This undated photo shows passengers take escalator at a Nanjing subway station. （File photo）
(ECNS) -- The Nanjing subway will no longer encourage passengers to follow the outdated policy of "standing on the right side of escalators and ascending on the left."
Severe wear on the right side of about 95 percent of escalators here, as well as frequent incidents of passengers falling down, prompted officials to ditch the policy it promoted as good manners since 2010, according to Xinhua News Agency.
"Standing steadily and holding onto the handrail firmly is more important," it was said in a post via its official Twitter-like Weibo account.
Zhang Dihua of the Beijing Special Equipment Inspection and Testing Center said the previous rule is unreasonable because escalators are designed for passengers to stand still instead of walking, and overuse of the right side would cause severe wear.
Guangzhou subway removed a similar rule about 10 years ago and Shanghai three years ago, according to Beijing Morning Post.
Developed countries including South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States have all stopped similar rules due to safety concerns, said Zhang Lexiang, secretary-general of China Elevator Association.
Some passengers said the conventional rule was good because "without order there would be no safety," but others hailed Nanjing's latest move.
"If you're in a hurry, you can take the stairs," said a Beijing citizen surnamed Wang. "Why must you run up an escalator?"
But the Beijing subway said it was not practical to abruptly ask passengers to change their habits formed over years and that good order was more important.
