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AIBU?

To think that pushchairs should have same priority as wheelchairs on buses?

946 replies

SparklyC · 28/11/2011 14:31

Today - packed bus, I was in the pushchair bit on the bus, another mum got on with a buggy loaded with shopping. People sat in space that could have held another buggy in it didn't get up so both our pushchairs had to go in one space and my pushchair is one of those big all-terrain things! Then bus driver stopped bus for wheelchair user and asked us if either of us could fold down our pushchairs/move? Well, first of all, there wouldn't have been any room for us to sit down with our babies and also have our shopping on our knee or even stored on luggage shelf once pushchairs were on. Also the bus service I travel on has a bus every 4 minutes in the daytime. So the bus driver (who obviously has to be sen to be doing the right thing) got off the bus to tell the wheelchair user that the bus was full, and would he mind waiting for the next one, which he didn't anyway. What does everyone else think? Should we mums with our pushchairs be given the same priority as wheelchairs? Should bus drivers ask other passengers to move so that we can get on, instead of (sometimes) feeling like we are an annoyance and an obstacle to them?

OP posts:
lockets · 28/11/2011 14:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GypsyMoth · 28/11/2011 14:34

You should have got off or folded pushchair..... And buy a smaller one too

YankNCock · 28/11/2011 14:34

YABU.

WhereMyMilk · 28/11/2011 14:34

Is this for real?
WTAF? You are so unreasonable it's not true.

pooka · 28/11/2011 14:35

Of course pushchairs should not have same priority as wheelchairs. They are not comparable.

GypsyMoth · 28/11/2011 14:35

A 'mother' doesn't get new rights over others just because she gas given birth either!!!!

venusandmars · 28/11/2011 14:35
Biscuit
KateMiddIeton · 28/11/2011 14:35

Biscuit

What lockets said with the addition of use paragraphs.

MamaLazarou · 28/11/2011 14:35

YABU. Babies can be carried, children can walk, pushchairs can be folded. People who use wheelchairs generally do so because they have no other option.

lockets · 28/11/2011 14:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoupDragon · 28/11/2011 14:35


[unhelpful]

YABU by the way and you know it.
lurkerspeaks · 28/11/2011 14:35

This topic has been done to death.

YABU.

You choose to use a pushchair. There are other ways to get your presumably small child around - sling/ backpack/ walk. In particular you choose to have a giant all terrain pushchair which if you live in an area where you rely on the bus seems pretty daft to me.

However the wheelchair user generally has no choice - they HAVE to use their pushchair to get out and about. Sometimes, shock horror, they might even be doing time critical adult things like going to work!

CMOTdibbler · 28/11/2011 14:36

yabvvvvvvvvvvvvu. And you know it.

Kayano · 28/11/2011 14:36

Biscuit

No way this is real and if it is that is ridiculous!

ceebie · 28/11/2011 14:36

Hmm, in a straight choice I would say wheelchairs would have higher priority, but in the situation you describe it be unreasonable to actually evict someone from the bus to make space, and if space couldn't be made (it seems reasonable to try to accommodate everyone if possible), then asking the disabled person to wait seems the only option remaining?

StealthPenguin · 28/11/2011 14:37

At the end of the day, yes, YABU. Women with buggies have a choice, even if they are rubbish ones. Wheelchair users don't. If it were me, I would have gotten off the bus to allow the wheelchair on and then waited for the next bus, if they really are every 4 minutes.

Sorry if it isn't the answer you want to hear.

MyRealName · 28/11/2011 14:37

So you didn't have to move, the bus driver was polite and the wheelchair user was happy to wait for the next bus... Am I missing something, where is your problem?

YABU to start another pushchair/wheelchair/bus thread.

Grumpla · 28/11/2011 14:37

I can't actually be arsed to reply as my message would almost certainly be deleted by mumsnet.

Angry

HelloShitty · 28/11/2011 14:38

Sorry - I think you're being unreasonable. I know there are spaces for prams, but I've always folded mine up (although DS was mainly in a sling). Some people just seem to like taking up a lot of space Confused.

ItWasABoojum · 28/11/2011 14:39

Pisstake, yeah? Yeah? Good.

Secondtimelucky · 28/11/2011 14:40

Surely this is a wind-up?

I would trade working legs for the inconvenience of folding a buggy any day. There's always someone happy to grab hold of the baby while you do.

merryberry · 28/11/2011 14:41

yabu
those are wheelchair spaces, which other uses can have at when wheelchair users not present or waiting. wheelchair users have a really really tricky time of it in our society. they deserve and are legally entitled to this provision
makes me NUTS to think folk think being able bodied with kid = special treatment
and i speak as a non-driving 3+ a day bus riding mother of two with rheumatoid arthritis and intermittently limited mobility who would has got off bus with pram and waited for next one several times in the past to enable a chair user. I also speak as the cousin of a woman of 44 with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair. i know whose lot requires the priority.

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GypsyMoth · 28/11/2011 14:44

Op has a sensible posting history.... I think she genuinely believes she is right!!!

Scary

crashdoll · 28/11/2011 14:46

My first Biscuit

JuliaScurr · 28/11/2011 14:48

How big is your big pushchair? Could I get in it? I only ask because it was probably a bit cheaper than my wheelchair and I need a new one. And then I'd be allowed on a bus.

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