Vision-impaired LIFTS passenger left in parking lot for two hours on Saturday

A bus driver has resigned after he left a vision-impaired passenger on a LIFTS bus for two hours Saturday afternoon, said Tom Hardecopf, director of the Linn County program.

The passenger, whose name has not been released, was “inadvertently left unattended” in the bus at the LIFTS parking lot, 625 31st Ave. SW, just of Sixth Street SW, Hardecopf said.

The passenger was headed from dialysis treatment in northeast Cedar Rapids to a care center on the southwest side. Staff at the care center called LIFTS when he didn't show up. The bus driver was contacted and returned to the parking lot to drive the passenger home.

“Totally unacceptable,” Hardecopf said.

LIFTS is a county program that provides door-to-door transportation for elderly and disabled citizens in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha, and to all Linn County residents outside the metro area.

Hardecopf said the driver didn't follow the organization's procedures because he didn't walk the bus to see if anyone was still on board before he walked away.

“It was just a human error,” Hardecopf said.

Neither Hardecopf nor Lisa Powell, Linn County's human resources director, would release the name of the driver or the passenger.