The 456 is the reason I stopped commuting to work before 10. Taking the L from where I live today isn't much different. The trick I've found is that if the sign says there are two trains incoming that are within a minute of each other, always take the second train. People will self-sardine themselves on the first and the second with be mostly empty.
That was my biggest lesson of the L or the 4/5/6. If you wait, the next train will be much, MUCH less crowded.
Another trick is that if I'm at Union Square trying to get into Brooklyn on the L and the station is packed, it ends up being faster and more comfortable to take the L backwards to 8th ave, and then grab a seat on the Brooklyn bound L at the 8th ave terminus.
This phenomenon is almost comical with the NJTransit Northeast Corridor lines into NYC. They frequently cluster two inbound Northeast Corridor trains (all the way from Trenton) with the express coming 3-4 minutes after the local (having left Trenton 20 minutes later). Even on weekends, the local is frequently standing room only (usually totally packed) whereas the express will have plenty of free seats.
At Secaucus Junction (the last stop in NJ before NYC Penn), there will usually be a ton of people waiting for the train. Invariably, they cram onto the first train to come (which is already full) despite the big flashing notices on the timing screen that there's another train to NYC two minutes behind.
I've seen adults throw straight-up temper tantrums at being unable to get onto that train when there's an empty train following right behind.
I commuted my first year out of undergrad from Central NJ. At the time, it was very frustrating because NJ Transit is so unreliable. All the stresses of a given day could metastasize to a point where a transit nightmare could make you break.
Now, take adults who pay one of the nations highest property taxes, throw in confusion as to where their dollars are going (they thought infrastructure was definitely a bucket), and you have a perfectly good reason to throw a "temper tantrum."
Most NJ complaints, and attempts to speak with your local politician, or even a local agency, falls on deaf ears. Thus, what can these grown adults do when they are pretty entrenched into Jersey? It's frustrating. I moved out of NJ after spending my HS years, Undergrad years, and 1 year of work, and vowed to never give them another tax dollar because their government is filled with people who simply do not care about your problems.
Those taxpaying adults also manage to vote in people like Chris Christie, who decided the "infrastructure bucket" didn't include transit (and that the allocated transit funds would be better sent elsewhere).
This doesn't always work. In my experience, if you're near peak crowding areas during rush hour, the next train is usually just as packed as the first. And then the next. And the next. So you've just watched 3 trains go by that you couldn't even fit on if you tried and you've been waiting about 5 minutes. God forbid they get delayed, even for 2 minutes more. I usually just try to cut my losses and shove in as soon as I possibly can.
I lived on the L train for 7 years up until recently.
In my estimation, shoving onto the train just wasn't worth it. It makes the ride much more miserable for people in the car, and it delays the line even more. The second point is important; the train situation isn't going to get better by people being selfish and gaining a few extra minutes at the expense of everyone else's.
More often than not, the "second train" strategy works wonders. I found that when it doesn't, I'd have to wait for multiple trains anyway. Maybe once in 7 years did I skip a train with room and get punished for it.
> In my estimation, shoving onto the train just wasn't worth it.
In my ~17 years of living in NYC, I've never found it to be worth it trying to squeeze myself onto a train. The ride itself is awful and literally you're at most saving a few minutes at the expense of a terrible, terrible experience in the car. The next train almost always has fewer people on the car, and if that's not the case, the one after that most certainly does.
[Edit: I've also been fortunate enough during my time here that I could always afford to be a few minutes later to my destination, that is not always the case amongst those who take the subway]
>The train situation isn't going to get better by people being selfish and gaining a few extra minutes at the expense of everyone else's.
Doesn't that pretty much sum up the New York experience though? If everyone could not block the intersection, stand back from the baggage claim, and wait their turn then life would be better for everyone.
Man, I wish that was the case in London. The central/victoria lines runs at 36tph (less than 2 mins wait between trains) but they are crush loaded full between 7am and 9am. Luckily we have crossrail coming to relieve the central line, which took less than 10 years to build in its entirety. Unlike the 2nd Av Subway which seems to be taking about 30 years (ignoring the failed start in the 70s).
Does NYC suffer from the "ghost train" phenomenon that plagues SF MUNI? The danger in waiting for a second train here is that there might not actually be one.
