Subway passengers in some Chinese cities are not standing on the right side of escalators and sparing the left side for those to walk through.

An earlier report hit the Internet saying that Nanjing city in eastern China only requires subway passengers to stand firm and hold the handrail rather than to stand on the right side as it did formerly.

The Nanjing Subway Group explained on their Weibo account that it found 95 percent of escalators were seriously worn on the right side.

Shi Dajiang from the city's public security bureau agreed that standing on the right side will speed up the abrasion of the escalator, shorten the service life and increase risk of breakdown.

Station staff also said the escalator step is 21 centimeters in height, six centimeters higher than the height of the public stairs. It is dangerous to walk on the operating escalators.

Guangzhou canceled the standard to stand on the right side of escalator about ten years ago. Ye Zichuan from the Guangzhou subway publicity department said they have investigated escalator accidents, finding that more than 90 percent of the accidents were caused by passengers walking through the escalator.

But some netizens support the international standard to stand on the right side of the escalator, saying the standard is popular in many countries and there are few escalator accidents in those countries.

Other netizens argue that the international standard is not necessarily feasible in China. With the large population and the crowded rush hours in big cities, they say standing on the right side and allowing walk-through traffic on the left doesn't fit in China.