Hongkongers are no strangers to arguments over who gets to occupy a priority seat on MTR, as many who sit on the priority seat – or some referred to as the “humiliation seat” – have been photographed and tried by social media online.
The latest incident that sparked an online debate was shared to a Facebook group, with one netizen saying he was told off by an elderly man for occupying the priority seat when he was on his way from Central to North Point after work.
The netizen said he was suffering from a cold and exhausted from work that day, so he had chosen to occupy the priority seat for his journey. To no surprise, he was graced by an elderly man who felt entitled to the seat and asked him to give it up.
The netizen said some other passengers had already offered their seats to the elderly man, yet the man insisted on him moving out of the priority seat.
Luckily, the netizen said a young couple stepped up and defended him, even accompanying him to his destination.
The story did not tell whether the elderly man got what he asked for, but the netizen pointed out that one takeaway from this story is that there are still people in Hong Kong who would stand up and defend a total stranger in the face of unjust events.
Other netizens also rallied in the comment section, calling the railway operator to cancel the priority seats.
“Vacating our seats for the elderly should be part of behavior dictated by our traditional values, instead of any rules,” one netizen wrote.
Hong Kong United Times丨香港聯合時報丨HKUT 