"I thought it was impossib -- ha, ha, ha, no way, I don't want to say it, man," he said, laughing. "Come back in two months, we'll see."

Terry Muckleroy got stopped by Whitfield as she tried to board a train one morning last week, forcing her to wait two minutes for the next one. She stepped to the side of the box politely and waited.

"I think this is a great idea," she said. "It seems like a practical solution to what has become an increasingly annoying problem. I have to admit that on occasion I've been pretty narcissistic and self-centered and have rushed on before everyone has gotten off. But I'm really glad they're doing this."

Not everyone has adapted so well to the system, however. James White cursed and punched the air after Whitfield stopped him.

What will happen when the platform conductors disappear? A return to havoc?

"I think it's a waste of manpower to have all these guys at each door," said White, a clerk halted on his way to work in Brooklyn. " I don't think it's doing things any better than they were before, and it's just more people that they're paying more money to for nothing."

Most, though, have formed a more neutral opinion.

"When passengers try to force their way on the train, it contributes to the delay, so in that respect I think it's a good idea," said Alex Massey, a 41-year-old architect headed toward his Houston Street office. "But when you want to get to work and you want to get to work on time, maybe it's not such a good idea, you know?"

Columbia College student Daniel Jean-Baptiste thinks the plan is doomed

Despite what transit officials say, Massey is convinced stepping aside has slowed him down, because he's had to wait for more trains.

And he, like others interviewed, is convinced New Yorkers newfound manners will quickly disappear once the platform conductors do.

"People are going to start rushing the train, believe me," Massey said. "If I'm trying to go to work, I'm going to try to force my way onto a train. If it's crowded, I don't care, because I don't know when the next train is going to come."

But what about the announcements?

"They can tell me a train is coming, I don't care," he said. "I have to see it to believe it."