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?

Common sense should tell you that if you are going to be using the bus, you need something that will fold up quickly and easily. It's really not rocket science. Always assume that the wheelchair space will be occupied, then you won't have to worry about whether or not it is or whether or not you'll need to move from it.

In some cities you are only allowed on the bus with a buggy that folds up. You wouldn't even have got on with a huge all terrain thingy if you lived here!

YABU

Do you know I sort of do agree that a woman with a pram/pushchair occasionally needs to be cut a little slack on a bus. For example...

I had an emcs 4 days before dd started school for the first time. I can't drive, the school is several miles away and there is one bus an hour. Ordinarily I'd use a sling but my wound started to reopen and the pain of using one wasn't possible for a couple of weeks so I had to use a pushchair. I did sort of hope that other passengers would be kind enough to move and make space for my pushchair in the pushchair area (separate to the wheelchair area, sensibly and wonderfully, our local bus service has BOTH, clearly marked) if possible as tbh folding the pushchair one handed whilst juggling a baby a few days post surgery was a bloody nightmare. And largely people were very helpful.

But there was one occasion where a wheelchair user needed that space and of course I asked every other passenger for help while we got the pushchair folded down and newborn ds was handed around about 3 different people while we wrangled things.

No having a baby isn't special in any way, shape or form but being postoperative I did sort of need a bit more consideration than I ordinarily would ask for.

But still wheelchairs of course take priority.

showofhands but as the OP's baby was 6 months old, the likelihood that she just had a c-section recently was probably pretty slim. And she didn't mention any recent medical afflictions.

But then, in your situation it wasn't the pushchair that took priority over the wheelchair, it would be your medical condition, I would think. Quite a different scenario.

There are definitely times when mothers travelling with children and buggies need some extra help or consideration, but it needn't be at the cost of the wheelchair user, that's the thing.
Other passengers or the driver may need to step up to the plate and move their blooming bags out of the aisle, or hold the baby, or help you lift the folded buggy into the luggage space.
And generally people do help - some passengers will stare into space and steadfastly ignore you when you are trying to manoeuvre round their feet, but IME there has always been someone who has jumped up to help, or taken the baby.

Oh I know triggles, as I said, it only occasionally matters that you have a pushchair and a wheelchair always takes priority regardless. Thought I was clear on that. Merely responding to all the 'bloody PFBers' 'wow I'm clever, look at my womb fruit' posts. Sometimes having a baby does mean that the world's a bit different for you.

IME, people are always more than happy to have a cuddle with ds. I catch the same bus to pick up dd that the WI catch home.

I do take issue with the young lady on the bus who has a 3yo who walks and a pushchair full of shopping. She never, ever, ever folds it, regardless of who needs the space. She will ask other mothers to fold their prams if they're in her way. She wears a shroud of entitlement.

Show of hands, so true about the cuddle.

We lived in Washington DC when DS was tiny. Arrived one day to catch the Metro (very civilised, has lifts) to find the lifts were broken and I faced a Loooooooooong escalator with buggy (which I folded) and baby on the other arm.

I was hesitating at the top, as I really wanted to be able to hold on to the rail (vertigo sufferer), when a very sharply suited businessman came along, said 'allow me ma'am', gently took DS and sang songs to him all the way down the escalator, before handing him back to me and striding off to catch his train...

teacher I love that story

teacher how nice!

I live in a city where all buses have a large space - big enough for 3 open pushchairs or 2 wheelchairs. And a rule of max 2 non folded pushchairs....with one half of the space being priority wheelchairs and the other priority pushchairs (have never seen 2 wheelchairs on one bus so don't know who would win in that case).

Nevertheless I always wear a sling and take a rucksack for my shopping. DS is only 2 months so even if I fold his pushchair the carrycot pram bit still takes up loads of room, space that I can't justify on a bus for such a tiny baby!

Plus the advantage of a sling is that I always get offered a seat and I can then feed DS in the bus.

Op you are being very unreasonable AND selfish.
DS is in a wheelchair he is 11 yrs old and very heavy. DD is almost 3 yrs old and also very heavy when I carry her on my back in a backpack whilst pushing DS's wheelchair. I've lost count of them amount of times we've stood round waiting for buses that are full of selfish, inconsiderate people and their immense buggies taking up spaces that are designated for people like my son. Bus after bus can go past and we can be left waiting for a long time because although bus drivers should tell people like you to get off the bus if you refuse to fold your pushchair- generally they don't!
As for all the comments about how hard it is to hold a baby, bags of shopping and fold a pushchair. Boo hoo! I have to struggle to get a heavy wheelchair into the disabled space, then stand on the bus with my heavy daughter on my back near to my DS (most often than not carrying bags of heavy shopping too.
Unfortunately I don't have the choice to use anything other than the disabled space as DS at 11 yrs old is too heavy to just carry under one arm whilst folding a buggy.
If I use a bus without DS and DD is in pushchair, I ALWAYS fold her (purposefully bought) lightweight pushchair and leave it with my shopping in the luggage rack then sit down with DS, to leave the wheelchair designated space for those who REALLY need it.

