Anyone who is a daily commuter on the Nation's Metro Rail system knows, it doesn't take much to bog down the timely trip to work and home. One person standing on the left on any escalator will evoke the ire of the people behind him/her. One lane of people could be getting in or out of the station a minute faster if EVERYONE adhered to that commuter etiquette. And a minute is a long time when you are "in a hurry." Just keep in mind that it took the Personal Computer to make 3 seconds into an unbearably long time.
Another behavior that slows down the flow is when a person, with a wheelie bag or not, stands about halfway between the platform edge and the back wall to wait for the next train. That position creates maximum impedance to the flow of people both in front of and behind that person. Rushing the open door before everyone who wants to get out has gotten out is yet another rider behavior that cascades failures all the way back up the line for several stations. That behavior leads to the biggest disruption of all.
One of the most common disruptions to the daily commute is the Door Jammer. He or she feels that one more person actually can get on that train and not wait for the next one. Granted is that Metro Rail Car Door mechanism have aged and are easy to knock out of alignment. Granted is that they can fail to close even when nobody has his elbow or her bag in the doorway. But most of the causes of disabled train are due to door jams and subsequent complete failures. Too many people trying to push in to the car and feeling completely justified in doing so because they have been waiting for two or three trains to get on. They have been late before and "Darn it, not today again."
No amount of maintenance and repair or even complete car replacement will correct for the anxious passenger who just has to get on this train, Now. The Red Line in particular is a very heavily used rail line. It will continue to experience breakdown blamed on numerous factors, not the least of which is rider behavior.
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