Eight out of eight give up seat to pregnant woman in MRT??

T

thesavvymummy

New Member

OMG! That is so not true!

Many times during rush hour, it may be impossible to squeeze to the 'reserved' seats and expect people to give up their seats to us. Either they:

1. Fake sleep, or

2. Play with the phone

3. Totally avoid looking our way....



And I observed that if the reserved seat is taken up by another pregnant lady, the people sitting beside the reserved seat will totally ignore if another pregnant lady is standing right in front of them. They expect only to give up seats if they are seated on the reserved area.



Talk about graciousness.

 
when i saw the article i was like so angry how did they do the survey???



last yr when i was preggie n stomach was obvious only 2 out of 10 mrt trips i take, only 1 person will give up seat for me!!

 
Hi, same here... when i was pregnant last year, even till my last month. I was only been offered seat 2 out of 5 days per week. I need to take LRT transferred MRT at CCK during morning peak hour.. and situation in both LRT and MRT are the same.. And very strangly, the person sitting at the "priority seat" is always closing eyes one.. : (

 
hmm...me quite lucky then,. when i preg time, most of the mrt trips i take ppl gave up their seat. hmm...i can say 9 out of 10 times.

i think i cant tahan w/o seat cos my journey is v long wor and daily thing.

 
Same here. currently 24 weeks le..



but people also dun give up their seat when i'm standing next to thr reserved seat.. my tummy is big and abvious lo..

wonder the news true a not..

 
My DH once told me, if no one offer seat to me, then ask for it. Walk up to the person sitting on the reserved seat and ask if he mind to give up the seat to a pregnant lady. Even if he doesnt get up, the person sitting next to him will also give up seat for you.

I haven try yet as mine is not obvious at all. But i will try it the next time when its more obvious!

 
I am lucky. They do give up seat to me.[IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/happy.gif]



But sometimes, the train is so cramp that i cant even move to the centre... wonder how come so many pple...



for those sleeping, cant be help, can be tired... for those who play with the phone or reading, i always felt that if u hv the strength to play with the phone, then shld at least give ur seat...

 
I think the trick is to make your presence felt. There are people who are truly engrossed in their phones or just day dreaming that don't see you.



I find that it helps being directly in their line of sight and wearing maternity clothes that make it really obvious that you are pregnant. Worse come to worse can try clearing the throat? :p



---------------------------------------



Visit http://thesavvymummy.wordpress.com for hot tips, reviews and funny anecdotes of a first time mummy in Singapore.

 
I think it's pathetic on the survey....it would be impossible for ppl to give up seats esp for those 3-4mths where tummy is not so obvious...



I think SMRT should put a rule all reserved seats should be occupied by the listed 4 type of ppl only. They should leave it empty unless the 4 types of ppl is only allowed for those reserved seats. If not..what is the purpose of reserved and yet occupied by those strong and lazy ppl............

SIGH...........

 
Agree.. as a matter of fact in Japan and Taiwan, such seats were left vacant most of the time.

people dun take them

 
kekeke...i must say this. women 3-4mths preg is not obvious at all le and when they sit on reserved seat and another heavily preg woman board the train then how? the 3-4mths preg woman would be deem as "bad" if she no give up her seat. i kena this...when i 3-4mths preg, i take the reserved seat 1 sat morn and the train is super crowded and few stns down a man board the train and his leg is injured. a middle age woman tap my shoulder and ask me get up for that injured wor. i look at her...i says...sorry but i am preg and as the train is v noisy she couldnt hear proper and i got to repeat a few times louder n louder till she hear.

and the woman sitting beside me is fast asleep wor and no one ask her to wake up le.

 
ya ... I totally agree with you smiley about the not obvious tummy...Of cos...if there is another lady that is with bigger tummy i will give up my seat cos she needs it more than me....



But the issue now is those that are not in those 4 category is occupying those reserved seats....Cos now i am experiencing this....



This am...I stand infront of a lady at the reserved seat...She saw me but continued to play her iphone...lowered her head and then ultimately pretend to sleep.........



I must say...I wore maternal wear and it's really quite obvious.......How I wished..SMRT can follow Japan and Taiwan to set a rule leaving those reserved seats vacant and meant for the 4 category only.....



I really doubt the credibility of the survey done recently..... SIgh.....

 
Now not all the ppl are graceful enough to give up their seats. When you board the train, they will start to sleep, read newspaper, play with their iphone. Worse still they even fight wif u for the seat, they will walk faster than u and occupied the seat, and pretend not to see you. Once there is a malay teenage girl even cover her face when she c me and pretend to sleep and finally 'wake up' when I sat down......

