Successful Subway Strategies
GOAL: maximum efficiency and comfort while traveling underground
- From your entrance into the subway station until you’re standing on the platform, walk swiftly. That extra-step advantage will often be the difference between being five minutes early and ten minutes late.
- Have your metrocard out before you reach the turnstyle. This could cost you your extra-step advantage (and that of others behind you).
- When the stairs are divided by the handlebar, it’s often (but not always) advantageous to descend on the left side (typically the side of those ascending) because they can see you coming and will move (as opposed to the right side where people don’t care about those descending behind them).
- Similarly, escalators are often not the fastest way to descend as they get clogged with people who just stand and don’t move to the side. It’s usually faster to just go down the stairs at your swift pace than stop and ask people to move to the side of the escalator.
- If the train hasn’t come yet find your Strategic Location on the platform. Your Strategic Location is where on the train is closest to the exit of your destination stop. If you ride the same route enough you’ll know exactly where to stand when the train pulls in and not be stuck between doors when the train stops.
- If you see someone you know on the platform (but they don’t see you) and don’t want to talk to them, walk away. No location advantage is worth an entire subway ride in an awkward, strained conversation.
- If all the cars except one are full, there are only two possible reasons: 1) stinky homeless person or 2) no air-conditioning. Whether or not you should get on that car is simple math: If your Tolerance For Piss (TFP) / Love Of Sweating (LOS) > Distaste For Crowded Car (DFCC) then climb aboard and have a seat. If your TFP/LOS < DFCC then you better go to the next car and squish in.
- If you're catching the train as the door closes try to get your foot in before it closes all the way. Once you accomplish this there is no need to force the door open with your hands, the conductor will eventually have to open the door to let you in.
- If there are seats available the best ones are those right next to the doors. The reason for this is that a maximum of only one person can sit by you (the other side is the end-bar) but also gives a little breathing room (as opposed to the end-seats by the wall). Plus, they’re quick access to the exit doors.
- If there are no seats available the best location to stand is right next to the doors with your back facing the door. This allows two things: 1) Quick access to exit. 2) Support for leaning. Support is good to both rest your legs and to free your hands (and it’s always good to avoid touching the subway butter that gathers on the bars). It’s important to lean against the frame of the door until the train gets going because the doors will often open and close multiple times before going. It is also preferable to be on the side of the train to which you will eventually exit.
- When standing in the middle of the train you need three points of contact to account for the front-to-back and side-to-side movement. (My personal preference is for my feet to be front/back and hand holding a bar for the side-to-side)
- Always offer pregnant women (and elderly and disabled) your seat. If you’re standing, however, they don’t have any claim to your spot by the door (unless they ask) because it’s not generally recognized as the best-position-to-be-in-when-standing.
- Politeness (almost) always prevails.
How long is your subway commute?
Comment by Susan M — September 8, 2006 @ 12:27 pm
It’s 35 minutes door-to-door, about 20 of that is actually riding the train.
Comment by Rusty — September 8, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
The closest I have to compare it to is when I rode the bus from south King County to downtown Seattle. I think the bus ride was about 45 minutes. Often on the way home it was standing-room only, and I’d spend about 30 of that standing up (until we got to the first stop off the freeway, which unloaded a lot of people).
My advice for L.A. traffic: lots of energetic music, and air conditioning.
Comment by Susan M — September 8, 2006 @ 1:20 pm
I actually think the best standing place is dead center in between doors. It’s the last place people go to, so you have more room and more air there. Plus, I really hate the people who stand right inside the door ON PURPOSE.
Comment by D. Fletcher — September 8, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
Rusty, you have not been riding long enough. It’s fun to experiment with no hands, kind like a surfboard. You just have to place your feet at a slight angle so you can counteract any acceleration/slowdown or side-to-side motion. And bend your knees slightly as you brace for takeoff/stop. These days I can deal with all but the most violent train movements almost unconsciously.
Comment by Bill — September 8, 2006 @ 1:33 pm
Bill,
I’m familiar with that move but I prefer to lean. The violent train movements are always fun because it brings the riders together as we all laugh at who fell on who.
D,
Perfect, one less person to take up my spot by the door
Comment by Rusty — September 8, 2006 @ 1:42 pm
Well, here’s one thing that the Viennese know how to do. Quick, fairly clean and no ticket turnstiles.
Comment by Ronan — September 8, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
Yes, BUT…
The New York Subway is by far the busiest in the world. It moves more people daily, and has more employees and more stations, than any other.
