Challenges faced by disabled people at Cyprus bus stops

After the photo of the elderly woman waiting at a bus stop in the heat without shelter and a bench, another image circulating on the internet only provokes outrage and certainly does not resemble a European country in 2023.

As shown in a photo posted on Facebook by Dimitris Lambrianides, the President of the Cyprus Paraplegic Organization, a person in a wheelchair is trying to board a bus from a stop that appears to be located in a field, also without shelter and a bench.

Moreover, Mr. Lambrianides states the following:

"Such images remind us and ground us in the reality of the quality of life we enjoy in our country and the level of infrastructure that the authorities, both local and state, maintain for citizens. Since 2010, when the first contract for the creation of an urban bus network was initiated, over €500 million has been spent, but almost nothing has been done for bus stops, shelters, and accessibility. Bus stops on unpaved ground, in fields, without sidewalks, without accessibility, without shelters, without safety. The next time someone says 'there is nothing like Cyprus,' show them this photo as well as the second one showing a person in a wheelchair boarding from a dirt road."