A Taipei resident who wanted to know what it took to get fined on Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system for eating or chewing gum or betel nut in MRT stations or trains — after seeing other people violate the rules several times and not being punished — decided to find out for himself.
HAPPY FINE
Huang Ming-an (黃民安) said that after chewing gum in the MRT system for a month-and-a-half, he was finally “happy” when an MRT employee approached him and imposed a fine.
Huang said on Facebook that he once tried to stop a drunken man from starting to smoke on the train, but an MRT staffer only looked at them and left.
“I ended up being sworn at,” Huang said.
He said that several months ago, he wanted to stop another man from chewing betel nut, as it is prohibited to do so in the MRT system, but a staffer again only glanced at them and left without taking any action.
After those experiences, Huang said he began to wonder what it would take to get fined for breaking MRT regulations — and he decided to find out for himself.
He started chewing gum whenever he entered an MRT station, “but for a whole month-and-a-half, nobody approached me,” he said.
The moment finally came earlier this month.
“I was, in fact, happy,” Huang said. “Although this was not something meaningful, at least I got the answer to my question, even if it still hurts, because I had to pay a NT$1,500 fine.”
Since he posted his experience on Facebook, about 5,000 people have “liked” it.
‘SPECIAL CASE’
Commenting on the case, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp vice president Sheng Chih-chang (沈世藏) said that eating or chewing gum or betel nut is not allowed on the MRT system, and that most passengers are warned by station staff for doing so, adding that the company would only slap fines on those who frequently ignore the regulations.
“What Huang has experienced must be a special case,” Sheng said.
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