In June 2022, IOM Slovakia (IOM) introduced a transport service for clients living in the Humanitarian Centre in Gabcikovo. People can use an 8-seater minivan in the form of a shuttle bus.

Every day shuttle buses take approximately 50 people to different towns close to Gabcikovo. Photo © International Organization for Migration (IOM) 2023.

Daily, approximately 50 people use the shuttle bus to get to Gabcikovo, Dunajska Streda and Bratislava. Clients come to the IOM office based in the Humanitarian Centre in Gabcikovo to sign themselves up for a term when they need transport. The service is primarily intended for vulnerable groups including elderly people, parents with children, people with a health condition or pregnant women.

Gennadij, a senior from Chernihiv, uses the shuttle bus service regularly "The shuttle bus helps me a lot. I am going to see my doctor in Bratislava because I need regular medical check-ups. Also, my mother-in-law uses it. She is on an invalidity pension, and she can get to the capital to see her doctor and use different social services offered there. Big thanks for the shuttle bus,“ Gennadij says while signing himself in the IOM office for the shuttle bus the next day.

Usually, people go to the Gabcikovo post office to send and receive parcels or pick up their social allowances. In Dunajská Streda they visit all the services and authorities based there, for example, the Office of Labour, Social Affairs, and Family, the police station, the hospital, and other doctors.

Daria from Kharkiv has been living in Gabcikovo for eleven months. "Thanks to the shuttle bus I can easily reach services and shops in Bratislava and I can arrange things that are not possible to arrange in Gabcikovo,” Daria says.

Since the launch of the shuttle bus service up to now, more than 8,000 people living in the Humanitarian Centre in Gabcikovo have already benefited from the transport service.

With the support of: 

U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.