To think that buses are a bit pants?

[Hawkmoon269]

Each bus can take 2 buggies. (Unless there are other buses I've not discovered - magic baby friendly buses).

So how do people cope with regular bus use when you have no idea when one will turn up or whether you'll get on! How do people manage to be on time for anything?

Got the bus yesterday (rare for me) and am practically in tears of gratitude for my car today!

If I was using a bus I tended to keep my dd in a sling. If you get a good one you can carry them till they are pretty old.

worra Burger King? What? Hmm...

Yes I do want it a bit my way. It is a journey I pay for after all.

I can't afford the bus this week (woe
is me), just done 5 mile round trip to drop off at school... I'm expecting nicer thighs by Friday.

Thank you compos I have a Maclaren. It fits perfectly in my 4x4

If I see someone with a pushchair at my usual bus stop I sometime walk up the hill to the stop before that one so I have more chance of getting on with mine.

I have a tiny baby and a toddler in a P&T so can't just fold it up.

Either that or walk.

Plus our busses are £7.50 for a return

That's expensive! It's £4.80 for a day rider here and that's including a recent increase.

To be fair, in normal life I walk most of the time and just use my car if its more than a couple of miles or if I'm really busy.

It's a bit annoying to be told "get a light folding buggy" when you have 2 babies or a heavier buggy/pram (for whatever reason). I wouldn't buy a buggy just for the odd journey on a bus (although I happen to have a lightweight buggy anyway for fitting in car boot purposes).

"1 folding buggy, 1 sleeping baby and 2 bags of shopping (modest amount)."

Shopping in rucksack, little mcclaren which folds easily, baby that doesn't ever sleep

Well if you use buggies regularly then yes, it'd be stupid to not bear that in mind when choosing one. If you don't then you put up with occasional inconvenience. Simple, no?

OP, If you want to use public transport without having to fold your buggy up, or deal with bus drivers who wont wait, or grumpy passengers getting impatient, have you considered a taxi?

You can wheel your buggy on, go door to door, don't have to disturb your child, don't have to fold up your buggy, no other passengers tutting and getting impatient. Seems like the solution if you want it your way because you're paying.

Ok, I think it depends where you live.

I live in Manchester. I use buses quite a lot and have NEVER had to fold up my buggy to get on a bus. There is always enough room for a buggy. I think there are about 3 spaces on all the buses. Rarely have I encountered a wheelchair either. I have never had to wait for the next bus.

In London it is a different story. I go there quite a lot as my parents live there. Buses are a nightmare for buggies there. There are only 2 spaces ( I think that 3rd space really makes a difference) and there is a stupid pole in the middle of the space which means that you have to move your buggy (even off the bus sometimes) to allow the first person with the buggy to get out, it is ridiculous!! Very poorly designed system for buggys, and if there was a wheelchair in the bus, no buggy could get on. Whereas in Manchester, even if there was a wheel chair, you can still have 2 buggies on the other side.
I have been told I can't get on with my buggy several times in London, even at non-peak times, in a surburban area, not even in the city. I don't understand how anyone with a buggy doesn't find it a PITA in London.

littlemisssarcastic living up to your name?!
I have a car. Buses are not the norm. All I said was I'd prefer to be able to wheel my buggy on - who wouldn't?

choc yes, London buses are a pita. That pole! Other cities seem to manage much better.

I think you're being a little unreasonable here - its public transport, its not just tailored to you. There is a space for buggy/wheelchair, its just sometimes its full, thats just the nature of the thing - its public, not just yours.

We have some with the pole and some without

pootles yep. Public. Not just mine but mine as much as anyone else who's on board and paying to travel.

I'm near Manchester and our buses are generally pretty good and roomy, even the drivers are nice
The only thing is they have these buses now with very little storage space so when you fold your buggy up there's no where to put it. If you squeeze it in next to you it still takes up room or is a tripping hazard depending on where you grt a seat. If you put it in the luggage rack it becomes a missile when the driver puts the brakes on and shoots out of the shallow rack and across to the drivers cab/takes out the eye of some poor soul queuing to get off the bus..

When I had to use a bus with a baby, I used a sling/baby carrier. Would that be an option? It also leaves hands free for any older toddlers or shopping.

