How do people who don't like crowds solve the problem when taking the subway/metro during rush hour etc.?

I look down at my smart phone and avoid direct eye contact. Also you can avoid the crowd by leaving early when everyone else is sleeping. You can pick a seat away from every one. Or stand in the back looking at the advertisements.

Are you sure they are traveling during rush hour? If they avoid the crowds I would think they are avoiding rush hour.

Crowds don’t bother me, people do. You can be invisible in a crowd.

Here in our Tourist Town where multitude of people from all around the World gather during the Summer we have problems with large groups of tourists that take up all of the side walks,
called “clothes lining”..where a family ALL hold hands together side by side…LOL.

Locals here avoid the downtown area when the tourists bus arrives, the train comes in, and usually early morning check in times.
The rest of the day the tourists are gone on there tours until around 4 pm then arrive in Town again.
We learned the times when most appear..usually early mornings,lunchtime,supper times and sometimes late nights at the lounges/bars.

By September we have our normal Town back.

Its nice to meet people travelling from different cultures but at times its too much at once.

@JLeslie You read the detail part. Yes they are travelling at the same time in the same direction, But one avoids the crowd the other doesn’t.

@JLeslie If they get off at 5:00 like the majority of the people do, do you expect them to hang around their work for an hour until rush hour is over?

@Dutchess_III If my commute is half the time I would consider it.

@flo Maybe they take local roads not much traveled.

@JLeslie I don’t understand. “roads”? Both are in the subway/metro but one is not in the crowd and the other one is.

Oh right sorry. I forgot it was a subway question. All I can think is they maybe go to the end of the train that is less crowded.

I still think the people avoiding the crowd are traveling at a different time of day. Leaving the house a little early or late, same with work.

Thanks @JLeslie. Yes, go to the end of the train that is less crowded.

If their lives revolve around avoiding crowds, I would consider that a mental illness.