[bradleyjg]

For about a year a decade and a half ago, I commuted into and out of Penn Station with my father who had been doing so since the late 70s.

Not only did he know which track any of a half dozen trains that he might take would come in on but he knew where the doors would open for each of the tracks. And he wasn't the only one either. If you went down before they announced the tracks you'd see little clusters of people waiting apart from each other on an otherwise empty track. We'd usually go to the same car in order to reduce the distance on the other side. Other commuters would do likewise and so trains would have a contingent of regulars.

There's a fascinating kind of micro-expertise that develops when you do the same thing over and over again.

[mark212]

same thing on the subway, with an extra dimension of starting on the local, switching to the express, then transferring at another station. Pretty quickly you get to know where to stand to get on the most efficient end of the train to be closest to the stairway up to the transfer platform, etc. Makes an otherwise tedious trip somewhat interesting as a puzzle.

[cat199]

And on some systems, one can usually tell if an inbound train is running faster/slower than normal and where to adjust position accordingly to end up at the right door/position/etc..

[Symbiote]

The London version is now an app. I think it used to be available as some kind of map.

http://www.tubeexits.co.uk/

[genmon]

It's also a feature in Citymapper. Only front/middle/back but the integration means I use the information more often

https://citymapper.com/news/726/where-to-get-on-the-train

[specto]

I mean, everyone I know that takes the LIRR lines up where I do and knows where the train (usually) stops. When it's a short train is when we panic...