During rush hour the other day, I exited Sukhumvit MRT station and was struck by an awesome sight that filled my heart with joy and my eyes with tears. There, on the escalators leading up to the adjacent Asok BTS station, people were standing in single file to the right of the moving stairs, leaving the left side open from the bottom all the way to the very top.
The scene was so unreal, so not Bangkok. Just seconds before, I was bracing myself for the usual gridlock. Although it normally lasts just a few minutes each time, it is always terribly annoying, especially when the walkable side of the moving stairway is clogged by only one oblivious person right at the beginning.
But on that late afternoon, thanks to the unblocked passage, for the first time in my life, I was able to proceed onwards and upwards, without having to ask folks along the way to please let me get through.
Public campaigns to encourage escalator users to stay on one side began on the internet two or so years ago by different groups, and it seems they are gaining momentum. The Facebook page "Khon Thai Khuen Bandai Yuen Chit Khwa" (which can be translated as "Thais Stand On The Right Side Of the Escalator"), for example, now boasts over 10,000 likes. The page, although not regularly updated, shows pictures of well-behaved escalator users from Japan and other countries, as well as news stories pertaining to the issue.
The campaign received a great boost earlier this year when the BTS Skytrain adopted the idea. Not only did the BTS print the message on its tickets, but the company also recently put prominent stickers on escalators at its stations to indicate that the right half was for standing and the other half for walking.
With simple guidance, it is hoped that more and more members of the public will soon develop a habit of effectively sharing escalators and other public facilities with other people. If the MRT, major Thai airports, (which also have long moving walkways in addition to escalators) and department stores also join in, the desired change is not beyond reach.
Each individual can contribute. I, for one, will continue (politely, of course) to ask fellow passengers hogging moving staircases to give way. Often, people need somebody to remind them of what they should or should not do. I believe that most of the escalator-riders who complied with my requests did so not because they thought they have to listen to a stranger like me, but because deep down they knew they shouldn't block the public passage.
The beauty of this is the fact that such
a campaign for social order has been ignited and fuelled by society itself. We do not need to rely on the government to fix every problem. And I believe that the awesome sight
I saw at Asok BTS station that afternoon will one day become common in our capital.
Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post's travel editor.