Mikey Boom

So I ride NJ Transit every morning at 7am. At this time the train is usually very packed with morning commuters and I nearly always have trouble finding an empty seat. The other day instead of just standing there and complaining to myself about why I wasn’t going to be able to sit down for my entire commute, I realized that there are different types of commuters who can be characterized by their behavior into different profiles. Long story short, by understanding the commuter demographic I feel I might have the upper hand in finding an empty seat on those crowed NJ Transit morning commutes. Here are my observations:

The threats: Threats are seen as anyone who could take your seat in the train.

The best place to sit: The best place to sit on the train is represented by the area of that particular train that you are most likely to find a comfortable seat.

The vacant seat: The vacant seat is a 3 person seat occupied by 1 person and/or a 2 person seat that is not occupied at all.

Special Things to consider about the train: As opposed to subway cars, NJ Transit commuters enter train via end doors and make their way towards the middle of the train. It is fair to assume that usually the center of the train has the most vacant seats.

The best train commuter: The best train consumers are YOU. You look for vacant seats which offer more comfortably. You are willing to walk to the center of he train for these seats. You are aware of he existence of other active seekers. You are smart seekers.

Profile C: Does not care where they sit or if they sit. If they walk into the train and see that it is somewhat pack they will stop looking for a seat and remain standing. Because of this, these people will usually walk in to the train look around and remain standing where they are, which is close to the door at the ends of the train car, so as they can exit the quickly upon arrival at their destination.

Profile B: Likes to sit down as quickly as possible. Does not want to search and hold up the people behind him/her. These people would don’t mind sitting next to others and would likely fill the third position in a 3 person seat next to strangers. These people usually enter train and work they way towards the middle but sit down immediately once they find a seat. They usually find a seat closer towards the end of the cars near the entrance.

Profile A: DO NOT like to sit next to strangers. Because of this, these people are active searchers of vacant seats. They would rather occupy a seat by themselves than a seat with 1-2 other strangers. These people do not like to be forced by a crowed train to sit next to strangers but when “push comes to shove” they will fill the last seat of a three person seat on the train. In a 3 person seat, these people would rather sit with 1 other stranger as opposed to sitting with 2 other strangers. As active searcher of vacant seats these people more commonly walk toward the center of the train than both Profile B and Profile C.

Conclusion:

The Profile C poses a minimal amount of threat. Since these people are not active seekers of vacant seats, they do not pose a significant threat to the ability of a best train commuter to find an available seat. As mentioned above, since these people usually stand towards the end of the train car in order to exit fast once arrival at destination, therefore it is fair to assume that walking to the center of the train car reduces their threat dramatically.

Profile B poses a medium threat level. These people do look for vacant seats but not to the extent of a Best Train Commuter. As these people do not care about sitting next to others they are likely to sit at the first available “non-vacant” seat next to strangers. Therefore, it is fair to assume walking towards the middle of the train car minimizes their threat level several percentage points.

Profile A poses the most amount of threat. These people are active seekers that do not like to sit next to strangers-similar to The Best Train Commuter. Walking towards the middle of the train for vacant seats is not unlikely behavior for these people-similar to that of The Best Train Commuter. However, unlike the ‘The Best Train Commuter’ these active seekers are unaware of the existence of other active seekers. They are not smart seekers and once reaching the center of train in search of a vacant seat may find that the ‘The Best Train Commuter’ have already beat them to it