To think it's common sense to let a w/c user have the w/c spot

[SparkyStar84]

I've just seen the ruling on disabled people getting priority in disabled spots on buses. Isn't that common sense. What kind of person would deny a w/c user the space because 'pushchair'?
I'm a w/c user it makes it easier in a way to get about with children, though I know some w/c users still have a buggy.
This is about the parents who refuse to move, when asked, by someone who might have an appt or something important to get too. Not saying the parent doesn't. But isn't that the point of foldable buggies over great big travel systems?
It just bugs me that people have had to leave the bus because a parent wouldn't move. As a parent with kids of many ages, also remembering times gone by, the purpose of easy foldable buggies is that you can decamp when on the bus.
Do you think it's an issue that buses need to provide buggy spaces too?

[harderandharder2breathe]

People have posted on here before about not being able to get themselves or DC on a bus because of buggies, sometimes the driver doesn't even ask for them to be folded. So clearly it is needed.

[DesignedForLife]

Buses don't need to provide buggy spaces, people with buggies need to suck it up.

You'd think it would be common sense, but having sat in the priority seat whilst obviously heavily pregnant with severe SPF when woman with buggy got on and wanted me to move (no other spare seats) so she could sit next to her buggy, it's clear there are a lot of entitled asses about.

[Soubriquet]

big thread here including excuses as to why the pushchair needs that space

[ZackyVengeance]

there have been loads of threads on here about this, sadly most of them end up full of very nasty stuff and the assumption that buggy trumps wheelchair.
a wheelchair space is just that

[formerbabe]

My dc are too old now to be in pushchairs or prams, but honestly, I just couldn't have ever left my buggy in a wheelchair space and watch a wheelchair user remain at the bus stop...It's just cuntish behaviour.

[SparkyStar84]

Didn't realise it had been discussed before sorry.

[formerbabe]

My newborn needs to be in a pram and there is no way I could fold it down and hold her safely at the same time.

I used to take my sling everywhere. Pop baby in sling and fold pram. Or ask someone on the bus to help you.

[Trifleorbust]

I used to take my sling everywhere. Pop baby in sling and fold pram. Or ask someone on the bus to help you.

Er, no. I'm not asking strangers on buses to hold my baby or my stuff and I'm not standing on a moving vehicle juggling a pram, a sling and a baby. What's the matter with you? Like the w/c user, I paid for my ticket and if I need the space as much as he/she does and I was there first, he/she can wait for the next one. When my baby is bigger o will fold my buggy of course.

[TitaniasCloset]

I don't know what these mothers would have done back in the 90's when my kids were small. You had to fold the pram up, it was excpected. You couldn't just wheel it on the bus. Try having on to shopping and hand bags while you try to fold a big awkward pram away and get it on the bus and lift it up to put in the baggage section. I used to have to get strangers to hold the baby while I dealt with the shopping and pram. In the end I just stopped using buses unless I had too and walked for miles everywhere. But I did it. Driving the pram onto the bus is a very new thing.

[ZackyVengeance]

i can't be arsed to argue with people who really can't see why a person in a WC should have priority for a WC space.

[AchingBack]

Today 15:10 Trifleorbust

Buggies aren't suitable for babies of all ages. My newborn needs to be in a pram and there is no way I could fold it down and hold her safely at the same time. Yes, where possible, buggies should be folded, but I don't see why w/c users should always take priority tbh.

Before my baby was born, knowing that I would need to use buses on occasion I bought an umbrella folding pushchair as a spare, that laid flat and was suitable from birth so I was able to hold my child in one arm, then fold and carry the pushchair with the other.

[PlasticPanels123]

What's the matter with you? Like the w/c user, I paid for my ticket and if I need the space as much as he/she does and I was there first, he/she can wait for the next one. When my baby is bigger o will fold my buggy of course

What part of "Wheelchair space" don't you understand?

[StillRabbit]

I was on a bus a couple of weeks ago. Mum got on with a newborn (she was two weeks old - I asked) in a lie flat pushchair (remember newborns should be flat), and with a three year old (three 'next week') son on reins. Naturally she also had a bag with the bits and pieces you need when travelling with little ones. She paid her £1.50 fare by oyster. At the very next stop (just a couple of hundred yards) she was told she would have to get off as a wheelchair user wanted to get on the bus. She did so without complaint but did ask how she could get her fare refunded.....she was told she couldn't! Poor woman paid £1.50 to travel a couple of hundred yards!

If people are being evicted from their transport before completing the paid for journey then they should be able to get their fare refunded.

[OhhBetty]

Trifleorbust really?! You have lots of options of what you could do as suggested by a pp. Wheelchair users do not have those options. I find it scary that people genuinely think like you do.

[Trifleorbust]

PlasticPanels123: On buses where I live, it says wheelchairs and pushchairs.

[Trifleorbust]

OhhBetty: Give me practical options and I will always do everything I can to help. Tell me I need to juggle a pram, a 5 week old baby, my shopping and potentially another child (as lots of women do), whilst sticking a broom up my arse and sweeping the bus, and I will stand my ground. The space isn't just for w/c users.

[IcaMorgan]

Stillrabbit the driver should have given her a ticket to let her on the next bus free

[NickyEds]

I always 'drive' my buggy on to the bus. Most of our buses have a buggy zone on one side and a wheelchair area on the other. If there's already a buggy on or one of the older buses that doesn't have a buggy zone I would use the wheelchair space. The buses I use are very quiet and I would, of course get off for a wheel chair to get on.

[Scrowy]

Trifle has just perfectly demonstrated why this ruling is needed

Do you seriously think you take priority over a wheelchair user because you don't like the idea of someone else briefly holding your stuff or transporting your baby around in a bus/socially friendly manner? Seriously!?

[TroysMammy]

Trfleorbust I am absolutely shocked by your hideous attitude. Being disabled or being in a wheelchair because of a disability is not a lifestyle choice whereas having children is.

[TaliDiNozzo]

You'd think it would be common sense wouldn't you? But I read the comments section of the BBC article (on Facebook) and already seen some entitled ridiculousness on this thread 12 comments in, so clearly common sense is not enough.

They are wheelchair spaces. For wheelchairs. If no wheelchair user needs to use the wheelchair space then a buggy can use it. If a wheelchair user gets on the bus and a buggy is in the space, the buggy either needs to be folded or get out of the wheelchair space. If that isn't possible, they need to get off the bus. This is the chance you take when you get on a bus and sit in a seat already reserved for someone else.

AFAIK the driver can transfer the ticket to another bus so the buggy 'user' should not be out of pocket.

That's not an opinion, that is how it is.

[sonyaya]

trifleorbust you think your choice to have a child (a privilege denied to many, of course) is equally as worthy of support and preferential treatment as a wheelchair user? Do you have no understanding whatsoever of the disadvantages those with disabilities can face in society? Your sense of entitlement is stunning, and not in a good way.

[Akire]

Agree in the past you had to fold buggies not only that but you had leave them in area at front of bus which was about 4foot high to lift heavy pushchair over.
If you can't hold a baby with one arm and fold your buggy it's not suitable for the bus. You do plenty of other task in the day while holding baby with one hand it's not a big ask.

You may need pushchair for 2years then you never have think
About it again. Mean while wheelchair users have this sort thing everyday. It's why I no longer use London buses or go anywhere. Either buses are just full with standing people so no room or here's 2-3 pushchairs on bus.

[SparklyFuckingBusinessFairy]

Trifle - I got a taxis in that situation. Better that than see a w/c user left waiting at the bus stop.

And I live in central London where there are hundreds of buses. It would be worse somewhere more rural.