Hong Kong lawmakers have criticised the government’s unwillingness to create women-only areas on trains and buses, questioning why these areas are not afforded the same privileges as those granted under a special travel scheme designed for pets.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung dismissed the idea of establishing designated zones for men and women on Hong Kong’s public transport system during a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday, citing potential disruption to operations.
In response to a question from lawmaker Ambrose Lam San-keung, who inquired about setting up such zones to prevent sexual harassment, Tang said that designated compartments would present challenges to passenger flow management on train services.
He added that implementing such zones on buses was not viable due to the smaller size of the vehicles, which would affect boarding and alighting efficiency.
According to Tang, police received 141 reports of sexual assaults or indecent filming on public transport premises, such as compartments and stations, in the first five months of this year.
This accounted for 14 per cent of all cases reported in such locations.
The number of sex-related cases on public transport premises reached 374 in 2022, an increase of more than 100 from the previous year. The figure rose to 383 in 2023 before decreasing to 360 last year.
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But Lam expressed dissatisfaction with Tang’s response, questioning why the MTR Corporation could introduce special travel schemes for pets but not women-only compartments.
“It’s really better to be a dog or cat than to be a person,” he said.
The rail operator commenced a two-month trial in May to allow pet owners to bring their dogs or cats onto Light Rail trains on weekends and public holidays after purchasing a pass.
Lam asked whether the MTR Corp would use its experience from the pet scheme to launch a pilot programme for designated compartments for men and women.
But Liu Chun-san, undersecretary for transport and logistics, rejected the suggestion.
Liu explained that as the intention behind male or female-designated compartments was to prevent physical conflicts or indecent filming during crowded periods, such measures would need to be implemented during rush hours.
“If we run trials on non-peak hours and specific routes, we must carefully evaluate whether such trials could offer a useful reference,” he said.
He added that the MTR Corp considered it inappropriate to designate compartments based on sex, noting that it was not a common global practice.
But lawmaker Ngan Man-yu, who represents the Kowloon East constituency, said that the MTR Corp possessed the capability to manage passenger flow effectively, even with exclusive compartments, citing the example of first-class carriages on the East Rail Line.
“It gives residents a feeling that if you pay, the MTR could do it. If you don’t, the female-designated compartment will never be possible,” he said.
Another lawmaker, Elizabeth Quat, said that while not all women would require such compartments, their availability would at least provide a choice.
“But the problem is the government has never tried, despite our long raising of this issue,” she said.
In its reply to the South China Morning Post, the MTR Corp said it would not provide further comment and referred the newspaper to Tang’s remarks.
In a paper to the council’s subcommittee on matters relating to railways in 2011, the MTR Corp rejected the concept of women-only compartments, citing large passenger flow and challenges in flow control.
Similarly, in 2016, the government dismissed then-lawmaker Chiang Lai-wan’s suggestions to establish such areas for comparable reasons.
Tokyo is one of the few cities with women-only train compartments for rush hour as part of efforts to prevent sexual harassment.
The carriages are exclusively for women, people with disabilities, and children of junior school age or younger during peak traffic hours.
The Japanese capital’s metro rail system served an average of 6.84 million passengers every day in 2024, compared with the 4.68 million recorded on Hong Kong’s own service during weekdays.
