PUBLISHED ONAugust 19, 2026 12:00 AMBYKoh Xing YingA man has come up with an unconventional way to deal with passengers who play music or videos loudly on public transport — he offers them free earphones.
In a video shared on TikTok on Friday (Aug 14), Josh Goh is seen approaching a female bus passenger who can be heard playing a video on her phone.
He then offered the woman a pair of earphones.
While Goh tried to persuade her by telling her the earphones were free and brand new, she did not accept them.
He took the rejection in stride, jesting that she may have turned down the earphones because they were not wireless ones.
The volume on her phone, however, did die down after the exchange.
Speaking to 8world on Tuesday, Goh shared that the incident took place last Sunday.
As a result, he began carrying spare earphones about two months ago, with the intention of offering them to such passengers.
To date, Goh has tried this approach eight to nine times, successfully giving away three or four pairs of earphones.
One passenger even gave him a thumbs-up after accepting the earphones.
"I'm someone who focuses on solving problems," Goh told the Chinese publication.
"So I brought out some earphones I had collected to see if distributing them to others would solve the noise issue."
In the comments section, several netizens praised Goh's actions, while others said they hoped to see more people like him.
"You are a hero," one commented. Another added: "Well done bro, need more people who are like you. Can't stand people who just blast their phone on public transport".
Some netizens also questioned whether new laws had been introduced to address noise on public transport.
"Aren’t there new laws now about noise on public transport?" one asked.
"Bus driver should've reminded errant passengers," added another.
Amendments to the Bus Services Industry Act last October allow the Land Transport Authority to take stronger action against bus passengers over disruptive or inconsiderate behaviour such as littering or causing a nuisance by playing loud music.
AsiaOne has reached out to Goh for more information.
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xingying.koh@asiaone.com
