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Following a pregnant commuter’s disappointment at not being offered a seat on the train, one man has suggested a more “fundamental shift” in public transport campaigns.
While he agrees that the current system of fixed priority seats are well-intentioned, Stomper Henry believes this “inadvertently creates a psychological bystander effect”.
Citing the pregnant commuter’s experience, Henry said what bothered him was not just younger, able-bodied commuters refusing to give up priority seats, but passengers on other “non-priority” seats also not doing the same.
“By labeling specific seats, we signal that all other seats are exempt from the expectations of basic civic courtesy,” said Henry, who is in his 50s.
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In his view, this leads to able-bodied passengers remaining glued to their devices, “secure in the knowledge that they are not seated beneath a priority sticker”.
The Stomper recalled an incident in which a seemingly able-bodied man on a priority seat was engrossed with his phone and did not give up his seat to an elderly commuter in front of him. Henry beckoned the elderly man to take his “non-priority seat”.
“I’m not sure why he was not offered a seat by those who were closer to him. Perhaps he looked too ‘strong’ to qualify as a person who needed the seat more?” questioned the Stomper.
Every seat should be a priority seat
Henry suggested a paradigm shift: treating every seat as a priority seat.
