South Korea installs an alert system on subway cars to encourage passengers to give up their seats to pregnant women on busy commuter trains. The small Bluetooth device, called a beacon, is detected by sensors installed on the trains.
When a pregnant women carrying a beacon on her bag is within a two metre radius of the train's priority seating, a pink light illuminates, notifying passengers that there's an expectant mother looking for a seat. The Pink Light campaign was initially tested by 500 women in Busan, South Korea's second largest city.
The city plans to gradually expand the campaign to other commuter train and bus lines.The study revealed that some commuters hesitate to offer their seats to pregnant train travellers because they aren't absolutely sure if a woman is pregnant. The device removes that uncertainty.
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