Slice of Life: Policing the MTR
A ten-year-old kid sitting in a priority seat is refusing to get up. He’s ignoring the elderly woman standing right in front of him, who is struggling to stand as the train rattles around the corner – even with the assistance of her cane and a loose grip on a pole – and his mother beside him seems unaware of the embarrassing faux pas her son is committing. But that’s what I’m here for today. I blow a whistle, and as the boy gets up, I issue him (and his mother) with a yellow card. He grows red with embarrassment.
In the last few days, I’ve taken it upon myself to be a keeper of manners on the MTR. One morning, after being head-butted in the groin by a toddler, I realised that there’s no grand overseer of MTR rules. The attractively voiced PA announcer is all but ignored (she deserves better). Origami rabbits urging calm don’t quite do the trick in the madness of peak hour. And all the MTR staff seem to do is ask you to shuffle down the platform. Rather than a passive suggestion to obey the rules, my approach involves up-close-and-personal humiliation.
And so, armed with a whistle and yellow cards, I’ve started enforcing a list of ubiquitously known rules:
1. Let passengers exit first.
2. Give your seat to someone in need.
3. Children should stand for adults.
4. No eating or drinking.
5. Stand on the right of the escalators.
6. Move away from the door area.
Everyone knows them, but not everyone follows them. In a single day on the MTR floor, I cautioned a trio of teenagers skulking in the corner and drinking their icy fad drinks (“Bubble tea might be delicious and refreshing, but that doesn’t mean you can drink it on the MTR”). I blew the whistle on a selfish little man who decided that the left side of the North Point MTR escalator was designed for standing (people I call ‘crabs’ because of their inability to move forward). And I took great pleasure in physically halting a ‘barger’ who clearly wasn’t waiting for passengers to exit. But of all the incidents, the ten-year-old boy and his mother was the most disappointing.
The elderly lady adjusts her walking stick, planting herself in the seat with a broad smile. And as she sends a wave of thanks in my direction, I imagine an MTR bulging with yellow cards, where up-close-and-personal humiliation could be dispensed by you or I or the average commuter. To make the MTR a better place, perhaps shame is the answer.
Mark Tjhung
Think something else needs policing? Email me at mark.tjhung@timeout.com.hk with suggestions. See our enforcer at work below.
11 Comments Add your comment
But there are just SO MANY people breaking the rules and just being generally selfish, it's impossible for one man with a yellow card to enforce. And notice how your targets looked at you like you were some crazy man, and you yourself start to feel self conscious. It's a sad state of affairs, really. Nice try, though.
Children should stand for adults? Why? I don't see the connection to the other rules.
luv luv luv it!!! Thumbs up!! It's really not convincing that the MTR keep telling people to do goods to the others, but the same time go distribute free newspaper to the people during peak hr! Som selfish people took it for granted to just occupied double spaces (almost A3 big of the sizes) with the newspaper in the center part of the carriage, others just have no choice but squeeze standing on the sides!!!Comeon! Such a mock ! Reading world round news doesn't mean you even know the basic respect for the others! Pathetic!!!!!!!
you seem to be imposing your cultural norms on the people of HK. don't like it, go back to your own country. thank you and you get a yellow card too.
"Imposing your cultural norms on the people of HK"? Hmmm now correct me if this being overly righteous but giving your seat up for an elderly person should supercede the 'culture arguement' - it's basic human decency and manners to do so. And not letting people on before boarding the train? Now that's just plain stupidity... people who get off the train make room for the people boarding - duh!
Imposing cultural ideals? No - try enforcing HK MTR's own bylaws. If you've never looked at them, they're posted in every station, usually by the ticket machines. However, I have to say that children standing up for adults is not one of these bylaws. A ten-year-old's legs get tired far faster than a twenty- or fifty- year old (a sweeping generalisation, yes, but the point still stands). The wording is "others in need" - so an elderly person, disabled person, or anyone who has difficulty standing for long periods. Indeed, for young children, I will often give up my seat to the kid or the mother (parent's choice) since lugging a kid around all day is harder than what I, as a single, twenty-something male lug around: a laptop case.
This has nothing to do with 'imposing cultural norms'. It is plainly about manners and respect. Basic manners are almost non existent here in HK. But then, how can we wonder: if the parents don't know them, how shall they teach their kids? This is a vicious circle. Even in western countries, manners are not always there - yet, compared to HK, they do much better. Ignorance is a bliss here. Sadly.
It fails when you can't even speak/understand the local language.
"Even in western countries, manners are not always there - yet, compared to HK, they do much better" What planet are you from? Have you been to London? New York? The trains are dirty as hell and dangerous after dark. Worring about being raped is pretty damn rude. Go back "home" or go abroad. Buy some prespective.
In regards to the comments of the previous poster (Aaron): you got to be kidding, right? "Worrying about being raped.." - that has nothing to do with manners. That's a completely different story, namely security. That in HK, thanks to our "great" police force (lol), we are pretty good off with that. Our train is clean. Yes. In those places you mentioned "the trains are dirty". No, they are not as sparkly clean as our MTR, but they are usable. At least every now and then people seem to have manners there. Oh, and before I get scolded for my remarks, I have been born here, grew up here, lived here but also elsewhere around the world. The poster "Al" has a point there, saying manners in HK are in lack of. This issue has much deeper roots and manners are just a small yet important part of it.
you must be quite embarassed, uh? being a crazy man and holding out a yellow card whenever someone does something wrong >< (i know this is for the commuinity, but it is true)
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