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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To trhinkl that it is madness to allow buggies on buses?

323 replies

mrsruffallo · 13/10/2011 10:24

I think wherever possible (i.e older babies onwards) buggies should be folded up. I am so tired of these oversized contraptions being pushed through the aisles, banging passengers thighs and shoulders as the squeeze talong a narrow aisle. I have had my ankles knocked todday and somehow had to squeeze against another passenger along the crowded aisle to make room for yet another buggy.
Theworst thing I have witnesses was a wheeelchair user being denied access onto the bus because there was already a buggy in the wheelchair space. The buggy owner didn't offer to fold up and got off a few stops later.

OP posts:
SewWhat · 13/10/2011 14:56

But what decides what is an older baby and what is a younger baby? By the time my second came along my first couldn't stand steadily or walk. She was an older baby but I still struggled. Admittedly, I found it manageable when I only had one baby but I can see that no everyone might be able to manage it.

If I'm honest I think it is best practice for the buggy to be folded when possible and baby carried on, but there are so many times where for whatever reason that just isn't possible that everyone just has to be more accommodating to those around them.

MrsMooo · 13/10/2011 15:11

But what if you're not a regular bus user but an occasional one, so got a buggy that suited your main use of it (of road for example), or you have mobility issues that mean you do stuggle with folding down a buggy at all, or just stuggle whilst juggling shopping bags handbag/changebag and one or more DC's, what if your toddler won't stand still/behave whilst you do all this on a busy road so it's actually a dangerous? What if you have a massive buggy because you were given it and have no choice in how foldable/suitable for public transport it is?

Your OP is wherever possible, if you're factoring all these variable's in then YANBU

Booooooyhoo · 13/10/2011 15:16

"Is it really that hard to manage a bag andf a baby and use you feet to fold down the buggy? "

is there actually a buggy that requires only feet to fold it?

" I am a regular bus user ansd was one when my children were small. I live in London"

and did you fold your buggy with your feet when your dcs were small?

SewWhat · 13/10/2011 15:21

BooooyHoo I think I can safely say that you need at least, bare minimum, two unhindered fingers on one hand and a free foot to be able to fold a Maclaren (the lie flat from birth variety). I can tell you that I have done lots of testing Wink

babycham42 · 13/10/2011 15:25

I had to use rural buses.I had a big buggy because it was suitable for the long walk to the bus stop. It was very hard when I was pregnant and DD1 was still just a baby as the buggy was so heavy.When DD2 was born DD1 could only just walk.We often had the older buses with steps as it was a rural route.I was genuinely terrified the first time I went on the bus with them!

BUT the other passengers were so helpful.I hardly had a journey where I was left to struggle alone.People helped ranging from teenagers to elderly people.

Thank Goodness for those people!

mumwithdice · 13/10/2011 15:26

Frankly, I think the major problem is that it is not as easy as one might think to find a lightweight foldable buggy. Because of threads like these, I did my best to find the smallest buggy I could and I had a heck of a time. I have an OBaby which is the tiniest bit smaller than a MacLaren. However, I am dyspraxic so the folding part is really difficult for me.

My solutions to this problem are twofold (sorry!). I carry DD in a sling on the bus if I'm going to an appointment where I need to be on time, and, if I want to take the buggy, I wait until a bus that has space free comes. And I always ask the driver before I get on.

Booooooyhoo · 13/10/2011 15:27

and if you're using your hands to hold your baby and your bags and your feet to hold the buggy, does that mean you are sitting on your arse on the pavement trying to achieve a speedy buggy fold before the bus drives off?

mrsR do you know what you're asking of people?

VeryLittleGhastliness · 13/10/2011 15:27

mrsruffalo

Were you the lady on the bus in Tooting, who stood blocking the aisle and refusing to move, tutting audibly and shooting daggers at the poor commuters struggling to get past you with their bags?

Just askin'...

TheScaryJessie · 13/10/2011 15:31

MrsRuffalo

We've also read your subsequent posts, too. Frankly, if someone gave you a shovel, you'd probably be in Australia by now. (This is assuming you are posting from the UK at the moment. If you are currently further afield, mentally substitute your current antipode.)

thefirstMrsDeVeerie · 13/10/2011 15:37

I lived in central london when my DD and DS1 were 2 and new. You couldnt get buggies on buses then so I walked.

Its easy if you live in a densly populated area, are young and fit and everything is within a mile or two.

Bit miserable in the rain but to be honest I couldnt afford to get on buses to go a few stops in those days anyway.

I think the way buggies can get on buses is a real step forward. Much better for those who cant manage to walk for miles and/or live in remote areas.

Trouble is it makes it easier for those who cant be arsed to walk and jump on a bus instead.

If only those who need it, used it there wouldnt be an issue. But when would that ever happen? Human beings are just not like that.

