AIBU to think if your child isn't in the buggy you should fold it down.

[gotnotimeforthat]

I was was waiting for the bus yesterday and noticed that there was 3 pushchairs including my own waiting to get on. The lady in front noticed this too and folded down her pushchair as her daughter was walking around anyway.

We got on and the other couple with a baby had taken up the whole of the buggy spaces even though baby was sitting on mums knee.

They refused to fold the pushchair down so I had to fold my own waking my DS in the process. I had to stand the frame flat against the fold up seats so everytime the bus accelerated or used the breaks it would swing back and forth so partner had to stand holding the frame for the entire journey.

AIBU to think If your oversized bulky pushchair is empty you should fold it down if somebody else needs to use the bay?

I'm not going to buy an easily foldable buggy incase someone with a sleeping baby wants to get on the bus, if your baby's sleep is so precious you should use a sling or wait for the next bus.

But it's not just about people with sleeping babies, is it? Surely as a matter of ordinary consideration for everyone you don't take up more space on the bus than you need to.

I had a brilliant lightweight folding pushchair which I used for things like travelling on public transport. It was very cheap, too.

But it's not just about people with sleeping babies, is it? Surely as a matter of ordinary consideration for everyone you don't take up more space on the bus than you need to.

This.

Doesn't it also make it difficult if you have to get off at a station or into a place with no step-free access? If there's no-one around / inclined to help, what do you do? (I had a sling, so not sure of how common this scenario is)

Ikea, the buses round my way come once an hour, some of us have places to go for certain times/connecting buses and trains to catch so can't afford to stand around for an hour waiting for another bus because someone else doesn't want to fold their pushchair!

Ds2 has a disability so needs to be in a pushchair for his own safety, therefore I cannot fold, unlike some people who could fold but can't be arsed!

YANBU.
They should have folded.
People need to use foldable ones on buses.
In fact often i cant put unfolded on bus as not big enough.
You take the chair according to where you are going cheap lightweight for bus.

But i find even that too heavy to put in baggage area with one hand while trying to hold toddler.

Why should you wake your kid if someone else has theirs on their knee - selfish.
For drs apots etc mine has been really tired but wont sleep for ages -how annoying if they had just dropped off.

My pram doesn't fold either- and I'm not prepared to buy a crappy umbrella stroller I don't want to put my baby in just for the few times a year I might use a bus.

So there!

My main buggy doesn't fold but I only take it on the bus at non-peak times. After a couple of horrible waits when I was pregnant with DC2 and had hospital appointments at peak times on busy routes I bought a cheap umbrella fold for the bus but I wasn't particularly thinking of others, mainly so I could get on a bus without waiting for 3 or 4 to go past.

As a poster upthread said it is impossible to fold a pushchair while holding a toddler and a changing bag while the bus is moving, and the driver usually gives about 5 seconds after I collect my ticket before he drives off. Last week I fell over and accidentally hit the disabled stop button because he hadn't given me time to get the brakes on let alone sit down, then he got arsey at me for pressing the button when I didn't want to get off. Twat.

I sometimes leave DD's pushchair up and empty on the bus while DD sits on my lap, but I only ever do it when there is plenty of empty seats on the bus and certainly wouldn't if there were other people with pushchairs needing the space.

The other day I saw a girl get on and stay stood up and I assumed all the seats were occupied so I folded the pushchair and awkwardly jammed it under my seat to make room for her to sit on a folding seat. Only afterwards did I see that there were plenty of empty seats behind me which the other passengers were using for their imaginary friends handbags

Buses where I live have no luggage spaces at all, so the one thing you are definitely not allowed to do is fold the buggy (the drivers won't have folded buggies in the gangway).

There is a wheelchair space and two flip-up seat spaces for unfolded buggies.

I was given my buggy secondhand (which doesn't fold) - can't afford to buy another umbrella fold just for occasional use. Why the obsession with folding?

