The cars ahead are stopped. You are not, yet. From the saddle the gap between them looks like space. It is a line of closed doors, people about to step out, and a driver behind you who is still looking at the brake lights, not at a bike.
What the gap actually is
A stopped queue is not an open lane. A door opens into the space you were going to use. A car creeps forward and closes the gap. Someone steps out between bumpers because they think nothing is moving. If you are still rolling at the speed you had before the lights came on, you arrive in that space before any of them has looked.
How to arrive at the back of it
Brake early, where the drivers behind can see a brake light and a bike slowing in a straight line. Stop where you can see the mirrors of the car in front, not tucked beside a rear wheel. Leave yourself room to pull away without having to pass a door. If the queue is on a curve or over a brow, stop where the car behind can still see you.
When it starts to move
The first car that rolls is not a signal to sprint the gaps. Pull away with the line, and assume the car beside you has not checked a mirror. A stopped road becomes a moving road one vehicle at a time. Match that, instead of riding the speed you had before the queue.
