The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation has had to get creative in order to enforce social distancing guidelines. They’re not playing around when it comes to keeping people apart.
The Zuoying High Speed Rail (HSR) station in Southern Taiwan tried to play nice and remind people to maintain social distance. At first, they tried to mark seats with an “X” to remind people to give each other space.
But stationmaster Liu Jun-zhe says that people didn’t abide by reminders or markers in the station. He said that any effort by staff to enforce social distancing risked turning into a conflict.
So what happens when people don’t listen? Well, that’s when the power tools come out! When people refused to leave seats empty, the HSR went ahead and removed the middle seats.
In their new configuration, the seats force people to comply with the 1.5 meter social distancing guidelines.
Every station is responsible for their own distancing measures. However, Zuoying is a transit hub between the city subway and bullet train system, which sees more substantial crowds. That’s why, here, stricter measures are needed.