To think this bus driver is a bit of an arsehole

[Obiey]

On the double decker bus with DS1 - 3yrs and DS2 - 18m. DS1 wants to go on the top deck. I get on with the buggy already folded so we won't hold anyone up etc.

Time to get off. As we approach the stop I stand up, put bag on my back and hold DS2. I warn DS1 to be ready. The moment the bus stops he is up from his seat too and we head down the stairs. Half way down the driver yells at us to hurry up please! We had been less than 20 seconds at this point, and DS1 is actually getting down the stairs pretty fast albeit it slower than an adult. I'm helping him so he can go faster, I'm not fussing around at all or being all indulgent which I could have understood, I'm hurrying him down. I surprised myself by yelling back that we're going as fast as we can, he's only 3.

Oddly as we go past the driver then smiles and says "I can see you're trying" so perhaps he was trying to apologise but it didn't feel apologetic, he seemed to find it funny.

It's not a big deal I guess except it felt shitty to be yelled at in front of a bus full of people when I cannot see how I could have been quicker.

Buses where I live say to stay in your seat until the bus has come to a complete stop.

I don't see how it helps avoid delay if children come downstairs at the previous stop. The driver won't know whether they're getting off or not, so will still have to wait while they come downstairs.

Also as a teenager, waiting at the correct stop at the bus station and several times the drivers coming out of the staff room late then just driving off without letting anyone waiting at the bus station on the bus.

Signs on buses in London (the biggest bus systems in the UK) say to stay seated while the bus is moving, and for good reason. It's dangerous to try and get small kids down bus stairs when the bus is moving and not super safe to have them standing (upstairs or down). So on a full bus going upstairs and coming down after the bus has stopped can be the safest and most sensible way to travel with kids. It does take longer to come down the stairs when you are older, younger or otherwise deviate from the healthy young adult that dominates our thinking about "normal" people. But all these people are part of our society and need catering to. If people were more prepared to give up their seats downstairs for small children then fewer of them would need to go upstairs. But they don't.

OP as a previous poster said, he was a bit of an asshole for shouting at you, but he probably feels a bit bad about it already. Unless it happens all the time, try and let it go.

I vividly remember my mum giving our school coach driver a piece of her mind when he teased me by pretending to drive off as he saw me cross the road. The horrid little madams who were my classmates were unfortunately highly amused.

Buses where I live say to stay in your seat until the bus has come to a complete stop too.

I have also seen bus drivers knock old women off their feet as they accelerate away from stops, rather than wait for them to be seated, in order to stay "on schedule". This suggests to me that the schedules need to be changed, not that the over 80s need to be more nippy.

I think he was an asshole - but maybe he realised this?
It is unsafe to get up while the bus is moving - I have been thrown the length of the upper deck of a London bus before now. I am also very slow on stairs (one dodgy ankle). I would have probably just yelled out to "hold on a moment".
Maybe he was running late - but it's hardly your fault.

The bus driver was being u. But at least he stopped. The drivers by us refuse to stop if no-one is waiting at the front of the bus despite the signs telling you ring the bell and remain seated until the bus has stopped. It takes some people a little while longer to alight the bus - those with health conditions, toddlers and the elderly but they have as much right to use public transport as anyone else and more need if they can’t drive.
Expecting people who are already unsteady on their feet to try and get to the front of the bus while it’s moving for the convenience of others is an awful attitude.
It also annoys me when I see elderly people getting on the bus and the driver pulls off straight away not even giving them time to get to the front seat and causing them to stumble.

So, in conclusion, only use the bus if you are extremely physically fit, unburdened by small dc or hefty luggage and definitely don't try and get a buggy or wheelchair on board.
But if you are extremely physically fit you would just walk/run or cycle. 🤷‍♀️
Yanbu, I don't imagine you took very long at all and who wants to move to the doors while the bus is moving when you have 2 toddlers.

Realistically though bus timetables should factor in people taking time to get off the bus. For example elderly people or disabled people can easily take a minute or so to get out of their seat and walk down the bus, if theres a wheelchair the bus will have to be lowered. No one would tell them to hurry up why a small child?

On the buses round me they are mostly elderly people and most stops take a little while. It's pretty dangerous for a small child or elderly person to walk down a moving bus. You'd be a right arsehole if you thought these people should endanger themselves just so your bus is 30 seconds quicker.

Stay seated? How does that work when you’re standing then? 😂

Stay seated? How does that work when you’re standing then?

Exactky.

It also says to stay in your seat until the bus has stopped here too. I was sent flying once when I was trying to get to the front of the bus for my stop. Surely it's in the bus company's interest for the passengers not to get up until the bus has stopped in case there's an accident and they get sued??!!

says remain seated when the bus is moving, not stay in your original seat until the bus has stopped at your stop and then expect the other passengers to wait while you make your way down stairs

The audio announcements on our buses tell you to remain in your seat until the bus has stopped.

YANBU
But maybe come down a stop before your stop so that you're not in a rush as it's easy to stumble. Bus drivers have a really difficult job but need to understand that all sorts of people use buses.

Not that I travel much on buses but I don't go upstairs with kids if i can avoid it. I had a friend whose child was badly injured because they decided to go down the stairs in time for the bus to stop, as they were going down the bus came to a stop and the child was flung down the stairs and knocked unconscious. Stupidly the child was in front of the parent, but the bus driver got fired. Like others have said some bus drivers have been twats forever, I remember one deliberately shutting the door on my arm once, he was renowned for doing it to passengers.

Last year i did what every one here is suggesting, before our stop me and 3 yo DD rang t he bell then go up to start moving to the front. Driver didnt anticipate the red traffic light, slammed his brakes on, me and Dd went flying, i put my hands out to stip myself falling on DD.

Broke my hand and a finger, had to have a screw surgically placed to hold my hand back together and a year of physio. Now i have a permanently wonky finger reduced use of my hand and the bus company had to pay compensation and physi o.

I wait till the bus has stopped before moving out of my seat now.

I would never suggest trying to get down stairs as the bus is moving with two little ones... I think he was moody, but they often are. Sadly let it go and probably think he was at the end of a long, tiring shift.

Well sometimes you have no choice but to stand but you’d generally avoid it if you were unsteady on your feet and standing rooted to the spot holding on is different to trying to make your way to the front of the bus holding on to different rails and seats or trying to get down stairs. I imagine if you got injured doing that you would be directed to the signs telling you to remain seated until the bus has stopped.
Can’t believe some people would get annoyed by an elderly person waiting until they can leave the bus safely!

Cracks me up all these Mumsnetters who are chastising the OP for not adhering to the unwritten rules that you MUST be ready at the door ready to disembark within a millisecond of the bus stopping, regardless that you have a toddler, babe in arms and a buggy to hang on to!

OP - next time your little one wants to go upstairs - let him go (and you with him) - fuck the moaning minnies on here and on the fucking bus! Take what time you need to safely disembark with your children.

You did nothing wrong and the bus driver was an arsehole!