The thing with these threads is there is a massive difference between bus provision, and some people don't realise.

Where my sister lives you don't need to know a bus timetable, you go to the bus stop and a bus will be along shortly. If it is full, another bus will be along shortly it's not really a big deal.

Where I live you have to wait an hour in some cases and then they change the route, price, time at a minutes notice. If you can't get on the bus because someone won't fold their buggy, it is a massive PITA.

When I had DD there was no buggy friendly buses, you had to fold your pram with shopping on the floor and baby under your arm and lug the lot up steps. New mums don't know their born I am only 33.

It's not really about folding/not folding, being precious about your child's sleep or whatever.

It's about showing a modicum of consideration for your fellow passengers.

If everyone is all me-me-me, why should I have to fold, why can't you wait for the next bus, why should I give up my seat to an elderly person when there is a seat at the back of the bus, I was here first, I'm more entitled to this seat than anyone else etc etc then it just makes the journey more horrible for everyone.

People just don't think, or seem to care, about the impact of their behaviour on others. It's all "Why should I modify my behaviour, if you don't like it, modify yours", and I just find that so awful, so anti-social.

It's public transport, you have to share it with other people. And if you try to be considerate of them, then you have a right to hope they might do the same - and then you have a whole busload of people who are trying to treat you with consideration rather than make your journey harder. If you don't, well, you're on your own, nobody caring about anyone else, everyone in their own little bubble.

Luckily for me, I'm able bodied, don't need to use a pushchair, can cope with standing, or with waiting half an hour for the next bus if necessary - heaven help anyone that can't, because it clearly is nobody else's problem but their own .

YANBU.

Some people are just inconsiderate arseholes. I can't wait to pass my test.

Because train if people who are able to fold don't then they take up a lot more space on the bus then they have or need to, which means other people can't get on - it's just basic courtesy really!

Same as if you had shopping bags with you, you can either put them on the seat next to you, taking up a seat which someone else may need, or you can hold them on your lap/put them by your feet to take up less room, having consideration is not limited to folding pushchairs!

In an ideal world I would love to see double decker buses on all routes where there are big spaces for more than one wheelchair/mobility scooters/pushchairs to use and seating for elderly/disabled/pregnant passengers and an upstairs deck for every other able bodied passenger but don't think it will happen anytime soon :)

It is impossible to fold a pushchair while holding a toddler and a changing bag while the bus is moving,
Which is why you do it while you are waiting for the bus to come, the same way you get your money or ticket ready.

What would the non folders do if a wheelchair/sn buggy needed to get on?

The other week a woman refused to fold when ds and I got on the bus (his buggy doesn't fold because it is a sn buggy), at first the bus driver said that as she was on first we would have to wait for next bus, but I pointed out that ds's buggy is the equivalent of a wheelchair, and that I would help the woman fold her buggy by holding the baby or folding it for her. She harrumphed and said she would just get off and walk - it turned out she was going to get off at the next bus stop, a five minute walk away anyway!

This is what grates on me Hazey, ds is in a SN pushchair so I can't fold and I get really annoyed with those who refuse to fold just because, well, they don't want to! I would be happy to help someone fold if they needed it and it meant we could all get on the bus and to our destination a lot quicker and easier, especially when waiting for the next bus could mean a wait of an hour or more!

extremepie did you actually read my post saying that you're not allowed to have a folded buggy on the buses where I live, because it's a hazard to other passengers (no luggage racks or spaces)?

So really it isn't as cut and dried as you suggest, is it?

If you use public transport and use one of those systems that you cannot fold down (at the same time as being on public transport) you are a prick

Usually disclaimer attached to this

train we also have some buses like that, but if a wheelchair or sn buggy gets on then rather than have to get off the person with the unfolded buggy, could fold and put the folded buggy in the wheelchair space lying on floor.

The bus to the dds school was an old coach had no space at all for buggies or wheelchairs, it was a nightmare!