 
Agree agree.... people are really not gracious enough...



Just came back from my taiwan trip. I'm abt 24 weeks preggie, and anywhere I go, people will volunteerily give up their seats to me. When I take the train, I can be guaranteed 100% seating. In singapore, people will just pretend to sleep, play handphone, pretend not to see you. The amazing thing is when they reach their station, they will know and can get off quickly... Sigh... talk about singapore being gracious... we still have a long way to go.

 
haha...typical singaporean i guess.. when i was studying in Adelaide, not even pregnant tt time an old man give up his seat for me..cz im a girl and he is a man..i was like, its ok...cz he need it more than me...but the thought was great...unlike the teenagers nowdays...the man in train nowdays also annoying le. they can just sit and ignore... no civic moral education for them i guess...

 
I can totally relate to what you guys are saying! What is appalling is that the people who wanted to give up their seats for me on MRTs and buses were old folks while the younger ones just didn't bother!



I think the trick to get a seat really is to be assertive. There was one occasion when I did ask a teenager to give up the priority seat as the journey was going to be long and I was heavily pregnant by then. It worked! Guess being thick-skinned helps but it just pisses me off that so many people are not sufficiently gracious to offer their seat to someone who needs it more! Rrrr....





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That time I was travelling with my 2mths old son and had to carry him on the train. I stand for quite a while and a heavily pregnant lady had to give up her seat to me.. Luckily the auntie next to her know how feel embarassed and quickly get up to let us both have a seat each.

 
Hi,



I was always thinking why our MRT cannot reserved 1 cabin for pregnant woman,old,and handicapped etc.. I mean when everybody know the designated cabin is for the needy commuters, they will try to avoid..



Wonder how many of you think this wild idea will work? : P

 
haha...how often i also will be wondering why SMRT do not want to offer 1 cabin just for pregnant woman, old and handiscapped ppl.



I'm 5mthsplus pregnant and my tummy is quite obvious when im wearing maternity.. Most ppl who sit at the reserved seat will stare at my tummy only. i guess they r debating whether i'm pregnant or plumb. =P I will said that out of 5 days, i do not get a single seat lor...



Most of the time i stand in front of them, they will stare at my tummy but nv offer the seat. When a person alight and there is available seat, normally is those who standing offer the seat to me. -_______-"



Guess we must hold a banner said we are pregnant and perhaps ppl will give us seat? =P

 
hahahahaha.....

what a joke.... 8 out of 8 give up sit for pregnant women....

I was 5 mths pregnant... out of so many trips taking mrt only three times people give up sit to me...

some of them even tried to walk faster than me to grab the seat...

& the worse part is they are ladies....

cnt image if they are pregnant & nobody give up seat for them how they feels....

those sitting on the reserve seat also dun wana give up their seat for us lor...

reserve seat what a crab.....

 
Seems like the rest of the people who are not sitting on the reserved seats think that it is not their "responsibility" to give up their seats for the needy. Instead they will all wait for the one sitting on the reserved seat who always happen to be sleeping to give up seat.



So rarely ppl give up seats to me that it makes me wonder if I really look fat instead of pregnant!



Oh.. I am 8 months pregnant le..



I heard that in Japan, pregnant ladies are given a special tag to hang on their bags. This way, even tho they are in their early stage of pregnancy, people will still know they are pregnant. Not sure if it will work in Singapore coz some kiasu aunties might abuse it...

 
this is so not ture..but i think it still depend on timing..during morning peak and evening peak alot of people especially youngster they just pretend they nv see..usually aunty and uncle is the one that give seat to me

 
Sigh, reading this thread reminds me of my last pregnancy.. where I will rate chance of getting a seat on mrt is 50%. It really depends on ur luck.. I also noticed certain age grp/gender are more willing than others to offer their seats.



1 Teenagers (be it boys or girls, forget about counting on them).

2 Young working ladies in their 20s (not reliable too)

3 Middle age men in their late 30s to 40s (foget abt them as well. They seems like mcp... like only men deserve the seats, the rest all can stand.)



The following groups are better:

1 Young working male (in their early 20s to early 30s)

2 Middle age ladies



We sure have a long way to go in terms of ppl taking initiative to give up their seats to those in need...