I’m fairly sure that Vienna is puny by comparison.
Moscow has the most track mileage.
Comment by D. Fletcher — September 8, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Hmm, should I walk, ride my bike, or drive to work today?
Comment by Bryce I — September 8, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
What’s a Subway?
Signed,
Lifelong Iowa and Nebraska Resident
Comment by Tim J. — September 8, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
I’m yet again reminded of how great BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is compared to the NY Subway. It’s nowhere near as extensive geographically, and it’s a bit more expensive, but:
–It has a strict schedule, which is followed. This eliminates the running, the guesswork, etc.
–LED displays and CLEAR electronic announcements tell you what train is coming, and exactly when it will arrive (“Pittsburg/Bay Point train, arriving in 3 minutes.”)
–The platform is painted to indicate where the doors to the train are. No guesswork on where to stand.
–Because of the by-distance ticketing system, the homeless can’t afford to use it as a moving motel.
–The A/C is never out.
–No track fires, because the tracks are kept clean.
–It’s MUCH quieter. You don’t have to blast your earphones to hear over the train din.
On the other hand, the doors will NOT open wide for you when you stick a foot in. They’ll give you just enough space to pull it back out, and that’s it. Another downside is the BART carpeting and upholstery. Nasty stuff.
Comment by Greg Call — September 8, 2006 @ 3:42 pm
Lest my comment should sound insensitive to the SF homeless, they don’t need to rely on the subway as much as their NY counterparts do because of the mild weather here.
Comment by Greg Call — September 8, 2006 @ 3:50 pm
Just reminding everyone, BART and the DC subway were both built in the 60s and 70s — very small systems and much fewer passengers.
And Greg, you may not remember, but New York’s climate is pretty mild. It’s not Chicago, or Boston.
New York, Salt Lake, and Madrid are all on the same parallel.
Comment by D. Fletcher — September 8, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
D.: Of course the BART is tiny compared to the NYC subway, but what they do, they do well.
NYC has great springs and falls. I wouldn’t call their summers or winters mild by most standards. It’s not so much the latitude of the place, as it is the periodic arctic fronts in the winter, and the sometimes oppressive humidity in the summer. (I’d take 100 degrees in SLC over 80 degrees with high humidity in NYC.) Here, of course, it’s basically spring/fall year round, with a few weeks of rain in the “winter.”
Comment by Greg Call — September 8, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
BART upholstery is horrific. They tried to do away with it and people complained.
The only complaint I have with Bay Area commuters is that they are softees and whiners — they don’t know how to pack into a bus, subway car or street car.
OTOH, you can’t beat the casual carpool system.
On forcing the doors — two stories from my LDS mission to Bucharest, Romania:
My companion and I were entering a subway station one day (the Bucharest subway system is actually quite good) — a train was waiting on the platform. My companion wanted to run for it. I said that that neither necessary (we weren’t late for anything and trains run quite regularly) nor prudent, but he took off so I had no choice but to follow. The first car was the closest to the stairs. As I entered it the doors the closed on me so I was perfectly pinned between them — each door was pressed against each shoulder. The driver was standing right there — they often step out to look down the line — but he let me sit there for two minutes. Meanwhile people inside the subway car were yelling at him to let me in — or we’re yelling at me for tempting my luck. Romanians are rather voluble.
He finally let me in. The arguing among passengers went on all the way till the next stop.
Second story:
We were waiting near a children’s hospital for a pair of elders in our district to arrive so we could go in and visit the kids in the hospital. When they finally arrived, they were both red in the face — one from laughing, the other for reasons that will soon be revealed.
They got on the street car to go to the hospital. They struck up a conversation with a rather large middle-aged housewife. The street car came to her stop — one stop before the hospital. The three of them talked a bit about whether to carry on the conversation on the street car or to get off — each party was trying to accomodate the other. Finally, one elder decided they should just get off at the woman’s stop. So he hopped off — just then the street car started to pull away right as the woman was stepping off — she began to fall. He caught her — and then looked up to see the streetcar trundling along with his companion’s head — and only his head (and part of his neck) sticking out from the closed door.
Comment by William Morris — September 8, 2006 @ 6:01 pm
lol, nice stories, William.
Comment by Crystal — September 10, 2006 @ 11:35 pm
I only lived in NYC for a short time while attending a semester of college, but I wish that someone had written these rules down for me so that I could most effectivly commute to class in the mornings on the 1 train. Still I am glad that someone has written it down for if I ever can get back to NYC.
