To think that all the people who say "fold your buggy" are being a bit daft?

[Pyjamaramadrama]

I regularly read threads on here about buggies on buses and they get quite heated.

The consensus seems to be that buggies should be folded.

Before anyone says anything I absolutely think that wheelchair users and other disabilities need to take priority for obvious reasons.

However the type of prams for newborns would be nearly impossible for a parent on their own to fold while holding a baby and possibly shopping etc. it's much easier with a toddler who can stand and a stroller which can be easily folded. But you simply cannot put a newborn in a stroller. I'm pregnant with #2 and I've searched for the most compact, easy to fold pram, but I still wouldn't fancy trying to board a bus with a floppy newborn while trying to fold pram and negotiate my bags.

Lucky for me I drive but I can remember being in the predicament with my firstborn of having to get the bus on older style buses and I simply couldn't do it, I had a lie flat pram where the pram needed to be removed to fold the chassis, packs of nappies and formula and newborn ds, I had no Internet access at the time so no online shopping and I ended up in tears once trying to board a bus and dropping everything and the driver and passengers just staring at me.

Also perhaps it is just where I live but all the new buses now have buggy and wheelchair zones so there is room for everyone most of the time.

As I'll say again wheelchair users do come first as ultimately a parent could probably walk if necessary, but why do some people seem to be so against anything which makes new parents lives easier? Maybe they've forgotten what it's like or haven't had to manage the bus alone with newborn.

Oh and my parents and grandparents reckon it was a nightmare with the old buses before buggy zones as they simply couldn't board the bus with a pram.

tanks have just as many drawbacks for starters that eye are a safety hazard on a bus because people can't get past. I've seen people moss stops be case massive buggies prevent them from getting to the door. I've seen people with sticks struggle to get past.

People do but frankly having inconvenience for the sake of it is ridiculous. Spaces for buggies are the obvious solution and much needed.

Solutions to inconvenience are everywhere,for some reason it just seems to be carers of young children who are supposed to suck it up.

So lepetite when are you starting the campaign for buggy spaces then? Just like people had to campaign for wheelchair spaces.

I bet this poor parent couldn't fold his pram either.

Well more buggy space requires lost g more seats doesn't it? fold up seats aren't safe really for elderly people who struggle.

There is limited seating on many buses as it is. and people need seats downstairs as not everyone can make it upstairs.

so, how much inconvenience is there now for people who can't use a bus due to no seating? plenty of people have to suck it up its not just parents.

That's shocking thefairycavern but at the same time not surprising.

My buggy days are long gone but should young mothers start a campaign I'd support it with bells on.

In our area priority seating for the elderly is all fold up.

So other people missing buses due to no downstairs seating is ok?

parents having to collapse buggies -not ok?

That argument may as well be applied to everyone who chooses to sit downstairs instead of up, who hogs a seat with a bag (or their legs), who brings suitcases on with them (I live near a train station). Buggies are not a hazard on the buses I use at all as they fit into the vacant space, not sticking into the corridor - hence why there is a limit on number of buggies. We have quite a lot of wheelchair users on buses near me and I have not witnessed any conflict, just people who were sitting in the space getting up and moving. (I am not denying there are arses who refuse to move of course, I just haven't seen one.)
A bit of common sense goes a long way. I think the OP has proved her point that people do object to mothers trying to make their life a bit easier. If it's not affecting you, why should it matter?

Common sense though sometimes means collapsing. you just have to take each situation as it arises.

It's not a case of just collapse. just be prepared to.

no one can help what others do around them we just have to Try and be as considerate as possible regardless. If that means collapsing because others have been selfish or inconsiderate. so be it.

complain where possible of things have been handled badly.

Sure be inwardly pissed off if a solution was solve able but others chose not to. God knows I've been in that situation so many times.

but being that person that knows they could do something to ensure everyone can get on and refusing to is U

I completely agree.
Having struggled myself I'm a more helpful bus user to others too - giving a hand when I can. I would have been oblivious (or not known how to help) when I was younger.

I had a relatively compact pram which would have folded in one piece. However I would still have much rather got off the bus than attempted to remove all of my shopping from underneath, woken a sleeping baby, and then attempted to fold it one handed while dd screamed for a feed as she invariably did once woken up. I would then have the choice of trying to bf her on the bus or listening to her scream for the remainder of the journey. Fear of this kind of scenario put me off taking the bus and as a consequence I walked everywhere or if it was too far to walk I drove.

However not everyone has the choice, and it would be better if public transport could be made easier to use if this would reduce car usage. A lot of people, myself included, only learned to drive or bought cars when they had children, because it becomes so much harder to use public transport.

"I think the OP has proved her point that people do object to mothers trying to make their life a bit easier."

This. For some reason, even the idea that parents should just hope not to be have to fold a pushchair is unacceptable to some people here.

I suppose it's the usual thing of if all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Hammer = "Pushchairs should be folded for wheelchairs and some people don't! Mums with pushchairs are selfish and entitled and should be happy to fold! Grrr!". Obviously a useful hammer to have, in some situations.

Nail = "Pushchairs shouldn't have to fold for wheelchairs". Now when people say that, that's when you need your hammer. BUT the OP didn't say that, no one has said that here. Maybe the hammer could go away now?

As for "well parents should campaign" - are they allowed to then? Really? Apparently even saying in a Mumsnet thread that it would be good if pushchairs didn't have to be folded so much outrages some people, can you imagine the reaction an actual campaign for more space for pushchairs would get?? People had to fold in 1995, so that'll do, end of discussion.

Our local buses have spaces for both, it works well. The non-wheelchair area works well for pushchairs, suitcases, shopping trolleys, all sorts. I really can't see why people hate the idea so much.

They should bring back more trams...

I live in a city where buggies have to be folded on buses. There are fold down seats in the wheel chair space and nowhere for an unfolded buggy.

Knowing that I got an inglesina trilogy which has a one handed fold, rear and forward facing and can be used from birth.

It IS a pain and luckily I can usually manage by subway but it is doable for the vast majority of parents with some forethought.

Yes, difficult but doable.
I think some people think it's impossible nowadays, when it really isn't. I've noticed that some people won't even fold when there's two of them, so one person could hold the baby while the other one carrys the buggy.

One point I think often gets missed is that the non-folders might be simply trying to do the right thing, too. When I remember my buggy days, I remember the decision being about how to minimise the amount of trouble you cause. If you fold the buggy when there's actually enough space you're needlessly delaying a busfull of people.
I called it wrongly once and got tutted at (no wheelchair users around, just a crowded bus) but honestly, I don't think the tutting would have been much less if I'd made everyone behind me wait to get on while I folded and then either stayed with the folded buggy to make sure it didn't fall over on anyone, or left it next to the already-full luggage area.

I also remember one time when I did fold but no bugger would hold dd so my only option was to lay her on the floor (on a muslin!) and I was horribly conscious of everyone staring at me and wondered if they were thinking I was a terrible terrible mum for putting a baby on the floor!