 
Some observations I have made on the train thought...there are a few times when I gave up my seat to a preggie lady but not a single word of thanks and worst that face have the word " I owed them the seat" kinda of look. No doubt its only social rights that we should give up seats to someone who might need it more than us, but at least a thank you or smile will be sufficient? Im not sure if such encounters might or might not lead to the result of pp not bothering to give up their seat.

 
I am 6.5 mths pregnant and no one gave up their seat for me. Sadly, it was an old uncle that offered me his seat. Fortunately, I was only travelling 4 stations and do not require the seat badly so I declined and thanked the old uncle for his kind gesture.



The train should play regular annoucements as a reminder for passengers to offer their seats to those who need it more.

 
I am now in the train a guy just sat on the reserve seat when he saw me, he quickly close his eyes.



So sleepy.... Zzzzzz

 
this pple are all so bad and terrible. like what some mummies said over here, my friend taught me this. step on their foot REALLY HARD until they will 'wake up' from their sleep and said: excuse me, i'm pregnant and need the seat, can u stand? she used this excuse for her friend who's heavily pregnant, and hey i tell ya, it worked! [IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/happy.gif]

Last time when i'm pregnant and took the MRT alone, also not many times i can have a seat. all depends lor

 
ya. once a malay aunty pretended to sleep and i was holding to my 3 year old gal. She saw me k, and quickly close her eyes

 
I have to agree with ForestBerries that some pregnant ladies make people feel that "we owed them the seat". To be honest, no one has the obligations to give up their seats, considering the fact that they paid for the same fare, and if they did, it's out of goodwill.

 
I agree that those young working MALES are worse than young working ladies... most of the time, it's those ladies and even aunties who gave up their seats to me lo.. some males simply sit at the reserved seats and pretend not to see... lousy.. NS train them to be such TOUGH guys oh?!

 
Well..I encountered before that the people sitting on the priority seat gave up the seat to me with a very very black face even i said Thanks to them. Guess their minds were thinking why they were so unlucky =x

 
Honey - yes, no one owes them the seat. But, since the seat is being reserved for certain people (as per the sticker above the priority seat), then in the first place, people shouldn't have sit on those seat. Therefore, it is right to give up those seats for those who need it.

 
Yah, agreed with froggie... Those seats are reserve for them so those people should give up their seat to those in needs..



I admit tat i also sit on those priority seat (sometime) but i will give up the seat to those who need it more than me when i saw them....

 
hi



when u enter the train...i guess u will always try to move to stand in front of reserved seat,if not the middle? but i realise mos of the trains' handgrill are in the centre row and not front/back row, so if train is crowded, there can be no handgrill to hold...what do u do?



i sometimes stand without handgrill so no grill to hold [IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/sad.gif]

 
I am 6 months pregnant and had board the train at Raffles Place around 6.20pm on 6/7/2011. There are less than 3 commuters standing, with the rest taken their seats. The Chinese lady (sleeping) was walking next to me but speed up to get the reserve seat and fall asleep immediately. And look at the way she sleeps, how on earth one can fall asleep just immediately you sat down. Another pic show Indonesian ladies, not only have they swooped seats at high speed with another lady on the opposite and they happily chatting away after the swop. Another two pictures show Singaporean couple and man in his 50s. Singapore claim to have world class transportation and promotes graceful society. I am a pure Singaporean carrying the next generation Spore baby. But here I am fighting with so many ugly people. I have always been proud to be Singaporean, but my belief was greatly shaken as I grow older.



[IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/3877999/5700358.jpg][IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/3877999/5700359.jpg][IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/3877999/5700360.jpg][IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/3877999/5700361.jpg][IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/3877999/5700362.jpg]

 
8 out of 8?? Hah! This survey is a joke!



I absolutely hate taking the mrt train to work when i'm preggy.



A) When the platform gates opened, there is danger of being pushed and elbowed by other commuters rushing into the train.

b)If you are standing in the train, the working guys with their big bulky haversacks around you poses another danger as they just turn or take a step back without looking and their bags could hit you in your tummy and they don't even know it!

c)Even if you are heavily pregnant and standing in front of the reserved seats, you can be rendered as good as invisible. The person is either sleeping or playing with their hp pretending not to see you. If i'm feeling fine and don't mind standing, i would just console myself that these people are handicapped - in terms of visual (they can't see you right?) and mentally ( they don't know how to read the signs too). However, if i'm very tired and legs are aching, i would take matters in own hands, and tap the person sitting there and ask if they could give the seat to me. Most of the time , they would oblige cos everybody else is looking at them.

d) I find it's pretty ironical that those people sitting down at non-reserved seats will look with the "tsk tsk" look at the person "sleeping" in the reserved seat, but never thought of offering their own. True that seat may be labeled as reserved, but graciousness should not be restricted by a label.