I stopped getting the bus a few years ago. The other week I took the bus with the dreaded pushchair to give DS a new experience. I got shouted at by the bus driver in a sarcastic tone with sarcastic hand gestures about turning the buggy sideways. I shouted back at him in a bus full of people "I'm sorry, but I didn't know, because the buggy sign on the floor is not exactly clear about how to park it and I don't get the bus often because of rude bus drivers like you"

That shut the arsehole up and then a man got up for me to sit down and said "don't worry about him".

I don't use the f word often, but I fucking hate buses. Hate them.

Of course it is, so if you get on bus first, you'll get to walk your buggy on, if not, you'll have to either take your baby out and fold, or wait. I don't get the issue here?

Ugh, yanbu. Buses are shit. Went to visit a friend last Sunday. A 10/15 min journey by car took almost two hours due to the route and the infrequent Sunday service. Could have walked it if the road had been pedestrian friendly in under an hour. Now dd is a bit older its not so bad but I hated going by bus when she was a baby. I relied on them for shopping but even a 15 min trip to the supermarket was a nightmare due to wrestling bags, keeping dd under control, finding a space then getting the whole lot off again, buggy falling backwards loaded with shopping... I've just sold ALL my possessions in order to take driving lessons because im so sick of busses!

littlemisssarcastic living up to your name?!
I have a car. Buses are not the norm. All I said was I'd prefer to be able to wheel my buggy on - who wouldn't?

Insulting my username? Nice try at offending me, but a little lame.

Now back to your post above, I was merely responding to your posts on the subject.

"I honestly can't get the baby out, steady him while folding buggy and putting on bag all while the bus is moving. And can't expect the driver to wait for the 30-40 seconds if takes to do that. I find it hard enough to get on, park the buggy and sit down before the bus starts flinging me into the laps of strangers.
I could get ds out of the buggy, hold him and fold it with one hand in 30 seconds. And probably do jazz hands and ta daaaa when I'd finished. (Now who's being sarcastic ) IF I was on a pavement or stationary bus. On a moving bus - not a chance.

So if there is a kindly stranger to help that's great, but if not...? And as someone else has already said, buses seem to drive past if they've got their quota of buggies so you have no chance to say "hello bus driver, I'm happy to fold my buggy up"

I'd rather take him on the bus IN his buggy, or I've got to the bus stop at the same time as the bus (or, heaven forbid, run for it), or because he's snoozing or because keeping him upright and occupied out of the buggy while we wait for a bus is sometimes tricky. Those sorts of reasons!

And then your last post before I posted "Yes I do want it a bit my way. It is a journey I pay for after all."

Btw, I wasn't being sarcastic as you seem to think I was . I genuinely thought a taxi could cover all of your needs wrt public transport. What is it that you don't like about the suggestion about a taxi?
I should think that if catching the bus is causing you enough angst to write a thread on here about it and then become quite caustic and PA when you don't get the replies you want, it's really not worth the hassle?
Why would you do something that causes you so much angst when there is an alternative...a taxi?

Wow. Sorry if you thought I was being pa. I wasn't. I really did think you were being sarcastic!

I wouldn't use a taxi because a) they cost a fortune and b) I wouldn't use a cab without a car seat. And I suppose c) because getting a bus is ok occasionally. My general point is more about how crap an experience I've found it and wondering how people cope when they have to do it every day.

Haven't intended to be sarcastic or pa or anything. Was a genuine question which people have been good enough to answer.

YANBU.
I've only ever heard of children enjoying riding on a bus. I can't stop thinking of all the nasty lurgies and stuff that the seats have on them.

I am an ex-Londoner and think that buses/public transport is great, even back when my two were very small and there were no such things as buggy spaces.

Yes it was a bit stressful getting them ready and on to the bus, but that it was possible at all was great, and arrangements now (thanks to the disability rights campaigners) are in comparison fantastic.

I used an umbrella folding pushchair and a sling, followed by a buggy board (16 mths between my two), and if I had stuff to take then a ruck sack. Avoided rush hour if at all possible because peak hour traveling in London is a bit of a nightmare on your own let alone with babies in tow. Always folded the buggy before the bus came, and always allowed extra time (but that's a public transport issue, and not really baby related)

In comparison travel by car is generally very easy, but that's individualisation for you, you pay your money and take your choice really.