VIA investigating report driver abandoned 2 seniors

A VIA paratransit van dropped off two older women outside a shuttered restaurant on San Antonio’s East Side on Tuesday and left them there.

VIA Metropolitan Transit said it is investigating.

After a scheduled pickup by Viatrans, the agency’s paratransit service, the two women were dropped off around 11 a.m. Tuesday outside Mr. and Mrs. G’s Home Cooking and Pastries.

In a social media post, the restaurant said that even after a manager told the driver that the establishment is closed on Tuesdays, the driver continued to remove the two women and their scooters from the bus. The driver said that if he didn’t unload the passengers, he wouldn’t have room for his other scheduled pickups, the restaurant said.

Then he drove off.

A second paratransit van picked up the two women about an hour later, VIA said.

“Thankfully, the manager allowed the passengers to wait inside the restaurant while they called for another ride,” said Lorraine Pulido, communications manager for VIA.

The van driver’s actions “do not meet our standards and are not reflective of the level of care and service we provide for thousands of passenger trips each day,” Pulido said by email. “When the manager informed the driver they were closed, the driver should have taken steps to ensure proper protocol was followed, instead of departing the location.”

The driver has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. He has worked for the agency since 2020.

Pulido said VIA has reinforced its policies through printed materials and one-onone conversations with all VIA operators, including bus and van drivers.

Viatrans is a door-to-door service for passengers with disabilities.

A member of VIA’S customer care team spoke with the two women on Tuesday and apologized for their experience, according to Pulido. They were given a free round-trip ride to the restaurant on Wednesday.