The London escalator trial shows how our fear of change defeats logic | Masuma Rahim
by Masuma Rahim from on (#1BD2T)
Standing-only escalators can cut congestion by 30%, but persuading commuters of that wasn't easy. How do you motivate people to engage in new behaviour?The British are, notoriously, sticklers for rules and order. Woe betide the person who jumps the queue, or he who throws litter in the street, for they will be punished with a litany of passive-aggressive tutting. The same is true of Underground users who ignore the command to "stand on the right and walk on the left", and rightly so - rules are rules, after all, and on the whole they help maintain social order. Or they did until staff at Holborn station turned one of those time-honoured rulings on its head.
Related: The tube at a standstill: why TfL stopped people walking up the escalators
Continue reading...