A petition to abolish priority seats in public transportation in Taiwan has been sent to government authorities, raising questions again on whether the seats fulfill the purpose of meeting the needs of certain groups.
The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/07,
By: Mo Tz-pin
More than 7,000 people have signed an online petition seeking the abolition of priority seats in Taiwan’s
示意圖，非台北捷運博愛座。Photo Credit: Chi-Hung Lin CC BY-SA 2.0
public transportation systems.
The petition was launched on Sept. 1 and surpassed the threshold of 5,000 signatures within six days. It has been sent to the National Development Council and an official response will be announced before Nov. 11.
Priority seats in Taiwan are intended for four groups of people: senior citizens, pregnant women, mentally and physically challenged passengers and those traveling with children.
On Aug. 25, a woman posted a photo on Facebook of two high school students sitting in regular seats on the Taipei MRT. Perplexed with the students not giving up their seats to a mother who was traveling with two children, the woman said the students were “a disgrace” and “should become prostitutes.” Although the students were not occupying priority seats, the incident has become part of the debate on the issue.
A student with eyesight issues said on Sept. 3 that he was assigned to a priority seat by security, but was then pressured by a female passenger to give up his seat. The female passenger insisted that he did not seem to belong to any of the four priority groups and questioned his eyesight by waving her hands in front of his face. The student gave up his seat after the female passenger started reprimanding him for being inconsiderate. [FULL STORY]
