Effective measures called for after woman snatches train seat

After a woman snatched another passenger's seat on a train bound to Shenzhen on Wednesday, the public has called for more effective measures to deal with such behaviors, reported Beijing News.

A video that has gone viral online shows the woman, surnamed Zhou, occupying a window seat instead of her own seat beside the aisle in a coach of a high-speed train departing from Yongzhou of Hunan Province. Zhou refused to vacate the seat or provide her ID for information verification, when a train safety officer tried to mediate. Zhou occupied the seat during the entire journey till she got off in Guangzhou, and the aggrieved passenger had to be allocated another seat.

A woman refuses to leave a window seat that belongs to another passenger on a train from Yongzhou to Shenzhen in this still image obtained from a social media video, September 19, 2018. [Screenshot: China Plus]

A statement issued by the public security department of the Guangzhou railway on Thursday said Zhou will face an administrative penalty of 200 yuan (around 29 U.S. dollars) for disrupting order in public transportation.

In a similar incident, a man pretended to be disabled to take another passenger's seat and refused to vacate it on a Beijing-bound train last month. The man was afterwards punished with a 200-yuan fine and a six-month rail travel ban by the railway authorities.

The incident has not only sparked wide condemnation among members of the public and the media but also raised the appeal for more effective measures to clamp down on the behavior.

A Beijing News report suggests the punishment should come in timeously to prevent such incidents happening again. "The railway police should take some effective actions immediately to deal with the passengers who disrupt order severely and disregard others," the report says.

Similarly, a report from the Legal Evening News says only timely law enforcement can help secure passengers' legitimate rights.

Some internet users suggest more intense punishment, such as the extended travel ban time and a raised penalty amount. Some say it should be compulsory to remove seat snatchers from the train, or the bully behavior will be rampant.