The carrying-big-things-on-the-MTR controversy continues, with the principal cellist for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bamping, being painted as the latest crusader for the right to carry large instruments on the MTR.
Bamping claimed in a private Facebook post that an MTR staff member told him that cellists cannot bring their instruments onto the MTR and those who try will be asked to leave the station, reports Apple Daily.
“According to “Phoebe from the MTR hotline, Cellists who dare to carry their own instruments are no longer welcome to travel on the MTR and will be asked to leave the station!!” Bamping wrote.
The cellist also wrote that the MTR “went as far as refusing to allow cellists to buy an extra ticket for their instrument,” he continued in a comment.
“That makes them worse than any airline!”
Speaking to Coconuts HK, Bamping said that Phoebe was in fact very polite, and contrary to how local media reported his exchange, he was not directly quoting the MTR worker.
Earlier this month, a young girl was stopped for carrying a guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument, on the MTR. Last week, a Baptist University student was allegedly followed, interrogated and threatened with a HKD2,000 fine for carrying a cello on the train.
Many Hongkongers are voicing their anger at the supposed double standards that the MTR Corporation maintains, letting “parallel traders” carry large packges on the train, while persecuting musicians who happen to play large, cumbersome instruments.
According to the MTR website, the total of the length, width and height of the luggage should not exceed 170 centimetres and any side should not exceed 130 centimetres in length.
One yangqin (a traditional Chinese instrument) teacher, named Mavis Lung, wants people to bring their musical instruments onto the MTR in protest, reports Apple Daily. She said she would be bringing her instrument – which typically measures about 120 by 60 centimetres – to Tai Wai Station on Saturday evening, from 6pm to 8pm.
“Grey goods traders have been allowed to travel with washing machines or other oversized items; students or musicians were fined for entering a station carrying their musical instruments,” it says in the Facebook event for the planned protest.
“Musicians and music students in Hong Kong, unite! Protect our right to use the MTR!”
The event page, called “Let’s bring our musical instruments to take MTR”, has attracted 3,500 people who said they will be attending. However some netizens are worried that the protest would affected genuine MTR users and suggested that they use the more traditional protest method of holding banners instead.
Photo: Buzz via Flickr
