Letters | Why is Hong Kong MTR giving smokers an easy ride?

While commuters can be slapped with warning letters and fines for eating or drinking, smokers are allowed to get away with a potential fire hazard

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Frequent announcements on the MTR warn commuters that eating or drinking is not allowed on trains or in the paid areas of stations. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 6:45am, 24 Sep 2020Updated: 6:45am, 24 Sep 2020

Many subway systems in the world do not allow smoking, but Hong Kong’s MTR may well be an exception.

According to MTR by-laws, eating, drinking and smoking are prohibited in specific places on the premises. The prohibition against eating or drinking is heavily enforced across MTR stations and lines, with offenders receiving warning letters and even penalty tickets from staff if they are caught engaging in either activity once they have crossed the turnstiles.

There are frequent announcements warning commuters that eating or drinking is not allowed on trains or in the paid areas of the stations, whether inside the train carriage or on the platform. The message is even shown on the signboard of every MTR station entrance. Smoking, however, seems to be permitted to some degree on station premises.

Indeed, theoretically, smoking is prohibited on any part of MTR premises and trains, but some commuters light up on their way to the office, home or shopping centre and cigarette butts are sometimes found at both ends of the platform or in the aisle between compartments. Some of these litter butts I have seen are still glowing, producing not only an unpleasant odour for passengers nearby but also a potential fire hazard.

Some years ago, local cartoonist Jasmine Tse Man-yan, creator of the self-referencing Tse Sai Pei character, told of how she saw a man smoking on an East Rail line train. After she repeatedly alerted MTR staff to it, and even brought the man back after he had walked away, he was let go with a mere warning. It would appear that, compared to being caught eating or drinking, being caught smoking does not matter too much.

MTR managers should not forget the tragedy of the King’s Cross station fire in the London Underground in 1987, which claimed 31 lives including that of a senior firefighter, after a lit match fell through a gap on a wooden escalator and set fire to the grease and litter beneath the steps. The whole station was engulfed in flames.

For the safety of the mass transit system, the MTR smoking ban must be heavily enforced, at least to the same degree as seen when dealing with hungry commuters who cannot wait to have a meal before leaving the station.