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?

"The mother doesn't get special treatment because she has a child, but that child is a person, a person with special needs which can often necessitate that they are in a buggy for safety and mobility, and as such possibly should be granted some extra dispensation because of that."

FFS they are babies they do not have SN just because they are babies.
wtf is it with mn and the omg I have had a baby I must be treated like a princess.

I think the op is a t knob

If the buses are every 4 minutes, why would the wheelchair user prefer to evict the pushchair user rather than wait 4 minutes? The OP has said the bus was full and that there was no room to sit, how would you stand and hold a baby and a shopping bag and still be safe? It has been said before but wheelchairs do not have priority in this instance.

wtf is it with mn and the omg I have had a baby I must be treated like a princess

Well Sevenfold the name Mumsnet offers a clue.

Does it bloody hurt if you are fit and unencumbered to help someone who is not, to make way, to stand for a bit on the bus?

I see that the OP has disappeared - hiding under a bridge?

onefatcat they do have priority it is a wheelchair space
it isn't hard to understand is it really

They do not. The space is to allow the wheelchair user the ability to travel in the event the space is available on the bus, not to give them the right to travel full stop, above other users. If the other passengers can vacate the space they can be asked to do so, and probably will, but they cannot be evicted from the bus in favour of the wheelchair user.

Why would the wheelchair user prefer to evict someone that wait 4 minutes?

Perhaps because judging by the number of times this issue comes up, there are so many people who aren't prepared to get out of the wheelchair space for a wheelchair user that they might be waiting 4 days rather than 4 minutes.

And yes, they do have priority. Always. Because it is a space intended to make buses accessible for people with disabilities. Not just people who prefer to use a device with wheels to transport their child and their shopping.

YAB extremely U

They do not.

onefatcat in my transport region - you are actually wrong. The space is for wheelchair users to allow them priority over other users. The driver will ask parents with buggies to move, as well as other passengers. They absolutely can be 'evicted'. Just cos you don't agree with something, doesn't make it untrue.

x-posted

The space is a wheelchair space. If it is required by a wheelchair user then a non-wheelchair user must vacate it, probably by folding their pushchair. If they feel unable to do so, or choose not to do so, then they can be asked to leave the bus.

It is correct that they cannot be forcibly evicted which is a great shame, but it doesn't give them some moral priority - it just means that people who choose to do the wrong thing sometimes get away with it.

What really should happen of course is that the bus driver should take the bus out of service until the refuser voluntarily folds or gets off the bus - pity so few drivers are willing to get hardline about upholding the rights of passengers with disabilities.

there is always one person who insists they are right, even if buses actually have signs saying that WC's take priority,
do hope onefatcat you don't learn the hard way.

x-posted again.

They absolutely do have priority. Companies declining to enforce that priority and people taking advantage of that is another thing entirely.

The priority still exists.

YABU and stupid.

I am sorry, but a paying customer cannot be asked to leave the bus just because a wheelchair wants to get on. If the passengers can vacate to another space on the bus and buggies folded they will be asked to do so, but I think you will find that if the bus is too full to acommodate the wheelchair then they have no right to evict other passengers in their favour. You may believe they can but that doesn't mean it is true.

If the bus is full, and the wheelchair space is filled with standing passengers, should all those people have to get off (and pay an additional fare on the next bus) so that the wheelchair user can get on?

YABVVVVU.

On my bus (and probably all of the others) it says: "Please give up this space if a wheelchair user needs it".

Nowhere does it say "pushchair".

It's not a question of being asked to get off the bus; obviously nobody can be made to do that.

It is a question of folding the buggy if the space is needed for the wheelchair-user no matter how awkward that is, no matter how difficult it is to cope with toddlers and folded buggy and bags. If you'd rather get off altogether than do that - that's your privilege.

I said wheelchair users don't have the right to board a bus that is full and evict other passengers that have already paid.
Yes it says 'please give up this space', it doesn't say 'please vacate this bus'.

The wheelchiar spaces on buses are clearly marked as priority speces for wheelchairs, so yes, peopel who get n a crowded bus and stand in the wheelchair space know they are doing so unless a wheelchair user needs it.

Wheelchairs take up more space than a standing adult, and wheelchair users cannot go upstairs on buses. If there wasn't a priority system, wheelchair users would stay at some bus stops for HOURS waiting for a bus not crowded enough, while a standing passenger can squeeze into a space.

And monster-buggy owners - yes you have paid for a seat or standing space, but are taking up the space of how many other passengers, for free!

Come on folks (of the OP's persuasion) - it's not that often you come across a wheelchair user needing space on your bus, so a bit of generous flexibility would help.

There is no 'push chair' space but the wheelchair space which can be used by push chairs if not required by a wheelchair user.
How does OP know that the next 10 buses were not occupied by equally selfish parents?