Selfish buggy users on buses

[SleepingStandingUp]

Aibu to think if you take your child in to a bus in a buggy, then take child out and go upstairs, that you collapse your buggy so someone else can get on, given an empty buggy counts in the only 2 rule??
First bus went past empty, second has an open buggy taking up the buggy (not wheelchair) space. She did after the driver had a word eventually collapse it so I could get on (my son was on a tube feed and o2 so I couldn't collapse ours) but grumbled and moaned.
It's like me dumping shopping bags all along the back row so no one else can sit there!!

Then someone else got on and had to collapse as we were now dull whilst some moaned from the back of the bus about how the driver shouldn't keep stopping and letting people on like this as though it's OK for me to leave 30 minutes early knowing I'll likely have to wait for a bus but God forbid anyone should be delayed 3 minutes whilst someone collapses their buggy.

And yes the wheelchair space was being used by a young girl in a wheelchair as is intended so no discussion on that.
And no it isn't sensible to collapse a pushchair besides a main road with a young child and bags of shopping when there is a chance you can get on and use the space that is there for buggies.

I just think it's utterly selfish to use a space you don't need just because you don't give a damn who else can't get on!

I think it would be way more simple if collapsing before boarding and luggage racks were the norm. The whole will I won't I be able to board seems to cause so much angst

I agree. The more of these threads I read, the more convinced I am that buggies should have to be folded before boarding and the spaces should only be used by wheelchair users or children in 'medical' buggies.

Also the logistics of holding a baby and folding a buggy stress me out just thinking about it.

Oops PixieCutRegret I meant first bus went past full, sorry no idea what was going on in my head. He actually had 3 on, naughty.

Didn't catch the actual comment, just the belligerent tone and the driver explaining no one else could get in. Open but happy to collapse is fine but if you're upstairs and clearly not looking who is getting on it doesn't help

Aibu to think if you take your child in to a bus in a buggy, then take child out and go upstairs, that you collapse your buggy so someone else can get on, given an empty buggy counts in the only 2 rule??

Tbf if there is no rack to safely stow a collapsed buggy and the bus is otherwise empty of buggies then I actually think it is better to leave it up with the brakes applied as it is less likely to fall/be knocked over and potentially injure other bus users (especially if you aren't staying with it). Ideally if you are taking your child out of their buggy on the bus then you should sit somewhere either close by or where you can see the buggy so that you can collapse it if necessary when other buggies get on later in the journey but surely it's safer for everyone to leave it set up unless the space is needed?

The other woman was BVU to leave her buggy out of her sight and to complain about having to collapse it but I don't think she was BU to leave it set up in the first place

I'm with flamingo, and I also feel this is part of the reason why new mumsnet often feel
isolated.
Also have you tried walking up stairs with a baby on a moving bus. I can't imagine it to be any mean feat.

Sockwomble sn buggy is totally different, similarly I wouldn't have uttered a word if the wheelchair was empty and the young lady was sat on a seat.

TedAndLola we don't have a medical buggy, we have a standard one. You holding my child attached to tubes or collapsing the buggy for me?

Def need more space for storing buggies, luggage etc but I think expecting a parent of say a very new baby to get a stranger to hold him whilst you collapse a pram or someone to wrestle two young kids in a double buggy and a bigger one on foot with a week of shopping is ridiculous. I don't care what my parents did when I was a kid. They also didn't have a lot of the luxuries many people wouldn't be willing to give up so why should it just be parents of young kids who deserve their life to be made harder. You just have to be less selfish and collapse if you're not using, we will get off a stop early to let someone else on (if I'm not late!), collapse of you can, or to hold the baby or the bags etc.

you should sit somewhere either close by or where you can see the buggy so that you can collapse it if necessaryyeah that's the crunch point. If she'd said oh I'll collapse this now, can I stand it besides yours (we often move the buggy to let collapsed ones store behind ours to keep them safe) then fair enough

Very occasionally I’ve gone upstairs leaving buggy unfolded if we are the only pram, but make a point of checking for others with buggies and wheelchairs wanting to get on.

Surely you would have to keep going down to check though?

Snuggy I assume Binky seats themselves either where they can see their buggy downstairs or they sit in a seat which means they can look down and see the bus stops as they approach and so can see if there are any wheelchairs/buggies that would require the space so that she can go and collapse it as the other passengers are getting on the bus

The more of these threads I read, the more convinced I am that buggies should have to be folded before boarding and the spaces should only be used by wheelchair users or children in 'medical' buggies.