Comment by Taylor T — September 11, 2006 @ 10:19 am
It is also advisable to stand/sit towards the middle of the subway car (vs. the ends) in the summer as the A/C vents do not extend to the very ends of the car
Comment by mw — September 11, 2006 @ 5:08 pm
There’s an important exception to the “doors are best when no seats are available” rule. When you know or suspect that a train is approaching a high-turnover station (a further-transit-access station like Penn Station or Grand Central, the express stops on a local train, and particularly subway hubs like Times Square and Atlantic-Pacific), you should move towards the middle of the train if you can.
There are two reasons. First, standing in the door when you know lots of people are getting on and off is bad karma, and lord knows there’s enough of that in the subway. Second (and more importantly!), being in the middle of the car makes you the best prepared to grab one of the seats that will surely open up.
Finally, if you want to avoid the rush-hour crunch, you can ditch the Strategic Location rule and instead shoot for the second or second-to-last cars; these are usually the least crowded (owing to the bell curve, which crowds the middle cars, and also to the fact that trains don’t always cover the entire platform, forcing extra people into the cars at the end). You might have to walk a few extra feet at your destination (and maybe at your departing station, too), but that’s more than worth it if you’re less crunched on the way there, and doubly so if you can get a coveted rush-hour seat.
Comment by Isaiah — September 11, 2006 @ 5:14 pm
mw,
Great point about the A/C.
Isaiah,
Ditto about the high-turnover stations. It’s okay to stand in the door when 3-4 people are getting on but when there are 15 then you’re a jerk.
Comment by Rusty — September 11, 2006 @ 7:33 pm
i see you’ve never ended up on the “gang” train. first car of the F, about 40 18-year-old gang members, cigars, music, aerobics. and no women except you. have to say, it was one of the scariest rides of my life. (and i was out of there in one stop)
Comment by grumpygirl — September 11, 2006 @ 8:53 pm
one negative to the best seat is by the door strategy. the possibility of people’s asses, backs or if they have them, backpacks in your face. that’s probably not worth sitting there. every time i take that seat, without fail, i get some jerk who uses the edge of the seat as a leaning post instead of the door. i try to avoid it when i can. i ride the F so i will most of the time get the train with the 3 seats and then the 2 facing your side. take that 3rd seat AWAY from the door. tall people, for the most part, avoid those 2 side seats so you shouldn’t have much of a problem with people’s legs knocking into yours and it’s worth sitting near a few more people not to have someone rubbing some part of their body in your face or trying to knock you out with their backpack.
Comment by star — September 12, 2006 @ 3:24 am
Loved your entry! I have to say though that if you are riding the Tokyo subway at rush hour, the best place to stand is right in front of the first seat (either side) closest to the door that you will exit from.
Why? Because the trains get so packed that if you don’t have the empty space above the person seated to lean into, you could get smooshed in the crush. (Also from that row you have access to the overhead netting shelf above the seats to put your suitcase/backpack onto. Being in the center standing row is definitely the worst.) Once, unable to get into my strategic position, I found myself pressed up against seven other people (picture that!).
Comment by tlieu — September 12, 2006 @ 6:38 am
If you’re going to stick your foot in the door, make sure there are no cops around or you’ll get a nasty ticket. I fought the ticket and won, but had to go out to Brooklyn to fight it.
Comment by mike — September 12, 2006 @ 10:33 am
I’ve never seen such nuanced appreciation of the finer points of riding the subway rails! As a veteran rider I long ago figured out all of the angles mentioned above, except perhaps the one about sticking one’s foot in the closing door–though there’s no guarantee that the train won’t drag you by your foot along the platform.
The “Strategic Location” gambit is perhaps the most valuable tip, and is used by experienced riders to reduce the daily commute by perhaps 10 minutes/day (which adds up to a work-week of time saved in a year!), particularly because it allows you to exit the car and dash up/down the stairs without the obstruction of the plodding herd of transit-goers traversing subway stairs as if they’re climbing Mt. Everest.
I too have pondered the deep philosophical conundrum of the “seat next to the door.” On the one hand, it is true that you get more shoulder room when you sit next to the door. But on the other hand, it is also true that when seated there you might end up with a “leaner” or backpack or fanny invading your space (and your face!). I must confess that I favor sitting in that seat, and fend off interlopers by (a) aggressively leaning on the side bar with my elbow sticking out, and (b) [if necessary] grasping the upright pole in a way that fends off people who want to hold on to the bar right in front of my face.
Comment by steve — September 15, 2006 @ 10:07 pm