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?

38cody, if your baby in a pram is "totally vulnerable' when with you then you really shouldn't be in charge of him or her. It's a wheelchair space, not a buggy space. Your inability to organise your child's feeding arrangements or fold a buggy does not mean that a wheelchair user has to be prevented from boarding a bus.

38cody- Someone in a wheelchair may also not be able to tell you if they are cold or hungry and may become very distressed when they are hungry. Don't assume adults cannot be very vulnerable.

Judging from their comments on the pip thread I think a certain poster is being a gf.

seriously what is it that some dont understand that a wheel chair space is just that and its doesnt matter how new or vulnerable babies are wheelchairs are paramount because its a wheelchair space do people feel they should be allowed to park in disabled parking spaces too because they have a baby?

Can people not find a better hobby than winding up people dealing with disability.

Pretty much anything would be less creepy.

And also the spaces on the buses a majority of them are for both wheelchair and pushchair/pram. One does not get preference over the other.

its a wheelchair space Boosh what part of wheelchair space do you not understand ?Thankfully the law disagrees with you..

"2shoes Wed 07-Mar-12 17:19:48
Sevenfold Mon 28-Nov-11 18:38:53
buses have one wheelchair space only one, so a wheelchair uses should always be able to use it
wow can't believe people are so jealous of someone who can't walk.

this is an old thread so I am just going to use one of my old posts"

this thread is sooo old I am here under 2 old names
so I will just repost one of those.

i agree with poster, not ALL people who use a wheel chair are not able to walk/stand/sit. Some people actually buy there own because there simply lazy and/or overweight

I wouldn't bother engaging with someone who posts odd stuff like that

due to my own childs disabillity a know a few children that are wheechair users they can walk but due to their disabillities they sometimes need to use wheelchairs do you also think they should wait for the next bus why is a toddler more precious then say a six yr with severe hypermobility and scolosis ?

YABVU.

Now who do we think would be most vulnerable on a moving bus: a baby held in a sling by its parent or a large 47yo man lifted from his wheelchair by his carer?

When mine were little and I went travelling, I took the buggy and the sling, and transferred the baby to the sling before I got on the bus. Perfectly safe, perfectly easy. Could you do that with a disabled 47yo?

I had cause to use a wheelchair for a few months. I found the most courteous were white van drivers letting me cross the road (yes really! Seems hard to believe as a car driver!! )
The most entitled (refusing to give room on pavements and the bus) were adults with buggies. I just didn't exist to so many of them. There were some wonderful exceptions, I had some great conversations with children on the bus about my chair whilst their parents went beetroot red!
I'd like to think my stint being stuck in a chair will make me speak up if I ever see someone in a chair refused. I'm no longer vulnerable and I can be very stubborn.
Bring it on I say.

Some people actually buy there own because there simply lazy and/or overweight

And some people cannot get a wheelchair, or the wheelchair they need on the NHS.
In my early 20s, and walking with a stick, I would often offer up my seat or space on the bus to those less able than myself, while sadly I saw many pushchair users not bother. Or, as in one situation, expect me to move out of their way even though I could barely stand.

My DF is now in a wheelchair, he has had to give up driving his adapted car so public transport is his own way of getting out and about. If I (the mum of grown up DT who used public transport when they were younger) heard that he had difficulties with bus companies or individual passengers refusing to give him space on a bus, I would be furious and immediately considering further legal action on his behalf !

If someone with a buggy doesn't want to/can't fold it down, well they had better get off the bus and I don't care whether it is the only bus for an hour, dark, cold or raining!

zombie Thread

We had to buy our own wheelchair because the hospital consultant thought using a wheelchair would lead dd "to think of herself as disabled". He did not appear to have considered that being unable to attend school or go for days out or having to crawl along the pavement on her hands and knees might also make her think of herself as disabled..

Oh good grief, the hard of thinking have come out to play.

The problem can be solved by not allowing any unfolded pushchairs on a bus. The fact the bus companies have gone out of their way to provide this facility has backfired on them and caused entitlement from certain users.