The Silent Language of Priority Seating: Invisible Needs, Attention Barriers, and the Legitimacy Crisis in Public Transit

Abstract

Priority seating in Taiwan aims to serve “those in actual need” but has increasingly become a site of potential conflict. Despite regulatory changes expanding eligibility, friction remains, indicating that current conflicts stem from deep-seated structural issues regarding interactional visibility and moral judgment. To address this, the present study utilizes a two-phase qualitative approach in the Taipei Metro. Non-participant observation of 26 episodes identified five key themes, including attention barriers and information asymmetry. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews (n = 10) elicited motivations and risk trade-offs overlooked by observation alone. Findings indicate that while visible needs usually prompt seat-yielding in the vast majority of observed cases, invisible needs frequently lead to failure. Notably, nearly all Seekers used passive strategies, and more than two-thirds of Givers exhibited attention barriers due to digital immersion. Furthermore, bystander intervention, while effective in some instances, often escalated moral tension. Consequently, this paper proposes actionable interventions: (1) privacy-preserving nonverbal signaling channels; and (2) de-labeled visual communication. These measures aim to reframe seat-yielding from a specific seat obligation to a collective behavioral norm, thereby mitigating social stigma.

Keywords: Priority Seats, Seat-yielding, Prosocial Behavior, Invisible Needs, Information Asymmetry

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008036