And what do you expect to happen to the grocery shopping which isn't bagged because it's in the storage space under the buggy, the nappy changing kit, feeding stuff, etc and where is the seat for you and the baby going to appear from when the ones near your buggy are already taken up by those in priority need? You must be living in cloud cuckoo land if you think that the only things parents take with them when they go out of the baby and a buggy.

Buses really need to be better designed. The newer buses near me have less priority seating and a smaller wheelchair space then the old ones which seems bit of a backwards step.

Also worth noting that instead of having a go at parents trying to get places- maybe work or like me, something which would lead to a career, why don’t bus companies create adequate spaces for buggies AND wheelchairs so everyone’s happy? Just imagine that.

Why should a private company enable your life choices? Their job is to sell as many tickets as possible and get people from A to B on time, not make your life easier because you chose to have kids. The wheelchair space is a legal obligation.

And this is why I drive...

Buses really need to be better designed.

They really do.

Attached is a picture of the interior of a bus in Madrid with the storage rack for folded buggy, integrated child seat and the photo is taken from one of the seats directly facing them. Directly behind that seat is a large open space that has room for at least 2 wheelchairs or 3 buggies comfortably.

When DD was a baby we lived in Madrid and I am so glad that I never had to worry about using public transport because I always knew there was most likely going to be space to just walk the buggy on unfolded but, if it was busy, I also knew I could strap DD into the seat and fold her buggy up and stow it away so that it wasn't in the way and DD was secure for the journey.

I don't understand why buses here don't at least have a rack to securely store folded buggies any more.

If the pram is empty then they shouldn’t complain at all about folding it if need be. I’m like you, no oxygen anymore though, but a normal pushchair with feeding tube bag and her supplies, nappies, feeds, change of clothes etc and if I was ever asked (I wasn’t and didn’t go out much) I would have just argued that her pushchair is basically her wheelchair.

I would never expect anyone under two to be removed from a pushchair though, they just aren’t safe enough really to be on someone’s lap on a bus or in their own seat. I hate the argument that our parents managed and so should we, lots of things were harder for our parents, why would they begrudge life being that bit easier?

It's interesting how strict the regs are for car seats for babies and yet I don't think there are any rules about babies on the bus.

I don't find buggy users the biggest problem on buses. The most ignorant people I have found are the older generation and their "trolleys"! I got on with my DD (6 weeks at the time) and there was an older lady near the front and her trolly was in one of the buggy/wheelchair spaces, with her sat behind it, and when I POLITELY asked her if she would mind moving it to the side so I could get my pram in, she told me no, she got on the bus first, I would have to get off and wait for the next bus and hope there was space! The driver stepped in and said she had to move her trolley to a accommodate other passengers, and she argued with him aswell! I'm always more tHan happy to make room for anyone and will stand and squeeze into small spaces so other people can get in and on the bus, and I find it rude that that other people don't have the same courtesy. I do agree that some people with buggy's take the piss with spaces on buses too though.

QuackPorridgeBacon ours drivers always say can you collapse if it's full and i try not to laugh at them!!

I'd be asking "and where would you like me to put it?"

This is all part and parcel of using public transport - if there isn't enough room for you then you wait for the next bus.

I always used to take DD in a sling, far more social for everyone else and sociable for baby. I hate buggies, take up so much room, impossible to do certain shop doors and frankly lacking in storage space to carry stuff. Just don't understand why folk are so attached to their buggies and pushchairs - especially the sort with the car seat that clips on and baby looks so uncomfortable all scrunched up.

It's easier to change your perspective and attitude on travelling with the public then it is to actually change THEIR behaviour.

I think part of the issue with lack of storage space for luggage (whether that's suitcases or folded buggies or umbrellas) is The Metro. The newspaper storage box takes up space people could be using for other things. They're also always left all over the bus, taking up seats and being a slip hazard on the floor. And the printed version (though the website is more liberal) is so bigoted. I think we should just burn them all and reclaim the luggage space.

Also, if anyone who is physically capable of using a sling (and that's most people who can use a buggy, plus some who can't) did so, then there wouldn't be all this competition for the front spaces as they could sit anywhere (including potentially upstairs).