Unfortunately I don't have the choice to use anything other than the disabled space as DS at 11 yrs old is too heavy to just carry under one arm whilst folding a buggy I meant wheelchair!!!

"Could I have held my baby and folded up my pushchair? I don't think so - she is 6 months old"

Never been in your shoes?

Bollocks.

There are 15 months between my two. I have folded up a double pushchair while holding a baby and securing a 15 month old. I have folded a single pushchair while holding a one year old and securing a toddler. I have folded pushchairs while chucking small children at other passengers to hold!

And with shopping bags.

I am not superhuman. If anything, I have less sympathy because I HAVE done it and I know it can be done.

'Could I have held my baby and folded up my pushchair? I don't think so - she is 6 months old.' OP of course you could have done this. I had a double buuggy for my older two (17 months gap) although I usually used my sling and older DC walked if I was going to be taking a bus. I have held a 6 month old on one hip while folding the double buggy with the other hand to get on buses. Wheel chairs always take priority.
ps - MN can be a very caring sympathetic place if you actually have a problem

ooh and once it jammed so I got the driver to hold DS2 while DS1 stood there and I had two hands to fold the buggy.

I dont think wheelchairs should get priority you have no idea what situation the mother is in...What if the mother is physically incapable of folding her buggy and holding the child/standing with the child...or if you have paid for a ticket why should you leave the bus and pay twice?!? Thats not fair...And the big one what if the child in the buggy looks perfectly healthy but is infact disabled!! Should a mother with a disabled child in a buggy be asked to fold or vacate the bus for a wheelchair?!?

Puts on flame proof coat

The mum was on the bus first, i think its only fair that the next passenger, be it anotehr push chair user or wheel chair user waits for the next bus. If however they were at the same stop then the decent thing to have happened is for the mum to allowed the wheelchair user onto the bus.

It also woudlnt have hurt some of the other passengers to volunteer to help, in terms of maybe giving up seat, helping with the shopping etc.

Well, this is a non-issue really as the man in the wheelchair was happy to wait.

In general yes, wheelchairs should take priority over pushchairs.

I live in London and use buses fairly frequently, so I bought a lightweight umbrella-fold buggy, and I don't store much underneath, so it's easy to fold. I wouldn't want to worry about struggling should a person in a wheelchair need to get on.

Having said that, if a parent is expected to fold their buggy for a wheelchair user, I do think it is incumbent on another passenger to then offer them a seat so they're not standing up holding the baby.

when my smallest two were in their phil and ted, I reckon me, the two babies, and the folded up phil and ted, would have taken up more space than if id just left them in it. I feel sorry for people that cant walk etc, but i dont think they need patronising so much that other people who got on the bus first, should have to get off. I think its completely right that people should be asked to fold their buggy if possible, and i think its good manners that if you are a regular bus user, and its possible to use a small umbrella fold buggy, then you should whilst using public transport, but I dont like the idea that people with pushchairs are sometimes told to get off the bus if a wheelchair user wants to board.

Don't be so ridiculous. Have my first .

You are presumably physically capabale and are serioulsy asking whether you should have the same rights as someone who is not. You or any one else who is physically capable shoudl have got off that bus to allow space for that person to get on.Shame on you.

Why resurrect a bun fight? Don't we have enough?

YABU. If a someone gets on the bus with a small baby I think where possible the buggy should stay up, if its not possible be prepared to fold. If the child is old enough to walk then the buggy should be put down. Where I live I am shocked sometimes, people will get on with buggies, with toddlers in them and expect elderly people to get up and move to fit their giant 3 wheeler terrain buggies in! I am a mother who uses buses with a now pre schooler and soon to be newborn. I chose a light buggy that can be easily manoeuverd (sp?) and folded down on he bus in case I needed to do so and only bought shopping that I knew I could carry, I would then organise myself while waiting for the bus. I will do the same when the new DC comes.

"I feel sorry for people that cant walk etc, but i dont think they need patronising so much that other people who got on the bus first, should have to get off. "

Ahahahahaha!! I LOVE this post. Next time someone old gets on the bus and there are no seats, I shally stay seated instead of patronising them.
And like ALL DISABLED people, I actually have a car. A Rolls Royce paid for by my benefits. I only get on the bus to go to the pub.