same underground movement

I have this habit of observing people's behaviour at MRT stations. Like how they don't queue up, how they rush into the train before people can alight, how they don't move in, how they blast music, whether they offer their seats, etc. I thought these are uniquely Singapore, but during my recent trip to China and Hong Kong, I realize some of these could be universal.


I got the chance to ride on the Guangzhou Metro and the Hong Kong MTR. People generally queue up, but don't really wait for passengers to alight first before boarding. They are quite considerate though when it comes to listening to music on the earphones and reading newspaper.

As for offering seats, the culture in Guangzhou was quite obvious (and many people here have this general perception that people from mainland China aren't cultured). Passengers spring up from the seat when they see old folks. And the thing about the Guangzhou Metro train is that the seats are one long flat metal bench, so if you are thin you can squeeze a few more chaps. So I saw these few youngsters trying to "squeeze a bit" to let toddler or old folks to have a seat. The scene kind of touched me as people working together to bring about a better living space for all.

But what struck me most was the Guangzhou Metro's interval was only 1 minute apart.