Wheelchair users should get priority but I dont see why buggy pushers should be second class citizens compared to every other bus user!

lubeybooby · 13/10/2011 15:42

At risk of sound like an old woman even though I'm 31, in my day when my DD was a baby all buggies had to be folded as standard. There was no option to just get on with the buggy not folded. I didn't drive and yes it was something of a PITA but everyone just got on with it. I don't see what the problem is with folding them.

I can see why it's nice to have them but if the space is needed for a wheelchair or the bus crowded parents should be prepared to hoik out the baby and fold it and faff about.

Winkyslink · 13/10/2011 15:47

YABU

Babies are much safer in their buggies than being held on your lap, especially given how frequently buses suddenly lurch to a stand still. I almost broke my personsl rule of never taking my daughterout of her buggy last night (because she was sick and upset) thankfully i didnt, because the moment after i decided against it, the driver slammed on the anchors and everyone went flying...ive no doubt she would have been really hurt.

I treat my fellow passengers with consideration, and hope they would do the same for me and my child. If a wheelchair needed the space, id get off and wait for another bus. Luckily there are lots of buses around here.

toptramp · 13/10/2011 15:49

YABU. I don't own a car as I can't afford one plus buses are more environmentally friendly. Yet another thing that mums with young children should be banned from doing; travelling about. pah!

WibblyBibble · 13/10/2011 15:53

I think whiny old bints who worry about their poor delicate elbows being bumped should be banned from buses. How do you feel about that? (Also maybe if you got out of the damn way and sat down on a chair, you'd not be bumped?)

diggingintheribs · 13/10/2011 16:05

Well I have some food for thought

On the way to pick up DS saw that one of the buses on our route had been involved in an accident. 4 ambulances, 4 fire engines and a load of police. Bus had crashed into a car and a van (didn't see it happen so don't know how). When I went past fireman were cutting the top off the car and people were trapped inside - just to show the seriousness (I hope they are all ok)

They were there for 3 hours and the road is still closed now.

My question to you is - where would you have liked your child to being that instance - strapped into their buggy or being held on your lap with one hand while you hold on to the bar with the other?

Rivenwithoutabingle · 13/10/2011 16:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheScaryJessie · 13/10/2011 16:07

Or, in the case of one or both of my twins, sitting on a bus seat on their own, while I held the folded pushchair steady at the side of the wheelchair space, to stop it hurtling around the bus.

JjandtheBeanlovesUnicorns · 13/10/2011 16:08

Yabu! Our bus could easily fit 6 strollers on, and has a isle wide enough for a side by side the bus is the problem and you are a grump!

grumplestilskin · 13/10/2011 16:11

YABU. wheelchairs have priority over buggies on every bus I've ever been on and buggy users either fold or get off and walk the rest/wait for another bus. Bus drivers always enforce this where I live on the rare occasion its not volunteered

you would be a lot more inconvienienced if everyone had to unload all their shopping bags off the bottom, wake up their baby which makes it cry, faff around folding etc THEN FINALLY sit down so 4 minuites later the bus can move off again...... till the next buggy

nancy75 · 13/10/2011 16:14

these threads always turn into a buggy v wheelchair debate. Maybe if other people on the bus helped the mum fold the buggy, or let her sit down with the baby then mums would be more willing to fold them up. perhaps if the bus driver gave you more than 10 seconds to get the baby out and fold the buggy while without falling over on a moving bus mums would also be happier. Maybe if we were all just a tiny bit nicer and helped each other a bit we wouldn't need the buggy in a bus thread ever again!
(this is a from a mum of a 6 year old that was never brave enough to go on the bus with a buggy and is glad that buggy days are over !)

grumplestilskin · 13/10/2011 16:15

digging it depends. I've been on busses that have stopped suddenly and having a hand on the bar does NOT stop your body being forced forward so you bruise your sternum badly on the bar. wouldn't really like my child to have been in the middle of that!

if the buggies are placed correctly (back to the front, with back against wheelchair rest) then they are probably safer in small collisions?

MillyR · 13/10/2011 16:16

The outcome of these safety issues is that buses should have seatbelts. Of course there is a greater safety risk if your child is strapped into a hunk of metal on wheels that could be tipped upside down/ be thrown down the bus/ buckle up/ hit other passengers in the event of a serious crash.

In answer to the OP, I think the need for unfolded banning buggies depends on the type of bus. They have been banned from our local train service for a long time; this is obviously sensible as they are a hazard as they obstruct exits.

TheScaryJessie · 13/10/2011 16:19

I would think safer in the harness in the pushchair, which would form a pseudo car-seat, rather than flung around the bus.

Same as a baby is safer in a car seat, than being carried in another passenger's arms in a car.

TheScaryJessie · 13/10/2011 16:20

I am of course assuming that the pushchair has been lodged correctly.

diggingintheribs · 13/10/2011 16:22

grumple - i completely agree. If I can leave dd in the pushchair i will - sometimes that means waiting for another bus of course

and i would always get off for a wheelchair