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?

'I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a baby having to get off for me If I was a wheelchair user.'

As a wheelchair user I would offer to hold baby while the mum folded the buggy. Then we can both be on the bus. While most of the time parents can take advantage of the wheelchair space, its a wheelchair space. Campaigned for by wheelchair users. Parents can fold and hold a baby. Wheelchair users cannot fold and have no choice about where to sit.

Did this thread kick off?

Thats not really an option for big babies, I could never put mine in a sling.

plus I have a bad back due to an injury I had years ago.

I mean tbf I did get off and walk when this situation arose I have/would never be arsey with a wheelchair user. But If I was a wheelchair user and I saw that me getting on would cause a newborn have to go off the bus into bad weather, I would wait.

I have several health problems and due to such have mobility problems often I do think even in those situations very small babies come first, blast me to high heaven if you disagree but that my view.

would you wait Archemedes if there was one bus an hour? Because thats what it was like here until 6 months ago. One low floor bus an hour. None after 5pm and none sundays and Bank Holidays.
And until that bus was introduced mothers had been folding and wheelchair users had been trapped. When it was introduced it meant I could finally travel about. But suddenly none of the mothers seemed unable to fold anymore.

Christ on a bike!

wo just wow, they can't ALL be trolls, how sad.

As a wheelchair user I would offer to hold baby while the mum folded the buggy. Then we can both be on the bus. While most of the time parents can take advantage of the wheelchair space, its a wheelchair space. Campaigned for by wheelchair users. Parents can fold and hold a baby. Wheelchair users cannot fold and have no choice about where to sit.

I totally agree I have stated a crazy amount of times In would have no issue with this,

Which is why I'm not sure why I got such a hard time earlier getting my words twisted etc.

You don't pay for under 5's so no they don't come first, I managed with 3 children including newborn and toddler 4 and under no spaces you folded or walked end of story and I have several serious health issues including arthritis.

ds2 was 10.6 hows that for big .

Adn new borns tend not get wet they have big rain covers and lots of warm blankets

but yes often enough cna be worked so both get on a bus .Think driver must been going for recored he had me on board and 4 buggys one by my feet and 3 on other side all facinng in

thanks archemedes. And a wheelchair user is the least liekly person to run off with your pfb. Cos its a pain in the arse reversing into that space and dealing with the ramp!

*But If I was a wheelchair user and I saw that me getting on would cause a newborn have to go off the bus into bad weather, I would wait.

I have several health problems and due to such have mobility problems often I do think even in those situations very small babies come first, blast me to high heaven if you disagree but that my view.*

may be a clue

I mean a newborn pram , you cant expect someone to fold a pram with a baby who cant even support its own head.

or this one

I've been reading this thread sucking a Polo. My jaw has dropped so much that, in the last few pages, that the sweet has fallen out 3 times!

I am disabled and don't use the bus, but feel like doing so in the faintest hope that I might meet some of the idiots on this thread and make them fold their buggies!

danJAR

Ok, I get the disabled/ill child. As one day that child may well be in a wheelchair, and need the space too.

So really, it doesnt really apply to YOU does it?!

Yes, if you re read my posts I gave a few examples of how my life with a disabled baby/child was made easier by not having to fold a buggy and using the disabled space. In fact one example was using the disabled space via a blue badge where the buggy crew wouldn't fold and I had to lower to unforgiveable situations for us top make a hospital appointment!!

if the buses are every 5 mins chances are i let one go or even 2 but by the 3rd time no im going to get on board as earlier op said well why could peron not waited .They have no clue how long someone has waited

Adn no at hourly service im getting on board

sorry the 1st 2 lines should of been quoted by danJAR

have to say though he was so obviously ill/disabled.

YABU

Devient

some times people just dont want to see it or ignorant .Ironic thing is I would be first to get of the bus or turn my chair sideays so we could both get on and then would probably cooed at your baby

lol THC...............would we still be cooing at him now

he he

Even in the time since I had my DS (who is 11), the idea of what constitutes a 'newborn pram' has expanded to absolutely ludicrous proportions.

There are umbrella-fold pushchairs by M&P and Maclaren that take babies from birth. Pick up the newborn in 1 arm (YOU support its head, like you do all the rest of the time e.g. at home...), fold the pushchair with the other. Or use a sling or carrier, even if all you do is pop the child in the carrier for getting onto the bus, so that you can fold BEFORE getting onto the bus, and all other accompanying children can hold hands with you while getting onto the bus.

You are not entitled to use the wheelchair space. To do so is a luxury that you may not always get. So have a plan that accommodates that. To say 'I can't fold my pushchair' is a failure to plan - you knew that a wheelchair user might use the space, so you MUST have a plan for what to do if one gets on.

The ONLY circumstances in which it MIGHT be acceptable to ask a wheelchair user to wait would be if a FREQUENT bus service had every single seat full - as in nobody new, able bodied or not, could get on. If there is even a single seat that someone occupying the wheelchair place could move to, then they MUST do so to allow the wheelchair user (or disabled pushchair user) the same priority that an able-bodied person in that position in the bus queue would have. If the person who moves has an accompanying child / baby, then that child is carried by or sits on the lap of the adult, in the same way as a young child sitting in a seat anywhere else on the bus would be expected to do.

Is there really ANYONE who thinks that is unreasonable??

nope

as wheelchair user i often double up and have ds3 on my lap at almost 7 . mind he rides on my lap as not allowed 2 wheelchairs on a bus

There are several lighter weight easy to fold prams for newborns if you look.

Wheelchair users have no choice. People choose to have kids.
Do not get me started on those huge pushchairs/prams. Some of them are the size of tractors. They are bought by pompous parents who think 'Look at my precious darlings, aren't they wonderful. Er no.

and my ds also 11 things have also changed apart from the prams, the size of the oxygen tanks for a start and the feeding pumps and the rest of the equipment needed to carry round, which were easier to carry on the wire tray on the bottom of a pram, then try carrying it all plus the baby and the tubes coming from the tank and the pump, where do they go...........well into the baby.