In the morning, on the way downtown from Times Square, a packed express (the 2 or 3) stops every minute or two, and the doors open and lots of people get out, because they were on their way to Times Square from uptown.
This leaves room for other people to get in, and then it stops at 34th street (Penn Station) and then at 14th Street which is where we are going.
In the afternoon, on the way home going uptown, a packed express also stops every minute or two, but hardly anyone gets off (not many people are going from downtown to 14th street), so it stays packed, and only a few people (who are willing to squeeze more or less forcefully in) can get on.
A somewhat less packed local also stops every minute or two, so we get into that instead, and we stop at 18th and 23rd and 28th, and then at Penn Station, and finally Times Square where we are going.
Which is not bad, the subway is a fun place with a wide variety of interesting people. It is just a thing which I have noticed.
ceoln 