I use public transport and i have a buggy which doesn't fold - i therefore am a prick. I could take it apart but i'd be reluctant to, unless i really had to. i would never be able to hold DS and put it down. I have it because i don't drive and walk a lot - it's a great off roader - it has a huge basket which i put masses of shopping into, because the shops aren't local, so i try to go as little as possible (lots of bus fares would increase reduce my food budget and i have a wriggly toddler). I would have to remove about 7 carrier bags from the basket and the 3 i'd have on a carebena thingy on the handle bar. I would have to make the bus wait ages to unload the bags (i also have placenta previa at the moment so would not want to do too much lugging about) into the aisle, while holding a screaming toddler who is desperate to run about and climb on people and press the bell or jump out of any open doors. Then i'd take the seat off and rest that somewhere and then fold down the frame, which when down still takes up a huge space.

So i'd probably rather wait for the next bus if that was the only other option.

Our pushchair ( bugaboo cameleon) is actually one of the smaller pushchairs that I see, I have never ever seen anyone fold their pushchair and the luggage part of the bus is also the pushchair parking part of the bus so there wouldn't be much point folding as my pushchair would take up just as much room folded.

The reason we all have tank like pushchairs is because we live in a country where the world doesn't stop for a cm of snow, often your pushing your pushchair through a foot or more of snow, a fold up pushchair with plastic wheels is just not an option. Also most people rely on public transport for nearly all their travel.

I am willing to wait for a bus with space, if people are not willing to wait for a bus with space then they shoulduse a sling or not complain if you have to wake your baby.

I couldn't fold my pushchair before I get on the bus as the bus is free for pushchairs.

I get the bus at least twice a day everyday, about once a week I have to wait for the next bus as all spaces ate taken, the bus comes at least every 10 minutes so it's not a problem.

I don't think the problem is folding or travel systems or sleeping babies, the problem is a truely crap public transport system.

ikea

So I should use a sling because I don't want to wait another hour for a different bus purely because someone cannot be arsed to put their pushchair down. If the pushchair actually had a child in it I wouldn't mind at all. If the couple were physically unable to fold the pushchair then I wouldn't mind.

But as it stands baby was on mums knee and that model of pushchair does fold down, pretty eailsy too ( I almost purchased that exact one but it was too bulky for my liking) I think people like this are seriously inconsiderate.

There is enough space to fit two buggies side by side. Their single empty pushchair filled the whole space in my eyes that is taking the piss.

No you shouldn't have to buy a sling in the same way that I shouldn't have to buy an easily foldable pushchair, but if someone who was on the bus before you your pushchair doesn't get priority over theirs so you shouldn't moan about having to fold your pushchair. Maybe they didn't know they could fold it, maybe it was broken, maybe it had lots of shopping in the basket. Possibly they would have ( like me) only got on a bus if they didn't have to fold the pushchair so they didn't want to get off the bus to give you the space.

If you or your child is not physically able to fold or sit on a knee/normal seat that is a different issue but a sleeping baby is not a physical disability it is an inconvenience, an inconvenience you run the risk of encountering if you use buses and are not able to wait and you don't want to use a sling.

Ikea, I really hope that in the depths of winter with your very young baby to be and a Whiney tired toddler that you end up having to wait and wait for the next bus because there is another inconsiderate ass such as you on the bus first.
I can not comprehend how you think it is ok the take up all the buggy spaces with an empty buggy!
You haven't paid for the extra seats your buggy takes up either have you?

I hope I encounter you actually, I would fold your buggy up for you if there were 3 other people needing the space.

Yabu. My buggy is a nightmare to fold and it's v heavy - I wouldn't be able to carry it even if I tried.

mordirig what would you do with my buggy? If you fold it up it takes up exactly the same floor space as it does when it's standing, the luggage space is the same space as the pushchair space.

My tiny baby and toddler would be fine to wait for the bus as they will be dressed for the weather. They sleep outside so I don't think waiting for a bus is going to be problematic.