Pregnant women struggling to bag a seat on the famously packed Tokyo subway could find their salvation in a new app connecting them with nearby passengers willing to give up their coveted perch. Current top breaking Philippine headlines regarding the nation, world, metro manila, regions and exclusive special investigative reports.
Pregnant women struggling to bag a seat on the famously packed Tokyo subway could find their salvation in a new app connecting them with nearby passengers willing to give up their coveted perch. The digital match-making app being trialled this week on the metro aims to overcome two problems especially prevalent in Japan: passengers generally have their nose buried in their phones and talking is strictly frowned upon. The service allows a pregnant woman to send a message when she wants a seat. The app will then look for generous pre-registered users who have said they are willing to give up their seats. If there is a match, the pregnant woman gets a seat map on her smartphone screen showing her partner's location. The exchange can be made without giving personal information to each other. Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) has been testing the service this week on one of the key subway lines in conjunction with Tokyo Metro and the Line messaging app company.