The protest was staged in Campo Pequeno to expose the problem with the wheelchair ramp on bus 736 from Cais do Sodré to Odivelas.
The action also aimed to make Lisbon’s public transport company Carris aware of the “constant” breaking down of wheelchair ramps on its buses and the mobility difficulties that wheelchair-bound passengers face.
“Every time we need to catch a bus the ramp either doesn’t come out completely, or doesn’t come out at all, and we are forced to wait at the bus stop for another bus that might have a ramp that works, or not,” said Carla Oliveira, who was taking part in the protest.
“This happens daily”, she stressed, adding: “We pay for a full bus pass and we can only use half of the fleet, because the other half isn’t properly adapted.”
Jorge Falcato, Left Bloc MP and a member of the Movement for Indignant Disabled, which organised the action, said “This practice by Carris, according to law, is a discriminatory practice because it is not offering [the disabled] the same access conditions and ustility of the service. It is discriminating people with a disability, because many of the buses that are adapted have broken ramps and things cannot continue like this.”
The protest started at around 7.30pm and lasted around one hour until police arrived.
A Carris representative was at the scene to hear the protestors’ complaints.