>Many passengers are irrational about forcing their way onto already overcrowded trains.
the train that leaves first gets there first
----
although, entering a station once with a friend, we ran for an arriving subway train with a friend. they got on but I did not. however, I was familiar with the station we were in, and the destination station and I realized....
so I ran down the platform, continuing in the same direction, and before I reached the other end of the platform, as I expected, the follow-on train arrived. I boarded it, and now I was ahead of my friend schedulewise: blew their mind when I was waiting for them to exit at the destination station.
I understand this is what motivates people, and I also understand that, when asked, they would claim that this is in their rational self-interest. As I also wrote elsewhere, I tend to disagree or at least question this assumption in general. Are you really in that much of a hurry? If you have a very hard deadline, wouldn't it have been in your rational self-interest to leave home five minutes earlier? etc.
Yeah, but in this bunching scenario I prefer taking a train with lots of space than arriving maybe two minutes earlier packed like a sardine. Having screens which also show when the following trains will arrive helps a lot of course...
I don't understand how this is possible. Trains are single track in most subways and metros, and definitely do not stop before an already waiting train.
I think the implication is that the time between two trains was little more than the time it took to walk along the whole platform, which the friend still had to do after getting off, plus someone familiar with the stations not needing time to orient themselves and find the intended exit.
i ran down the platform and, without any other waiting, climbed on the first car of the next train
they got off the last car of the first train and started to walk in the same direction as the train. while they were walking, the first car of the next train, me, rolled well past them before stopping.
the train that leaves first gets there first
----
although, entering a station once with a friend, we ran for an arriving subway train with a friend. they got on but I did not. however, I was familiar with the station we were in, and the destination station and I realized....
so I ran down the platform, continuing in the same direction, and before I reached the other end of the platform, as I expected, the follow-on train arrived. I boarded it, and now I was ahead of my friend schedulewise: blew their mind when I was waiting for them to exit at the destination station.