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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that wheelchairs should be priority on buses?

620 replies

mamadivazback · 02/08/2011 21:05

My DS and I were on the bus today coming home from the town when I noticed a woman I vaguely know to speak to in the queue behind about 8 people with her 6YO DD who is in a narrow childs wheelchair and her DP with 2 year old son in small stroller so we waved, as you do.

Now the bus was about half full and 2 girls got on with their children in pushchairs, one with a very large Emmaljunga type and the other with a stroller and both children were happily sitting up by themselves and looked to be about 18 months old but neither thought to fold their pushchair when the lady tried to get her DD on, she had taken her DS out so she could fold pushchair and all sit together but the bus driver told her she could not get on as there were already 2 pushchairs onboard so she had to wait behind in the rain for the next bus.

I know pushchairs are entitled to use the bus but I thought you had to fold them if a wheelchair user was getting on and was quite shocked when the bus driver refused her a ticket, I spoke to her later on and she said it has happened a few times and it's just bad luck but I really don't think it's fair.

OP posts:
2shoes · 02/08/2011 21:44

yanbu
sadly there are some idiots arround

Whatmeworry · 02/08/2011 21:45

Sorry, I think blaming the bus driver is not the answer, he/she has a hundred things to do and sometimes these days its hard to tell a wheelchair from some buggies

Telling him there is a problem is the answer.

CustardCake · 02/08/2011 22:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LithaR · 02/08/2011 22:40

Sadly it isn't just with wheelchairs. The other day i was on the bus when a blind lady got on, the two men in the priority seats refused to get up for her so me and the mum in the pushchair bay got up and helped her to sit.

Not all mums with pushchairs are selfish or ignorant.'t just with wheelchairs. The other day i was on the bus when a blind lady got on, the two men in the priority seats refused to get up for her so me and the mum in the pushchair bay got up and helped her to sit.

Not all mums with pushchairs are selfish or ignorant.

InTheNightKitchen · 02/08/2011 22:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

A1980 · 02/08/2011 22:46

"pushchairs may use this space if there are no wheelchair users onboard but must be folded if this space is needed"

This is exactly what my bus says, but everyone with a pram thinks they have priority. A few years ago you couldnt get on a bus with a buggy unless you folded it. Wheelchairs absolutely should have priority.

A1980 · 02/08/2011 22:48

Why can't a blind person stand up on the bus???

Are you kidding? They can't see when it's about to turn around a corner or come to a stop at lights and know to adjust their footing and hold on tighter. I always give my seat to blind people.

mum0ftw0 · 02/08/2011 22:48

Excuse me,
has anyone ever been a heavily pregnant, anemic woman, with a 2 year in a pram, pram loaded with shopping, and the pram will absolutely not fold down?? and the bus is your only means of transport??
And there's no way you can afford a slinky little foldable pram at that moment in time, and you certainly can't afford a taxi, if you want to be able to keep the house warm aswell.
You have to miss 2 or 3 buses each time because they can't fit you on.
You finally get on the bus and a woman comes on in a wheelchair, saying 'you need to move, I'm sick of you people with prams'. And you have to leave the bus, trying not to burst into tears with the stress.
Then you think about the single parent benefit you get, and the fact that wheelchair users get DLA, mobility and even a free car from the government, whilse buses are your only means of transport.
Because that was how my life was.
And it's very hard.
Now I'm applying for DLA formy son who is disabled, and thankfully with not be forced to use buses anymore, because I'll be able to afford to run a car, or get a taxi when needed with the mobility component.
But back when I had the pushchair I had NO CHOICE.

So I really can't see how wheelchair users should have priority.
Many people use prams because theyre absolutely necessary aswell and they don't get mobility benefit.

Birdsgottafly · 02/08/2011 22:50

Intheknightkitchen- how do they know where to hold on to or how to move out of the way safely? Often blind people are taught how to sit in the front seats and don't know the lay out of the bus.

I hoofed a girl out of the proirty seating the other day for a woman in her eighties. I was waiting to kick off on a girl whos todler had gone to sit down but didn't fold her buggy when a pensioner got on but the driver beat me to it. There are some very selfesh ignorant people about.

