No one likes this but full utilization only works when you are not merging lines. Everytimes lines merge you have to drop that number a bit.
How would NYCT know? When was the last time they tried to operate above 75% of capacity?
In fact, merging does not diminish capacity. It can increase capacity because the capacity at terminals is usually lower than between them. It does mean that schedules cannot be randomly selected. It also means that properly drawn schedules must be tightly adhered to at the merge points.
Keeping the W local will help a bit.
Actually it will hurt. For the AM rush hours, the R, N and W should have been shceduled as 3 separate services with equal headways and proper offsets. The express-local merge before QBP and the merge in the 60th St tunnel should have been viewed as a single 3-way 1:1:1 merge. Investigation of the schedule posted by David, shows that it was viewed as two separate 2-way merges. There was a 1:1 merge between the express W and local N followed by a 9:14 merge with the R. This last unbalanced merge, combined with the equal headways between the N and W, means that 55% of the R's are delayed or cause delays. These delays could be eliminated with proper scheduling of the express service. Eliminating such delays is not feasible, without Astoria express service.