Almost always when you mount on the escalators in Taipei subways, you will hear an announcement at same time, warning you of "Please hold the handrail and step FIRMLY onto the escalator."  The announcement implies a ban for passengers on any walking or running when stepped onto that moving mechanic installation. 

However, I do not realize since when the subway passengers in Taipei have been always standing on the right side of all escalators, and leaving the left side open for those who are walking or even running.  By degrees, such a phenomenon has become a sacrosanct "rule", and no one dares stand on the left sides any more.  Once I even read an article that boasts about such a comity is a sign of "civilization" in modern civic behavior.

To tell you the truth, I have always doubted this kind of "civilization" partly because I have never seen the similar situation in New York, London, and Paris.  Are people of those cities not civilized?  What would happen to a running passenger in case of power failure?  Would some mechanic problems occur to the escalators due to longtime inbalanced weight over them?  Why not those passenger who are in a hurry use stairways instead?  Today I saw an online report that the subways of Shanghai have prohibited passengers from running or walking on escalators.  Please read the report at:

https://www.guancha.cn/politics/2019_04_09_496913.shtml