Maybe London commuters are too scared to use the doors between carriages because they're used to seeing the 'danger of death' signs on the tube!
As it gets later at night, I do find the train fills up more evenly (but it might just be a 4 or 6-car train then) and wonder if it's actually something that happens only with regular commuters? They get so stuck in their ways that they never even think to change their routine. I usually have my own seat, but it's not in a location that you'd naturally think to pick - which is precisely why it means I always get the seat!
Here's a wild experiment that FCC could try to even out the crowds, although I don't think it's technically possible to do. Take a 12-car 365 and only open the first set of doors when the train is first announced - then the middle set a few minutes later - then the rear set after that, perhaps only a few minutes before departure (as nobody would want to run down the whole platform when the dispatcher is getting ready to get the train out). I wonder if that would force people to spread more evenly, or if they'd just wait until the lights came on for the doors on their chosen set?
As it gets later at night, I do find the train fills up more evenly (but it might just be a 4 or 6-car train then) and wonder if it's actually something that happens only with regular commuters? They get so stuck in their ways that they never even think to change their routine. I usually have my own seat, but it's not in a location that you'd naturally think to pick - which is precisely why it means I always get the seat!
Here's a wild experiment that FCC could try to even out the crowds, although I don't think it's technically possible to do. Take a 12-car 365 and only open the first set of doors when the train is first announced - then the middle set a few minutes later - then the rear set after that, perhaps only a few minutes before departure (as nobody would want to run down the whole platform when the dispatcher is getting ready to get the train out). I wonder if that would force people to spread more evenly, or if they'd just wait until the lights came on for the doors on their chosen set?