Woman with disability left stranded after bus lift fails to work

A woman with a mobility disability was left stranded at a bus station in Vilnius after the lift on her intercity bus failed to function, preventing her from boarding, LRT.lt reports.

Laura, whose name has been changed at her request, had booked a ticket in advance with TOKS, a long-distance transport company, for a trip from Vilnius to Pakruojis. She had also notified the company a week earlier that she would be traveling with a wheelchair. Despite receiving confirmation that the route was accessible, the bus driver claimed to have no knowledge of her booking upon arrival.

When the driver was unable to operate the bus lift, he suggested carrying Laura onto the bus manually. She refused, stating: “I am not luggage. I have already experienced what it’s like to be carried onto a bus once—I don’t want to do it again.”

Laura described the driver’s repeated, unsuccessful attempts to activate the lift as a “spectacle,” adding that the situation left her with too much uncertainty. “If the driver couldn’t get me on the bus, how could I be sure they could safely get me off in Pakruojis? I didn’t want to risk being stuck on the bus,” she said.

She emphasized that accessibility should not be a matter of luck: “I just want to buy a ticket, get on the bus, and go home—like everyone else.”

TOKS general director Valentinas Belousovas apologized for the incident, acknowledging the emotional distress and disrupted plans it caused Laura. The company, which learned of the situation through social media, has refunded her ticket and offered compensation.

Belousovas stated that the driver had received the necessary information about Laura’s trip and that pre-trip equipment checks had been conducted. All TOKS drivers are trained to use onboard accessibility equipment, he added. The company suspects human error as the primary cause of the lift malfunction.

Experts note that such incidents may constitute discrimination, as manual lifting does not guarantee the dignity or safety of passengers with disabilities.