Forestberries: Agree that some people I have given the seat up to do have a "you should " look. I personally do try to smile and say thanks if somebody offers a seat to me. But on the other hand, i can empathise with the black face the person is showing. Having gone through a pregnancy, it's very sianz what preggy women and those pushing babies in prams have to go through. People will deliberately cut you off in your path everywhere ..across the gantry, up the escalator, in the lift (some ppl will even press repeatedly for the door to close in your face even if you are trying to walk as fast as possible to the lift door) . Facing these kind of situation, it's inevitable to be rather black faced when you finally ended up hot and bothered on the train. =_="

 
I think I was pretty fortunate. Most times, people just give up the seat to me, some will even come up to me to tell me to take the seat. Maybe because I am pretty short, so stomach looks pretty big. hmmm.



But there was this one time, a Indian teenager (19 20 plus) actually rush past me to grab the seat and looked pretty smug about it. As it was not crowded and I was going off the next stop, I didn't want the seat anyway. But what gets me was the smug look.



I wondered what his generation was going too, especially with so many comments on the rudeness of Gen Y and below..

 
8 out of 8 is ridiculously inaccurate!



I realised people more often give up seats to those with bigger tummies and you must wear tight-fitting clothes to show the tummy and they will be careful around you.



Cos in CBD area at peak hours, no one will care about you, they just see you as obstructing their way - agree about burly men with haversacks and women with big bags not bothering where their bags hit and side-stepping you.



On MRT trains, I have encountered one incident that made my blood boil. Was standing at reserved seat but the OL was playing on her iPhone and staring like 2cm away from her phone. I pretended to accidentally kick her and she just curl up and continued playing. The lady next to her is best, took off her specs to tell people she short-sighted and went to sleep!



Wish it was like Japan/ Taiwan/ HK where no one dares to sit on the reserved seats at all. And people will move into the centre of the station.



Normally when people give me seats, I will smile say a loud thank you but no one acknowledges at all but it's OK, as long as got seat. [IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/happy.gif]

 
I agree with all of you here! Only during my last 2 months when my tummy shows then got passengers offer seats to me but it only happens like once in a blue moon? If not, many will keep giving me weird stares as if trying to judge if I'm just fat with a bulging tummy or preg... -__-||| dunno should b happy or sad....haiz...



I'm not those who will keep staring at those seated passengers but it's always nice for them to be 'automatic' in letting go of their reserved seats for those who need it more than them.

 
yes when your tummy is showing then they will give you the seat.



if u can avoid taking the crowded train, try to take the train that is less crowded, meaning got empty space to stand in the cabin. usually, the passengers' eyes are still open when the train is not so crowded. then they will "see" u coming in and high chance of giving u getting the seat.



i realise standing in front of students has a lower chance of getting a seat [IMG=http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/clipart/sad.gif] 9 out of 10 wun give u a seat even when your tummy is showing... its the working pp who give me the seat...

 
Rubbish (the survey result, I mean)!



thru out my 37 weeks of pregnancy, only 3 person stood up to give up their seat for me. During the last month of my pregnancy, one man in his thirties even 'fight' for the corner seat with me! The train door opened and I walked in, aiming the corner seat which was empty. Suddenly, this man dashed passed me and slammed his bum onto the seat and immediately "fell asleep"! #)$&()@__($



But I find that things changed after my child was born. When I have to take the train with my child, 9 out of 10 times someone (any age, any race, any gender) will give up their seat for my child and me. It's amazing but it's true. For this, I came up with an idea - They didnt like my look la, that's why refused to give up their seat hahahha

 
the survey camnnot be true. was carrying kid n ppl just pretend to sleep or play on iphone. have to ask "do u mind if i have this seat?" before someone gives up. smoetimes old folks give up seats for me, not teenagers or working adults!

 
Ok, not sure about weekdays morning rush cos I take bus to work.. But I had people giving up seats to me most of the time - around 9 out of 10 times...



mabbe I usually have the look that I am looking for seats and I will keep eye contact with the people seating down. hehehe..

 


i ever had an encounter when i ask the guy next to me to give up his seat to a heavily preg lady standing in front of us (i was in my first trimester and feeling weak). He retorted by asking why dont i give up my seat instead? I had to tell him that im preg too b4 he grudgingly gave up his seat.



SIGH.

 
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