Narrow stairs & doorway-is bugaboo bee my best option?

[dooscooby]

hi there
I'm expecting my first dc in dec and feel like a bit of a novice in buggy world. I live in London and have a narrow set of stairs to get to my front door, which is also quote narrow.

Are any of you experienced mums able to advise on the best buggy given I need to get in narrow spaces? I'll probably be going on foot/public transport most of the time with occasional trips in the car.

From my initial search, the bee seems to be the narrowest buggy around, plus it's also light and versatile. Any others I should consider do you think? I looked at the city jogger and one of the icandy ones also on recommendation by the lady at JL, but both seemed to be wider than the bee.

Any thoughts very welcomed! Thanks

[MonkeysPunk]

I would choose the baby jogger city mini rather than a bee for public transport. It's easy to fold compactly and a bit more robust. I think its the best thing for urban environments and really nice to push.
The purple or stone colourways are my favourites.

[aswellasyou]

I'd go and measure the staircase. I'm often surprised at how wide gaps are that appear to be narrow. The Babystyle Oyster is 56cm wide but it's not as light at 10.5kg. Are you planning on bumping the pushchair up the stairs or carrying it up after taking the baby out? If bumping, I'd buy something with big air tyres (you can buy them seperately for the Oyster). If carrying, I'd get something very light with the option of a seperate carrycot. You can usually fit a soft carrycot onto any pushchair though.

[dooscooby]

Thanks for your help ladies-you've suggested things that hadn't even occurred to me! I suppose I was assuming id bump the buggy up and down the stairs with baby in, but maybe that's unrealistic to do everyday.

Also-do you normally need to fold the buggy when on buses? most people seem to just wheel on and leave baby there, so I hadn't really thought about the need to regularly collapse it.

I shall go and measure the steps-there are a few other obstacles to navigate too-including a sharp turn into the door at the bottom, so it's tricky to see what would fit without trying. All I know is that a friends quinny had real trouble!

[aswellasyou]

I've never collapsed a pushchair on a bus but I think it's more common to do it in London. I think normal protocol is that a very young or sleeping child is left and others are expected to collapse their pushchair. Maybe you could ask friends how they get on using public transport.

[Tiggywunkle]

Quinny Buzz's are notoriously wide though - you can buy a slimmer double! I would try to find a friend with a more regular sized pushchair to try your route :)