I didn’t take a photo for today’s noticing but have “noticings” to share.
I took the subway in New York City this morning for a meeting I had in Manhattan. As I was walking down the platform to the Exit, I saw the digital sign that announces when the next trains are due to arrive.
I saw that the next train was due in 1 minute and the one after was due in 9 minutes. Objectively speaking, 8 minutes between trains is frequent. As a New Yorker, however, I confess that when I am waiting for a train and the sign shows it’s 8 minutes until the next one, it feels like an eternity.
However, my noticing didn’t end there. I went through the turnstile where there are 2 stairways to the street. I looked to the left and there seemed to be a lot of people exiting up the stairs and then looked to the right where the crowd looked smaller. I, therefore, chose the righthand exit.
I realized to my amusement, that the reason for the larger crowd on the left side was that the people exiting that way were all walking up the stairs two abreast. This made it possible for more of them to get upstairs at a time but also made it almost impossible for anyone to come down the stairs. Those on the right were standing in line single file and walking up the stairs only on the righthand side, leaving space for those coming down. I was amused because I have never seen New Yorkers do that before.
What I have seen is the way we New Yorkers stand on escalators. Those of us who know New York subway etiquette know that we stand on the righthand side on escalators to allow space for those people who want to walk up or down the stairs. Maybe we take the perspective only of those going in the same direction.