Nasty situation boarding Lux Express at Vilnius

Driver isn’t happy with a driving license to confirm my name when boarding. Demands my ID. “Border control to Poland!” he says

Sorry *but you’re a private company’s bus driver*, not the border control!

He gets quite arsey about it

Whichever way you look at this it’s wrong

EITHER the responsibility is put on a private firm to check ID, which is wrong

OR it isn’t, Lux Express takes it upon themselves to do this - but that’s them taking too much power

All Lux Express needs do is check my name matches my ticket - a driving license would be fine

Poland has NO temporary suspension of #Schengen. So any control at the border cannot be systematic. But - based on what the driver said here - every bus is controlled. Chipping away at the EU project, piece by piece… https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-area/temporary-reintroduction-border-control_en

I bet Magda Kopczynska flying back to Brussels from Tallinn didn’t face this shit

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 4 of 20
Route: LuxExpress EL-20
07:10 Vilnius - Warszawa 14:45
Lux Express

Distance: 462.2km
Average speed: 54km/h

Bus type: Scania Irizar i6s 3 axels
⛽️
🚲: ❓(there’d be space in the hold but officially not allowed I think)
🦽: ⛔️ (I can see no way to get a wheelchair on here)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅ (there’s coffee)
🧳: 🙂 (massive hold)
🧽: 🙂

Also as @algowatching asked: why am I taking a bus here not a train?

It’s only for timetable reasons. I’d have missed the night train from Warszawa onwards to Budapest

(And while Vilnius-Warszawa shows as direct it’s not - you have to change in Mockava. But the connection is guaranteed)

Approaching the border

What fun and games are there going to be with the Polish police I wonder?

There’s a guy in the bus who looks central Asian. My bet is he’s the one they pick on

So when is a border control not a border control?

Lithuanian border police checks every passenger. I ask him why he doesn’t check trucks and cars. Dude ignores it and moves on

This is obviously systematic

A reminder: Lithuania and Poland are in #Schengen. Neither has a Schengen suspension. This is clearly and obviously illegal.

These controls here at the Poland - Lithuania border are (like everywhere else these checks happen) just to show something is being done

Anyone half skillful would take a back road where there were no controls. Or have a decent fake ID which would pass these cursory checks here

These checks at best pick up some poor and vulnerable people, and some idiots. Neither of those groups is really a danger to anyone

Border controls within #Schengen - basically systematic racism and discrimination against poor people, in the name of “security”

Makes me furious

@jon Same experience when taking the train crossing the Germany / Denmark border.

I've taken the Hamburg -> Copenhagen train a lot in the last couple of years and it's the same Spiel every time.

@jon Wowza I did not know that 😮 looks like it's going back to 2016 and they're extending it every six months 🤔

Found a page with all declared current exceptions:

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen-borders-and-visa/schengen-area/temporary-reintroduction-border-control_en