
density population. If people only stand on the right, the space is very limited
Additionally, most China Metro stations, not only have escalators at the station, but
also have spacious staircases for those who are in a hurry and want to move quicker.
Moreover, standing on both sides of the escalator is beneficial because the weight
of the passengers is evenly distributed, which can reduce harm to the
mechanical parts under the escalators, resulting in longer
mechanical service life.
However, if less people use Metro, then most of the Population
will queue up consciously on the right side of the Metro escalators.