Express?

When people hear the announcement that the train is "express," they immediately think it's going to be fast. So almost everyone crams into that train when it arrives. The local train is almost always empty... or at least comfortable. I notice this a lot on the downtown green and orange lines. But the truth is the local almost always ends up being faster just because it's more frequent. On the green line, you'll see several 6 trains pass by before a 4 or 5. So if you choose express, while the ride time is shorter, the wait time is much longer... and it's more crowded. Same on the orange. The local F is often more frequent than the B, D & M combined. Your best bet is to take the first one that comes whether it's local or express.