Mobility scooters

[Glasgowgal200]

Was on bus earlier today and there was someone on a mobility scooter. Being as they are larger than buggies/prams or wheelchairs should they be allowed on public transport? I think the whole point of a mobility scooter is you can go out on pavement etc with them. They had trouble trying to manoeuvre it off the bus and I presume it was the same going on it? Luckily bus wasn't busy but I'm not trying to be nadty but keep mobility scooters on pavements etc.

There is no difference in law between a mobility scooter and a wheelchair.
it is just a wheelchair with a tiller at the front.
so no, you are wrong, completely.
Neither are they necessarily larger than wheelchairs, particularly power chairs.

Having a child is a choice. Disability isnt

Usually its OK but some may be considered too large or heavy for the vehicle.

It's at the bus operator's discretion whether to allow them or not based on size/weight/class. Almost all operators allow class 2 (the pavement safe type). As the scooter was on the bus obviously that operator allows them.

Of course they should be, no different to wheelchairs as it helps a disabled person get around.

You can go on pavements with buggies/prams too. Maybe they shouldn't be allowed on buses?

Brave topic op, as you’ve seen you’ll be lambasted and told of the evils of having a child and how even paying for a ticket on public transport is entitled, evil and various other awfulness!

Class 3 ones are usually too large for public transport, they are the road legal ones with a top speed of 8mph.
Some transport companies make us get a ‘scooter permit’ I have one for GWR and south western trains. Scooter or power chair has to be within a certain size. Around 75x120 cm ish

Depends on the scooter surely? My mum has one that would definitely not be appropriate on a bus (similar to pic), whereas some are just similar to wheelchairs.

On principle it's no different from a wheelchair - a device that let's the user do a journey that most people would walk be they can't. In that sense it should be exactly the same as a wheelchair in terms of being allowed on buses.

Your argument about being on the pavement is ridiculous: your legs let you walk along a pavement and, if you have a baby, their pram or buggy lets you push them along the pavement, so logically if a mobility scooter can't go on a bus, you should walk pushing your pram.

However, I do think there has to be a size limit, because buses are a certain width and people have to be able to get on and off easily.

Mobility scooters are a difficult area as some are road worthy, some can only go on the pavement, some are small and easily manoeuvrable, some will go up mountains but aren't really suited for going on buses. I think there does need to be a rethink and reclassification. I know another issue with some of the large ones is manoeuvring them on station platforms. There have been numerous issues with people falling off platforms in them

Yes definitly! mobility scooters are allowed on buses as long as they are the right size. I've got one myself and it folds up so its dead easy for public transport. I got mine from here https://www.midshiresgroup.co.uk/product/sterling-s50-carbon/ x

As a mobility scooter user, thankfully I also have a car; but as far as I know, they’re not allowed on our local buses! Rightly so really as they’re huge and unlike wheelchairs, those of us who use them are able to walk - just not far!

Nope! They’re not the same as those of us who use them, we CAN walk. Whereas wheelchair users (generally) cannot.
Quite rightly so, they’re prohibited from our local buses.

You get in one on a busy road then

FFS

This isn't actually true - many wheelchair users can walk (around 1 in 3 wheelchair users are classed as ambulatory), meaning that they can walk and stand, but generally for a short time and only over short distances.

I have both, 2 mobility scooters and a powerchair and use them according to where I am going. The chair is far more maneuverable and so better around shops and in town. It's also more supportive and takes less energy to use as I don't need to stretch my arms out in front of me.

The chair can however be somewhat lethal when dealing with cambers, dropped curbs and anything other than a town centre or a shopping mall, so also I have an all terrain mobility scooter for getting out into the countryside. I wouldn't take the all terrain one on the bus, however I also have a small boot scooter which is lighter than both the all terrain scooter and chair, is ideal for travelling and designed for ease of use with both cars and public transport.

Ambulatory wheelchair users are hardly unusual.

I had a mobility scooter when I broke my foot. It was soo slow - around 2 mph, slower than walking and it couldn't get up any hills including the hill to my house so it was fundamentally useless. It would have been really useful to be able to go on the bus with it.