The Public Transport Management Center under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport on Friday decided to suspend a bus attendant for refusing to serve a passenger with disabilities.
After verifying a video circulated on Facebook, the center affirmed that P.T.N.H., the bus attendant on the bus numbered 51B-31XXX on the route between District 8’s Bus Station and Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh in Thu Duc City, had refused to pick up a passenger on a wheelchair waiting at the bus stop at Thu Duc Market on Kha Van Can Street at around 8:00 am on Thursday.
In the video, H. yelled at the wheelchair-bound passenger, who kept waving hands and requesting to be helped to get onto the bus.
During a meeting on Friday with Quyet Thang Cooperative, which operates the bus route, the public transport management center announced the decision to suspend H. from her job for five days and fine her VND500,000 (US$21) for “discrimination against passengers using pre-sold tickets, student cards, priority cards, and passengers who are exempted from paying for tickets according to regulations.”
On the same day, the center also requested all public transport operators in the city to beef up examining and improving their drivers and bus attendants’ service attitude and quality, thereby preventing similar incidents in the future.
People with disabilities are among special types of passengers who are entitled to special treatment such as priority seats, reduced fares or free tickets on public buses in Vietnam.
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