> Another fascinating thing is how escalators have two lanes, one for walking and one for standing. Why doesn't everyone so this?! It's so perfect! I wish they

> Another fascinating thing is how escalators have two lanes, one for walking and one for standing. Why doesn't everyone so this?! It's so perfect! I wish they'd just draw lines on escalators in Germany already. Keeping the left side of the escalator free and standing on the right is an unwritten rule here, but about one in twenty stand on the left anyways (tourists? people lost in thought?). In the morning I often want to catch a connecting train that departs only about minute later, and pretty much every time I have to ask one or two people to step aside so I can pass. The fastest way to reach the other platform happens to be by means of two escalators. Other people who have been to Berlin Friedrichstraße station probably know which escalators I'm talking about. The fastest way I have found of getting people to step aside is startling them with a firm "SORRY!" - works on tourists as well as Germans. When I see more than three people on the left side I usually just give up though. By the time they'll have sorted themselves out the train will probably be gone anyways and I don't fancy breaking into a sprint just to make up for the lost seconds. I'd rather suck it up and wait a few minutes for the next train while getting a coffee on the platform. I guess what I'm saying is that something as simple as two lines on escalators can make a difference of ten minutes or more in the commute of some people.