Young people avoid priority seats to escape 'public trials'

Nearly 80 percent of secondary students are under pressure not to use priority seats on public transport for fear they would be subjected to discrimination if they fail to offer them to those in need, according to a survey.
About 96 percent of 1,715 respondents would voluntarily offer their seat to passengers in need, Apple Daily reports.
The survey was conducted by Beacon Pop Index and Truth Light Society in December.
It found that 73 percent of the students never used a priority seat while 22 percent said priority seats should be abolished altogether.
About 26 percent said they would not offer their seat to another person unless asked.
Eight in 10 students said they fear being under scrutiny if they do not offer their seat voluntarily.
Truth Light Society vice president Helen Fu said young people are fearful of online abuse directed at people who don't offer their seats.
Priority seats have in a way become a source of humiliation for them, she said.
“When members of the community are willing to offer their seats voluntarily, the need to designate priority seats will no longer exist,” Fu was quoted as saying by am730.
There are many instances where priority seats are vacant while the train compartment is jampacked, Fu said.
She said people should not take it too seriously. Using the seats under certain circumstances could help ease congestion, she said.
MTR said priority seats are assigned as part of an effort to encourage the culture of offering help to the needy.
However, all passengers are free to use those seats, it said.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
EL/AC/RA
-
How do you solve the math question of vaccine bubble? Ben Kwok
Imagine there is a cha chaan teng with eight tables, two of which are in the clean zone, a new term that will allow eight diners till 2am under the vaccine bubbles. Now six diners came in, three of
-
A ban on blank ballots would be terrible for sound governance Brian YS Wong
With the seismic political changes in Hong Kong has come the increasingly apparent stance from Beijing – the issues that permeate this city can and ought to be attributed to its intransigent,
-
Promoting green hiking in Hong Kong Dr. Winnie Tang
As Hong Kong people cannot travel aboard freely under the COVID-19 epidemic, they switch to local hiking activities instead, crowding countryside hotspots and creating garbage mountains. In March
-
Vetting election candidates or a witch-hunt? Michael Chugani
Opposition politicians thinking of competing in December’s Legislative Council elections must study Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah’s warning last week. It seemed more a threat than a warning.
-
Which is more popular–BioNTech or Sinovac? Ben Kwok
You are what you take when it comes to vaccination against Covid-19. I estimate most people in Hong Kong are asked at least three times a day whether you would consider to take Sinovac or BioNTech
-
China sanctions can bite
-
Saving Myanmar
-
Greenland vote damages China’s rare earth plans
-
How do you solve the math question of vaccine bubble?
-
Is stagflation coming?
-
Then, now and next: Retail’s roadmap for cryptocurrency
-
How uneven nature of pandemic impact boosts copper prices
-
Valuing resilience after the pandemic