The operator of Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system on Tuesday apologized to a mother who complained that MRT staff had insisted on measuring her baby stroller, with her twins inside, before allowing her to enter a station.
Taipei Rapid Transportation Corp said in a statement that babies in strollers can be taken on the MRT without the stroller being subject to size restrictions that apply to other large items.
The company said it apologized to the mother twice by telephone, and asked to meet with her to apologize in person and explain how it is planning to bolster efforts to update its staff about enforcing regulations.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Rapid Transportation Corp
The statement came after a Chinese-language TV channel earlier that day said that it had received a complaint from the mother, citing her as saying that MRT staff stopped her and her children to measure the stroller when entering MRT Shuanglian Station.
They told her that a stroller is considered a piece of luggage that can only been taken on the MRT when its length, width and height do not exceed a combined 220cm, with the longest side measuring less than 165cm, the TV channel reported.
Instead of having the stroller measured, the mother walked to nearby MRT Zhongshan Station, where staff stopped her again at the gate to measure her stroller, it said.
She allowed them to measure it and was let in, the channel said, citing her as saying that the attitude of MRT staff made her very sad.
They ignored that her children were in the stroller and repeatedly said it was a piece of luggage, she was cited as saying.
She said she had never been treated like that before when taking the MRT, the channel reported.
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