Supreme Court upholds passenger injured by bus schedule violation

The man almost missed the train and wanted moral compensation

Transport companies seem to have to pay moral damages to passengers who, through their fault, could not catch their train or plane on time. The other day, the Supreme Court made the corresponding decision, considering the case of a resident of Naro-Fominsk, who almost missed the train due to a violation in the bus schedule.

As it became known to MK, the incident occurred in early August 2021. Having planned his trip in advance, checking the bus schedule, the man hoped to catch the train from the Paveletsky railway station to Voronezh. To his dismay, the bus he was waiting for did not come, and the next one was supposed to arrive in 40 minutes, but, as it soon turned out, he was also delayed.

Since the case took place in Naro-Fominsk, the man was very nervous: the path to Moscow was not close, about 70 kilometers, and 40 minutes had already been lost from the time laid down for the road. After waiting five minutes from the moment when, according to the schedule, the second bus was supposed to arrive, the man got into a minibus and went to the nearest railway station. From it, he eventually reached his destination and even managed to catch his train.

The man rightly assumed that the transport company, which caused him so much trouble (and this is not only lost money for travel, but also disrupted travel dates with all the ensuing consequences), should compensate for moral damage. And he decided to seek justice from the servants of Themis. However, the Naro-Fominsk Court did not find his arguments convincing. The Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the first instance. The same thing happened in the First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction.

Then the citizen decided to appeal to the highest court. And, as it turned out, not in vain. Employees of the Supreme Court, having understood the case, came to the conclusion that the passenger was right. The fact is that the transport company does not have the right to change the schedule at its discretion. And if the traffic violation occurred due to adverse road, weather, climate or other conditions, the company must notify passengers about the change in the schedule.

As it turned out, the first bus did not start at all because the driver fell ill. And the second stuck in a traffic jam. The court did not consider the illness of the bus driver to be an extraordinary and insurmountable circumstance, which the carrier could not avoid. Therefore, the case was sent for retrial in the first instance.