"The Driver Said It's Strict Right Now."

Belarusians about queues at the border with Poland.

Queues are growing at the Belarusian-Polish border: according to the State Border Committee, 2070 cars and 55 buses gathered at the checkpoint "Brest" at 12.00 p.m. on August 3. Border chats told what's going on at the border - in particular, they report that they prohibited transfer to buses closer to the barrier, writes "Mirror".

"I came from Minsk by car (it's by proxy, you can't drive it), left it at the paid parking lot in Brest, took a "Yandex cab" for 13 rubles to the border at 1.15 and went to the first buses.

There were 17 buses in total, and they were driven by transport workers, so the drivers were very scared, but anyway at 1.30 in the fifth bus the driver agreed to take me to Warsaw for 50 dollars. True, he asked me to walk around and come to him when he would get closer to the barrier. So I did," said one Belarusian, adding that it took him 9.5 hours to cross the border this way.

According to other travelers, they spent from 8 to 16 hours in bus queues. Some wrote that it became more difficult to get on the buses in front of them - they said that such practice was "banned".

"Ecolines - they didn't take it, the driver said that Ecolines canceled such a policy, even for money. At the same time, he advised to go and ask for the first buses," says one user.

"Since July 14, even "Minsktrans" did not take at all, money did not play a role."

"Now "Minsktrans" does not transfer even for extra money. Today at the bus station I asked the drivers. They said no.

"If you get a seat, then, unfortunately, our driver is unlikely to take it. Said it's strict now, they can give you a fine if you don't match the list. When boarding, he wrote down the names and the city where we get off."

In May, it was reported that passengers of "Minsktrans" buses, stuck at the border with Poland, were transferred to the front ones free of charge.

Some carriers, in particular, "Minsktrans," assure that in case of large queues at the border, if possible, they transfer passengers to their buses closer to the checkpoint for free. Others, such as Ecolines, warned that a person would have to pay again, and promised that the driver would issue a check.

Some drivers, however, agree to transfer passengers to bypass the rules, but demand money - different amounts were mentioned, for example, 40-50 euros.

Some passengers advise to ask for a ride in cars, but warn that drivers "are reluctant to take large bags. In addition, if you go in a passenger car, waiting in line can be up to 85 hours.

On the way back, from Poland to Belarus, the scheme of transferring to the front buses for money still works, according to the chat.

"20-40 dollars, it varies from driver to driver. I paid 100 zloty (80 rubles. - Ed.) yesterday," said one Belarusian.

But when traveling from Poland to Belarus, a lot of time is spent on "conversations" of Belarusian security officers with passengers:

"Five buses are waiting for Ukrainians from "conversations." Unfortunately, I understand that there will be no progress until they talk to them. The Belarusians were quickly released from the talks."

"There are seven buses on the Belarusian side, all waiting for the Ukrainians from the "conversation". We've been waiting for almost two hours. Of the seven buses, one or two are completely full of Ukrainians. Until they are talked to, no one will go further".

They also tell about other incidents at the border, which slow down the traffic:

"One genius did not pass the control and somehow jumped into the bus in the hope that it would "pass". So everyone on the bus had their passports collected so that the border guards could check who didn't pass. And there is no telling how long the whole bus would have to wait because someone wanted adrenaline in his life.

"We had an even more interesting experience on the way to Belarus. At the border with Belarus we passed the control, got on the bus and realized that there was a man with a beard missing. The driver went to look for him. Then the border guards were looking for him, then they found out what kind of person he was. Witnesses on the bus recognized him. The final action was a phone call - he was already sleeping peacefully at home. After the control he got on the car and calmly, without warning anyone, went home to Brest. And we have plus 2 hours".

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com