A minibus driver in Lviv region was suspended after threatening a passenger over an e-ticket dispute.

A bus driver on route No. 603 Lviv AS-3 – Poverhiv – Lypytytsi through Pustomyty was suspended from work in Lviv region due to sabotage of the e-ticket system. When a passenger attempted to pay for the ride with a bank card, the driver responded with offensive and anti-Semitic remarks.

The incident involving the aforementioned driver occurred on Friday, February 7, in Pustomyty, as reported by one of the passengers, Yuriy Borsuk, an employee of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, in a local Facebook group.

According to Yuriy Borsuk, during the boarding of the bus, the driver reacted inadequately to the request to use cashless payment, specifically making offensive and anti-Semitic statements: “When will you have money already?”, “I’ll catch you and kick your ass!”, “They have cards, the Jews lick ass! How much longer do we have to tolerate these Jews!”.

“I believe that after such an incident, I have the right to protect myself: the driver can be penalized with a reprimand through the hotline of Ukrtransbezpeka, or even file a report with the police (after all, I was promised to be caught and kicked),” wrote Yuriy Borsuk.

Following public outcry, the Department of Road Management of the Lviv Regional State Administration responded to the incident. In particular, officials held a discussion with the transport company LLC “Hal-Vsesvit,” which operates the mentioned route, regarding the provision of uninterrupted operation of the cashless payment system on buses.

“For gross violations of labor discipline, the management of LLC “Hal-Vsesvit” made the decision to suspend the driver of bus route No. 603 Lviv AS-3 – Poverhiv – Lypytytsi through Pustomyty during the service inspection,” said the director of the road management department of LOVA, Orest Shulikovsky.

LOVA emphasized that drivers must inform passengers about the possibility of cashless payment and assist, rather than hinder, this process.

It is worth noting that cashless payment for travel in Lviv region was launched at the end of November 2023. The LODA stated that the region became the first in Ukraine where cashless payment systems were implemented on regional routes. However, as of today, many carriers are boycotting the new system, and validators in minibuses are not operational, leading to many cases where passengers are required to pay in cash.