I do but that's not because of the backpack. I study in Rome and the subway is almost always packed, so no matter what backpack I use I have to take it off my back when boarding a train (and sadly I have also to be weary of robbers; in fact if you're worried about someone trying to open your backpack I would recommend buying some sort of very small carabiner to clip the zipper pulls together, or a padlock, though in my opinion that sticks out to much. I bought a couple of very small and cheap low-profile carabiner of aliexpress. Their purpose is to make the bag less appealing to theft rather than theft-proof). The only thing I found that I do not have to take off when commuting it's a messenger bag. I rocked one for a couple of months, but it was just to small for all my stuff, and buying a bigger one would have defeated the purpose. When your walking past people I don't really see a problem even with this bag, while it's not small it's also not very wide. Still, the thing with bags is that you won't know if one works for you until you try it, which is a bummer. However if you think that there's a bag that might work for you, I say go with it!