Buggies must be folded by law, if a wheelchair user wishes to board

[BerniceBroadside]

I know this can be a hot topic so thought I'd share that stagecoach have new signs on their buses stating that buggies must be folded by law if a wheelchair user wishes to board. Let's hope it's actually enforced.

Never said it was but mums of multiples could have a problem with this if they've got on,paid and have moved miles off away from home.It's not that easy to hold 2 newborns,juggle a toddler,fold a buggy then keep all 3 safe on a bus journey.

I guess they could just be banned,but then given many families can't now afford 2 cars it could make life quite hard.

Excluding one group for another isn't progress imvho.

Perhaps a bit of thought and compromise wouldn't go amiss.

Why don't people ask for help? instead of juggling multiple babies ask for help. In my experience most people are willing to give you hand if you ask them.

Well campaign for designated spaces for prams.

No matter how many children you have with you it is still 9 times out of 10 easier for you to be flexible than it is for the person in the wheelchair. Yes it may take some juggling but at least you have the option to do that.

No one should be excluded or put at risk. I think most people if they can will fold, but those as is retropears case raise valid concerns too.

The chance to sort yourself out, i you cant cope with it on the bus, is at the bus stop before the bus comes.

Surely everyone has just as much right to be there and a pram can't always be collapsed

No everyone does not have as much right to be there. Check out the link upthread. Wheelchair users have priority.

maxomummy

It. Is. A. Wheelchair. Space.

Oh perleeeeease.

I'm sure many would but you can't rely on others,there may no be any,there my not be space and if you have 2 18 month olds not keen on being handed over to any Tom,Dick or Harry it isn't that easy.

I could only get on buses if I could leave the buggy up as the massseeeeve bag of crap on the back made it impossible to fold quickly and it kept the dtwins safe and confined ie seated whilst I held either one and the baby was in the buggy.

All I'm saying is before you froth and demonise all buggy users a bit of empathy wouldn't go amiss for those with multiples.

Sirzy multiple mums don't have the option as they don't have enough arms.

But retro - you make it so nobody had to not get on the bus. Ok it may not be easy but surely it's better than leaving someone stranded until the next bus comes along and they have to hope they can get on that?

Sit the children on a seat on the bus, ask someone else to help - you have many more options than most wheelchair users.

maxo I too had twins. I had a 19month old too. I folded and I had other bus users helped too.
As is pointed out upthread, you have choices, they are choices my dd does not have. Nor will she ever have. You and your babies can get on the bus, you can walk, you can move about you can get help and once on and sorted you can sit anywhere you damn well like. My dd has the choice of one, at best two areas in which to sit. On top of all this, if you are left standing in the rain, at worst your little ones may get a cold. My daughter might die. So, next time you want a rant regarding the status of second class citizens, think first. Think about the fact that my very beautiful seventeen year old daughter has to fight for everything, every day. She has to fight to go shopping with her friends, she has to fight the moronic comments in the street and supermarket and school. She has to fight to breathe some days. And each and every day of her life she is treated like a second class citizen.

And if they are already on they can't get off.

Because, maxo, whilst you can plonk a baby on a stranger whilst you fold the buggy, it's a little more difficult to sit an adult on a stranger's knee so you can fold their wc. Yes, it can be an inconvenience for a buggy user, but it's not impossible as it is for a wheelchair user.

And realistically, it doesn't happen very often. In three or four years of buggy using I only had to fold for a wheelchair a handful of times. Mostly it was tesco tessie with her trolley that meant I had to fold. Or people who left empty buggies at the front and refused to fold.

I suspect most people are quite glad that you don't use public transport.

i have been on a bus with a wheelchair user and the wheelchair space is already taken, no end of fun. buses seem to be so badly designed these days, feel bad for everyone affected by it, the need more open spaces near the front of the buses to cater for as many people as needed.

Reins and a backpack would be very useful in that scenario Retropear.

If you had had your twins before accessible spaces were on buses, what do you think you'd have done? Granted it is a struggle with more than one child, but it isn't impossible.

Parents dealt with this issue or years.

Sorry booting a mother out with 2 newborns or babies and a barely walking toddler 20 miles from home on a dodgy road isn't progress it's nasty.

I only get my knickers in a twist when the buggy user is refusing to move out of the wheelchair space purely for the reason of they were there first and CBA.

People with disabilities campaigned relentlessly to get access to buildings, public toilets, public transport. I've spent many a day with my dad and a placard. If parents are desperate not to fold their buggy, how about starting a campaign yourself?

As for pleas for people to be a bit nicer to mothers, try having a disability. Try being abused, talked to like you are stupid, ignored, threatened, isolated. Try having some empathy for people sitting at a bus stop for hours in the cold because people repeatedly refuse to fold a buggy, before you ask others to have it for your reproductive choices.

My mother managed to get five children, a folded buggy, herself and her crutch on and off a bus with steps. She had no choice as there were no wheelchair spaces in those days. She had to do it alone as dad had to stay at home because public transport wasn't wheelchair accessible.

Have you ever actually seen it happen, retropear?