"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
...
"SteveTBM" wrote in message
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"Gaz" wrote in message
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When a full bus arrives at a busy stop (Brixton in the rush hour for
example) the driver opens the back doors to let people off. If you're
not
right at the front of the queue is it better to stand square on to the
front doors two or three people deep or to sneak on from the sides from
further away?


This type of scenario was demonstrated a few years back on the Christmas
lectures. The outcome was that people queuing along the side of the bus
would get on faster than those square on to the door.

Let's add a new complication: suppose it's an underground train, or a bus
with no exit door - where people are getting off through the same door as
the one where they are trying to get on? Assuming that people are behaving
with their usual impatience and aren't waiting for people to finish
getting
off before trying to get on.

If there are only a few people getting off, I usually aim to be level with
the left-hand door (*), on the grounds that people getting off will tend
to
aim for the other door and maybe we'll achieve two single-file streams of
people: one stream getting off and the other getting on. Sometimes it
works,
sometimes it doesn't!


(*) Since we drive on the left, that seems a reasonable convention for
walking as well!

Well, people coming off the train tend to exit straight ahead, meaning that
the people entering from the sides of the doors have the best chance of
getting on, as those directly in front will be pushed aside by exiting
passengers.

Heliomass.