Hi Eric,
Apologies, I've been away for a while.
Sure. Open up the resources.xml in any text editor (I like Notepad2 and Notepad++). Find the ActionTakeRamp tag which is located under the <!--Actions--> section. There you can see the strings {take ramp} and {onto ramp}. Replace "ramp" with "stairs" (without quotes). Now just close up and open ArcMap and rerun the Solve (alternatively, you can create a new network layer and run the Solve for this one - it will use updated text). You will see in the Directions Window the changes you've made.
The resources.xml file is very flexible regarding customizing the route guidance text. I was able to change not only the text of guidance but also the order in which tags are used. So, say instead of having "<take ramp> <and> <continue>" you can have something like <continue> <by taking ramp>". The only thing you should be careful with is that the same tags are used in multiple places, so make sure to not end up editing tags in one place and then having really strange guidance in others.
There should be a Network Analyst directions localization guide available from Esri, so you can contact your local Esri distributor to see if this can be of any help. I am not sure if it gives you the schema of all tags and how they are connected and used though. Let me check it when I'll get some time 🙂
PS. Always backup the original files before making any changes. It would be a good idea to make changes in small portions and see how the guidance looks overall. Make some comments in the Resources.xml file that will help to figure out what tag and why did you move and where 🙂
Cheers,
Alex