Enough with the attitude

I hate the MTA. First they decided that the reverse commute from Manhattan to Connecticut in the mornings should be charged at a peak fare. Then they decided that since it's a reverse commute, it's ok to shorten the train and take away a few cars so the last ones on the train are left standing for the 45 min ride. Don't we suffer enough by getting up at the crack of dawn for a 1.5 hr commute?

Ok, all this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for people's attitudes on the train in the morning. Granted we can't all be morning people (myself included), but at least show some compassion for your fellow commuter. Since I get on at Harlem, inevitably the only seats left (if there are any) are the middle seats. The past few days, I've had to say "excuse me" to men, to allow me access to the open seat. And for the past few days, these men have totally glared at me. (Not to sound sexist, but when I ask women, they tend to be more courteous about it.) But anyway, these men were obviously upset that I had invaded their space. This morning, the guy had a stack of folders on the seat that I was eyeing and obviously was unhappy that he had to move them for me. Everytime I accidentally brushed his arm, he would turn and glare at me. Now is this really necessary?? Or how about those guys that take up their seat AND part of my seat and feel like that's ok?? I'm not referring to overweight guys that can't help spilling over a bit. I'm talking about those guys that could easily fit into the space of one seat, but decide to spread their legs and air themselves out, or whatever their doing, and infringe upon my personal space so I'm left with just 2/3 of a seat.

I haven't come up with an adequate solution for this yet. I've tried moving closer to them in the hopes that they'll feel a bit stifled and move back onto their own seat. I've also tried elbowing them every time the train lurches to try and get the picture across. So far none of these have been very effective.