The priority seat is a promise.
Keep the reserved seat free for those who need it - elders, pregnant women, and people with disabilities - and give yours up if asked.
It costs you a two-minute stand. It saves someone a fall.
Here's the science
- What happensOccupying a reserved seat when you don't need it
- HowPeople with limited mobility must stand and are thrown off balance by braking and jolts in a moving vehicle
- SoAvoidable falls and injuries, and the everyday indignity of being left standing
How it works - the size isn't measured hereIN
“Indian law provides for reserved seating and accessible public transport for persons with disabilities.”
Framed as the reason for the norm, not as a measured injury statistic.
Source: Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 - accessible transport and reserved seating - Government of India(checked 2026-07-18)
And when we do it
A free priority seat lets the people who most need to sit travel safely, with dignity, and without asking.
You couldn't have known. Now you do.