As Taiwan heads into a long weekend, the Taiwan Railways Administration is preparing for a jump in ridership. To ensure its trains don’t become a vector for the spread of COVID-19, the administration is considering seating regulations that would keep passengers a safe distance from one another. However, not everyone is convinced that this will help much.
Friday is the start of Taiwan’s long Labor Day weekend, and this year, the Taiwan Railways Administration is considering limiting seating reservations. The idea is to allow people to travel without putting them at risk of getting COVID-19.
Under the proposed plan, tickets for window seats will go on sale first, and once those are sold out, tickets for aisle seats will go on sale.
Some passengers are not impressed with this proposal. They say that eliminating half of the seats will just mean more people standing in trains, and crowding together, too. Then, there’s the fact that people who pay with a debit card can sit wherever they want.
The railway company says that if there’s no way of keeping a proper distance between people, the only thing to do is to require all passengers to wear masks.