2shoes · 02/08/2011 22:51

because ......
if i take my dd on a bus(I don't for this reason and safety issues) I can't fold her wheelchair and heavy seating system, I can't lift her and she can't stand.
so ye s wheelchairs should get priority over prams/buggies every time

A1980 · 02/08/2011 22:53

mum0ftw0

You say Because that was how my life was.

Was being the important word.

People in wheelchairs are that way for life. There are many restrictions on their life that I would no begrude giving them priority on space on a lousy bus.

mum0ftw0 · 02/08/2011 22:56

What about the £50 a week extra wheelchair users get for mobility, to use for taxis and the free car they can get on mobility too?

While in my position getting on the bus was the only option?

ChristinedePizan · 02/08/2011 22:57

Most of us have been that person at some point mumoftwo. But wheelchair users get priority, however stressful it is for the mum who can't fold up her buggy.

2shoes · 02/08/2011 22:59

mum0ftw0 nice post, are you always so ignorant?
people in wheelchairs are allowed to go on buses you know, they are allowed to mingle with able bodied people. they don't have ot spend all their time in a car.

2shoes · 02/08/2011 22:59

oh and you could have walked

A1980 · 02/08/2011 22:59

*What about the £50 a week extra wheelchair users get for mobility, to use for taxis and the free car they can get on mobility too?

While in my position getting on the bus was the only option?*

Well you are applying for it now too so don't keep complaining about the extra perks of it as that will make you a hypocrite.

Birdsgottafly · 02/08/2011 22:59

There is also some choice involved in pregnancy, without any support, but not disability.

You are lucky that you can now drive, not everyone has that option.

Misspixietrix · 02/08/2011 23:00

I disagree with A1980 not EVERYONE who has a pram thinks they have priority. In my area you are lucky if you can get a wheelchair or a pram on for the sake of the 'wheelchair & buggy bay' being used as shopping trolley car park!! to the OP yes I do think it's morally wrong what the girl's did, but I don't think the driver is to blame. the thing is a lot of them don't say anything now for the sake of avoiding confrontation, I just think it depends if you get a 'brave' bus driver iykwim? x

alowVeraWithPurpleTwuntyPants · 02/08/2011 23:01

A1980 I think that mumoftwo is aware of that considering how she has a disabled child. She was explaning the other side of the arguement. As someone who has experience of both.

blackeyedsusan · 02/08/2011 23:02

perhaps it would be better to have buses with more space for prams and wheelchairs. more fold down seats so that more people can use the bus instaed of their car. who wants to wait in the rain for another bus or struggle with a toddler that runs off if not strapped down and a dd who finds it difficult to walk and need holding, plus a buggy full of shopping? also many pushchairs require 2 hands to fold them down and what do you do with toddler/shopping in the mean time?

yes it is a problem, but it is not always parents fault. design of buses could be a lot better.

A1980 · 02/08/2011 23:02

I disagree with A1980 not EVERYONE who has a pram thinks they have priority.

In my area they do Grin

Hell, in my area, they take the buggy on loaded with shooping, park in the bay and dump their toddler on a seat, not even in their lap! Never mind that fare paying adults are standing......

Maryz · 02/08/2011 23:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

alowVeraWithPurpleTwuntyPants · 02/08/2011 23:03

a1980 the car on motability is NOT free. Please do your research properly.

GlitterySkulls · 02/08/2011 23:03

mum0ftw0- i also can't drive,so rely on buses. i am a full-time carer for my husband, & i have a baby. we barely scrape by most of the time.

many the time i have had my son either in his big pram (as a newborn) which doesn't fold easily for one person (plus, who holds the baby?) or recently, in his buggy, which is overloaded with shopping (i also can't afford taxi's willy-nilly) so i can't fold it, and a wheelchair user has needed the space. i GOT OFF THE BUS and WAITED FOR THE NEXT ONE. sometimes i've had to wait for an hour or more to get one with an available space. that's just the way it is.

TimeWasting · 02/08/2011 23:04

Big Emmaljunga prams don't really fold down. You don't always understand what the practicalities of these things are when you're pram shopping for DC1.
After not being able to get on a bus when DS was a few weeks old because the spaces were already taken I didn't go out by myself much til I was recovered enough from the emergency CS to walk the two miles.

Of course the wheelchair user gets priority.
That doesn't stop it being very, very shit for the mother who has to get off the bus too.