"The first bus for 80 rubles." How Belarusians return home from Poland before the first Easter

BGmedia journalists looked at border chats to see how Belarusians are returning home for the weekend and how much they are paying to avoid long queues.

Belarusians returning home before Catholic Easter on scheduled buses are sharing reports in border chats. According to them, there is a small queue before the "Terespol" checkpoint. On average, people stand in it for several hours:

• "Poland — Belarus, Polish time. 22:00 [April 2] — approached the border, were third. 01:08 — passed passport control with the Poles. The bridge is empty, the Belarusian yard is packed. 05:14 — passed passport control with the Belarusians, waiting for Ukrainians. Exit — 06:08. Total 8 hours."
• "Wrocław — Gomel. Approached at 00:03, fourth before the barrier. Around 02:00 — PC Poland. At 02:40 entered Belarus. At 07:20 — PC Belarus. At 10:26 exited the border. Polish time."
• "Poland — Belarus. At 05:00 we were the sixth bus in the queue. At 11:30 we only got onto the bridge towards Belarus. Very slow today."
• "Bus from Modlin at 07:25, now approached the Polish border, we are eighth."
• "Departure from Warsaw at 08:00 (rescheduled to 08:30) to Minsk. Approached the border around 11:00 (Polish time), now sixth, but everyone is bypassing one bus, so actually fifth."

Some are not ready to wait in the queue before the "Terespol" checkpoint, so they get on the first bus before the barrier:

• "Any thoughts on approximately how long the border crossing will take if you don't transfer to the bus closest to the barrier? Should one allocate about an hour per bus?"
• "At 13:00 we arrived in the queue twelfth. Immediately transferred to the first bus. At 14:30 we passed the barrier. They calmly take everyone for a ride. 50 zlotys. I asked another bus — it was 50 rubles."
• "Poland — Belarus, April 3. At 07:17 train to Terespol, at 09:30 — the first bus for 80 rubles. At 16:00 passed Belarusian control. Waiting for everyone. Eight buses accumulated at the customs exit."

At the beginning of the week, the car queue before the "Terespol" checkpoint appeared after lunch and disappeared in the evening or at night.

On the night of April 2-3, this did not happen. The flow of cars going to Belarus increased. People's reports:

• "Got in line a bit after Okszyn at 13:00 [April 2]. Entered the Polish side at 18:00. After 2 hours, at 20:00, we departed for Brest. Things on the table with the Belarusians, but the inspection was superficial and quick. Without X-ray."
• "Poland — Belarus. Arrived at the border at 15:00 [April 2]. There were approximately 170 cars. At 22:45 entered the Polish side."
• "Poland — Belarus. Got in line at 17:32. Entered the border at 01:00. Exited the Polish side at 03:34. At 05:00 exited the border (plus car wash)."
• "Arrived at 20:00 and got in line, at 05:20 entered the Polish side."
• "Same situation, last time was 1.5 months ago. Also arrived on Wednesday night, stood in the 'Christmas tree' formation on the bridge until morning, and then ours sent us through all circles of hell: thorough manual inspection, small X-ray and large. Belarusians 'greet' you very 'hospitably,' however."
• "The queue doesn't change, it was big and it remained so."
• "Waiting since 5 AM, there was a kilometer-long queue, at 08:15 entered past the Polish barrier. But now the queue has shortened, the waiting time for entry, apparently, will be up to 2 hours."
• "Arrived at the border around 08:50, car queue — about 20 cars to the turn for Centrum, now standing under the barrier."
• "The question is how the Poles will work. They might reduce the number of channels in the evening, and this queue will last from now until morning at least. And if they work well, including in Belarus, then it's possible to pass by midnight. However, considering the latest news on how they check in Belarus (X-ray, etc.), I think morning is the best option."

On the night of April 3, a video was published in one of the border chats showing a car cutting into the beginning of the queue before the "Terespol" checkpoint. The woman who let the car into the queue stated in the video that "she warned there was a disabled child [inside the car]."

This situation angered the border chat users. Priority entry to the checkpoint for people with disabilities exists on the Belarusian side, but not on the Polish side.

In such cases, one should contact the commandant of the Polish Border Guard to allow entry to the "Terespol" checkpoint without a queue. Chat users called for action against those who cut into the queue:

• "We all don't care that you have a disabled child. Now you'll pick up a disabled person for a ride and start asserting your rights in front of activists. Complete chaos."
• "If someone is near the border guards, please show them the video, let them check."
• "If it's a critical situation — you can contact the commissioner."
• "What's up, will only these cut in? If anything, if they cut in — it's sign 50, and closer to the barrier it's a fine, a solid line [no overtaking]."
• "Drive them out! Well, what happened? Did they drive them out?"

It is unknown whether the car that cut into the queue was driven out.

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