To think that pushchairs should have same priority as wheelchairs on buses?

[SparklyC]

Today - packed bus, I was in the pushchair bit on the bus, another mum got on with a buggy loaded with shopping. People sat in space that could have held another buggy in it didn't get up so both our pushchairs had to go in one space and my pushchair is one of those big all-terrain things! Then bus driver stopped bus for wheelchair user and asked us if either of us could fold down our pushchairs/move? Well, first of all, there wouldn't have been any room for us to sit down with our babies and also have our shopping on our knee or even stored on luggage shelf once pushchairs were on. Also the bus service I travel on has a bus every 4 minutes in the daytime. So the bus driver (who obviously has to be sen to be doing the right thing) got off the bus to tell the wheelchair user that the bus was full, and would he mind waiting for the next one, which he didn't anyway. What does everyone else think? Should we mums with our pushchairs be given the same priority as wheelchairs? Should bus drivers ask other passengers to move so that we can get on, instead of (sometimes) feeling like we are an annoyance and an obstacle to them?

Humancatapult she's in cloud cuckoo land were rulal not many accesable buses and all taxis are saloon cars (DH is a taxi driver to)

I onced phoned 28 taxi companies to find an accessible taxi on a sunday. Thats an hour I wont get back. And no, we didnt find one so we didnt go out.

Really Dotty? I come from Somerset and most buses there were accessible- same here in Wales. Shame that ahsn;t gotten everywhere yet

Dotty I used to be mind town of ten thousand rural maybe not but bused not accessible and no taxis

Hell I moved and yes buses are here long as the ramp not broken or stuck but there is one taxi in whole town that can take wheelchairs but can't take a big chair

Nowhere to store my buggy on bus

So I sort of propped between me and ds4. Not brilliant but got us there. At an angle I could still hold ds4.

Sanct

Google Brightlingsea my former town it'd a largeish town but one road in ANC out

They are predicted not to get an accessibile bus till 2017

Bloody hell THC! That's just shite!

I could get a doiuble buggy on and off the bus that was accessible back in 2001, bloody ridiculous you can't.

i didnt say babies where disabled just that they have the same physical needs. my seven month old cannot walk. yes she will be able to soon but right now her needs are the same. no?

plus my punctuation is piss poor is should have read disabled, man, woman, child.

i also acknowledge that disabled people need more facilities i.e bigger loo's etc. thats not the issue its the sense of entitlement.its not fair that your disabled but that doesn't automatically give you more rights.

No Helen but we deserve the same rights as others. A place on the bus. Which for some reason epople with babies are now demanding. Without that space we cant get on the bus like you walkers can.
You clearly cant understand the difference.

It gives you more right to a wheelchair space.

And I am not sure who you mean by 'your disabled'. Who are you talking to?

A baby is a baby. A disabled person is a disabled person. They are not the same at all.
If my dd told me that a baby and a disabled person were just the same I would tell her to use her brains and not utter such total nonsense. She is 9.

Lol babies don't hello you can pick a baby up

Hello you can't pick me up

Helen someone with a baby can get any bus I found when mine where young folk where willing to help you but then we didn't think our babies would evaporate or get stolen all the bleeding time

Helen,

Your child cannot walk BUT she is small enough to be carried. There are various ways that her travel needs can be met - she can be carried by you, she can be in a sling, she can be in a backpack, she can be in a buggy. Only 1 of those takes up space on a bus....and she is easily moved from a pushchair to being held by you.

A wheelchair bound adult cannot walk ... and none of the other alternatives are available to them. They cannot be carried, sat on a lap, snuggled in a sling or carried in a backpack. Therefore their need to take up a space on the bus is much greater, because no alternative (being held by an adult) is available to them, especially because they may well be travelling on their own as an independent person.

Can you see that there is a difference?

Sancti

Luckily I moved and that's part of the reason

Oh and for the pram mafia your going to be well and truly fecked as paraolympics are coming and I know lot of bus compiles have been told to crack down on buggies in wheelchair spaces

Teacher

Exactly my point I tend to go of out quite a bit , have been to Bristol over weekend with my younger 2 dc

No one can lift me or fold my chair or Carry me in other ways to get around

I cannot genuinely believe that people actually think they have an argument against folding up their buggy so another person can fit on. I would fold up my buggy for an abled person so they didn't have to wait for the next bus. If course I would fold up my buggy for a disabled person!

You can fold a buggy and hold your baby or sit them on your lap. What is so difficult and demeaning about that?

I just think if you can't fold for whatever reason and have paid you should at least get a refund or get to stay on the bus.

maryz the likelyhood of that happening is small. mom gets about fine and doesnt expect others to compensate.

You can stay on the bus. It is your luggage (pushchair) that can't. That is the risk you take for not choosing a smaller buggy that you can fold up.

that's a good point notastatistic. was she expected to forego her fair too?

Why don't some of you with precious babies to protect just learn to drive and stay off the bloody busses?!

well I'm assuming all babies come with oxygen, feeding tubes and pumps, medication etc and don't sit at 9 months or able to move once placed on there back or front.

but rover jones OP had a buggy that couldn't do that she did say. if it could have been folded it would have been I'm sure. she isn't cruel just affronted to be treated less if a person.

Pay for a car and ill drive what makes you think I wanna bus.