After a passenger’s complaint, Ukrzaliznytsia explained how people with disabilities can buy a ticket in a special compartment

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Mykolaiv resident Yury Stepanets, who uses a wheelchair, complained about the difficulties in buying a ticket for the Ukrzaliznytsia special car. In particular, he discovered that a ticket for a person with a disability can be bought only at ticket offices, and not 24 hours a day, but only at a certain time. The Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Lubinets and human rights defenders reacted to the incident. “As can be seen from media materials, persons with disabilities face restrictions and unreasonable barriers when purchasing tickets for special carriages, which are adapted for persons with disabilities due to the fact that tickets for them can only be purchased at ticket offices at certain times time. In order to obtain clarifications and eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability, the Secretariat of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights sent a response letter to JSC “Ukrainian Railways”, the ombudsman’s appeal states. “Ukrainian truth. Life” turned to “Ukrzaliznytsia” for a comment and received an explanation of how tickets for special carriages are purchased. “To ensure the transportation of persons with disabilities, seats are allocated in passenger carriages (compartment, reserved seats), in particular with a specialized compartment for persons with disabilities, for registration at ticket offices. All seats in passenger trains are allocated according to the seat allocation table according to booking and types of sale, approved by the chairman of the board of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia”, the company explains. Currently, “Ukrzaliznytsia” has 50 wagons designed for the transportation of people with disabilities. The company assures that these are modern carriages equipped with air conditioners, vacuum toilets, where sockets, energy-saving lighting, etc. are provided in each compartment. “Constructively, one special compartment is provided in this carriage. If there are several people traveling in a wheelchair, a lift is provided for them, and the train crew can offer a special wheelchair, which is narrower than the standard one, so it can be used in the carriage.” – they say in “Ukrzaliznytsia”. In special carriages for people who use a wheelchair to travel, the fare is paid at the rate of a non-branded compartment car with 4-seater compartments, regardless of which compartment they travel in. That is, the price in a special coupe is lower than the total fare. “Information about the presence in the train of a specially equipped carriage for the transportation of passengers with disabilities moving in wheelchairs is received in advance by the person on duty at the station and passed on to the station announcer for announcement over the loudspeaker,” the company says. When can a ticket not be issued? “Issuing a concessionary travel document can be carried out only if the Centralized Data Bank for Disability Issues of the Ministry of Social Policy (CBI) has data on the user’s concessionary card. When issuing a concessionary ticket via the Internet, the information about the certificate, which gives the right to concessional travel, specified by the user, is checked in real time at the CBI of the Ministry of Social Policy”, – says the message of “UZ”. The availability of information on: certificates is also checked; correspondence of the name, surname, type of benefit, disability group entered by the passenger to the information on the certificate from the Central Bureau of Investigation; the validity period of the benefit in the certificate. If the results of the check are incorrect, the ticket will not be issued, says UZ. To check the information about the preferential license in the Central Bureau of Investigation, the passenger can apply to the social protection body of the population at the registered or actual place of residence. Read also: “Ukrzaliznytsia” launched the first women’s compartment Is it possible to order a special car by phone? Illustrative photo: Artem Hvozdkov/GettyImages To order a special car for a person with a disability who moves in a wheelchair, it is necessary to contact the “Quality and Service” contact center of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” at tel. 0800-503-111 (free of charge), which works around the clock. Also, the accompanying person can contact an authorized representative of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (on-duty station staff) at the train station/station. In the application, it is necessary to indicate the last name, first name and patronymic of the person with a disability, ID number, train number, direction, dates of departure “there” and “back”, number of seats, phone number for communication. “Also, on the website of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC, you can order the service of a station assistant for passengers with reduced mobility, and soon there will be an opportunity to order a special carriage online for the transportation of passengers with reduced mobility,” UZ adds. It will be recalled that on August 16, Yurii Stepanets told how he could not order a ticket for a special train for several days. “The function of ordering a special car for a person with a disability on the Ukrzaliznytsia website, as an undiscovered character in the game — gray, black, dark… In other words, the function is currently unavailable (under development). It is worth noting that your imagination should not draw some kind of supercar. A special car is an ordinary compartment car in which there is 1 compartment and a toilet equipped for a person with a disability in a wheelchair,” explained the man. When Yuriy called the “Ukrzaliznytsia” hotline, he was told that tickets cannot be bought online – you have to come to the station and order a car and tickets at the ticket office. According to the operator, this service is available 24/7, but when the man arrived, the cash desk was closed. Yuri was told that you can order a special ticket only until 20:00. “The next day, I arrive at that wonderful cash register at 6:00 p.m. The employee tells me that I should have arrived by 5:00 p.m., because Kyiv will not accept the application… I apologize for my French: “Well, you do you work then until 8:00 p.m. and where is it written?” And then Ostap got carried away. Unable to endure such ping-pong, I asked to call the station administration. A few minutes later, the head of the cash desk approached me and invited me to her office. After several manipulations with the phone and by computer – oh a miracle. My tickets will be ready now,” Yuriy wrote. Read also: “We are all his mothers”: social networks were touched by a post about a young soldier on a train

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