Should the Priority Seat Exist?

張貼日期：May 22, 2017 3:5:54 PM

Jenny Zheng

Recently people are discussing whether to abolish the priority seat or not, because some people think the youngster should make way for the elderly. In my opinion, the priority seat should not exist, for yielding the seat is a virtue, not an obligation, and abolishing the priority seat could decrease unnecessary dispute. The most importantly, we should consider every seat the priority seat.

Yielding the seat is a virtue, not an obligation. People should not be forced to do it. The signs on the MRT suggest to yield the seat to the elderly, the disabled, and pregnant women. But it is not our obligation to yield our seat if we ourselves are also in need of the seat to rest our tired or sick body. Everyone has the equal right on the public transportation. But in Taiwan, if we do not yield our seat, we would be chided by others. In Japan, people do not yield their seat on the public transportation because they think that is rude to tell people they are old enough to sit on the priority seat. And also they think that people should be responsible for themselves.

Abolishing the priority seat could decrease unnecessary dispute. For example, everyone knows it is hard to have a seat on the Red 5 bus because there are many people going to Yanmingshan. And if you want to have a seat you should line up. One time, the bus was full of people as usual. There was an old woman getting on the bus but the bus driver told her to take the next bus because there were no more seats. The old woman said it was fine. She said she could sit at the stair. At the time, a middle-aged woman said, “Can anyone yield the seat to the old woman?” and no one answered. She harped on the young people’s flippancy, not yielding the seat to the old people. I believed that the students who chose to sit had their reason. We could not force people to yield their seat.

Actually, every seat is the priority seat. I saw many times that people yielded their seat to the people in need even though they were not sitting on the priority seat. And I do that too because I know some people may need the seat more than I do. Most people are kind and helpful. They would offer a helping hand to anyone in need, no matter they are told to do so or not.

We should not stereotype the priority seat. The priority seat can be taken not only by the elderly but also by the people who suffer from discomfort we may not see. I think that the government should advocate that the priority seat is offered to people who are in need, not only old people. Most importantly, we should realize that all the seats are priority seats which are for anyone in need.