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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in using the bus??

38 replies

nappyaddict · 06/07/2007 21:46

today i went on the bus with ds in his pushchair (mutsy urban rider). i got on there at one of the first stops on the route. about halfway way round the route another lady gets on with her pushchair but she can't get passed me so i move over to the other side so she can. i heard her saying to her friend the wheels are too big. stupid cow bringing that on here.

now fair enough she had a umbrella fold type thing but the wheels were probably actually as wide if not wider. if you look at this one you'll see what i mean.

now i do a lot of walking with ds. my nan lives in the countryside and we often go for walks over there so i need something with big air wheels that goes over fields without jolting ds all over the place. i also use public transport a lot. now i can't afford nor do i have the space to have a gazillion buggies for every which occasion and i really resent people being annoyed with me for taking my son on a bus!!

i got on first fair and square and it's not even as if she couldn't get on the bus. i get the bus very regularly and i've only ever once not been able to get on a bus cos of another pram so it's not like it happens all the time. i wasn't annoyed i just waited for the next one.

sorry for the ramble!!

OP posts:
nutcracker · 06/07/2007 21:50

You are not being unreasonable, but tbh if it were me, i'd buy a cheap buggy just for the bus, less hassle.

Mind you, I used to be a buggy addict so I would say that.

funkimummy · 06/07/2007 21:56

Take no notice. There's always someone in life who wants to have a gripe about something because things don't happen the way they want them to!

I agree that it's easier to get a smaller buggy on and off the bus, but if you can't afford another and you also like to go for walks in the countryside then you do it! It's a free country! FWIW I live in the countryside and I hate taking my cheap umbrella buggy over 'rough terrain' it's a nightmare! Big is definitely best for those occassions!

bookwormmum · 06/07/2007 22:00

You were on the bus first - ignore her.

mazzystar · 06/07/2007 22:01

seems to me that a large section of the bus-riding population seem to forget that the prams and buggies have people in them and that mothers don't just cart them around for a laugh.

but i have come to expect more solidarity from ther pram-pushers. probably just having a bad day.

bigmouthstrikesagain · 06/07/2007 22:01

To be honest I am jealous that you are able to get on the bus at all without having to offlaod your lo and fold up your buggy first.

The irony is that in rural areas where you are more likely to need the bigger rough terrain buggies - the buses are ancient and infrequent and have loads of steps to get up on to them.

I have had to get a new buggy in order to be able to use the bus and I couldn't travel on public transport alone last year when dd was newborn and ds only 20m

gosh that is my rant...

no you are not being unreasonable...

LittleBoot · 06/07/2007 22:02

God she sounds like an unpleasant old bat

Ignore

Original poster
nappyaddict · 06/07/2007 22:07

the bus that's on route nearest to my house does mean that i have to get ds out and fold it up and lift it on the bus. it is a nightmare cos its heavy to lift and you can't do it one handed but normally someone will hold ds for me whilst i do it. more often than not though i can't be bothered and i walk into town to get on a bus that doesn't have steps so i can just wheel him on.

OP posts:
ScottishMummy · 06/07/2007 22:20

awww poor you!!!i travel bus daily and as i understand it bus etiquette is first on = lucky you. sometimes i cannot gget on cos 2 buggies on already c'est la vie^ wait for next bus

just cos she has a umbrella stroller does not make her more virtous than you...or entitle her to be nasy about your pram...dont understand mums sniping/moaning about other mums prams whatever

anyway mutsy is a fine looking pram i have a bugaboo cameleon and its a great maneuverable pram - fits adjacent most buggies and handle bar flip over despite all the bugaboo haters and their bellyaching

Original poster
nappyaddict · 06/07/2007 22:39

ah see and there's me thinking bus etiquette = one must own an umbrella buggy. ds is a chunky boy and i borrowed my cousin's for a while. he just looked really uncomfortable in it and was quite hard to push.

OP posts:
lanismum · 06/07/2007 22:40

I have the same pram as you, and tbh I wouldnt take it on the bus, its far too big, and the few times I have tried I have had snotty comments, from other mums and bus drivers, but, you were on first, so she had no right to be arsey, you should have been a pram snob and laughed at her pram

lanismum · 06/07/2007 22:43

or you should have pointed out that your lovely mutsy has a handlebar the retracts in so was not taking up as mush aisle space as her stroller

Original poster
nappyaddict · 06/07/2007 22:43

why wouldn't you take it on the bus? cos you can't physically get it on (i can't with some of ours) or so not to annoy other people?

OP posts:
lanismum · 06/07/2007 22:46

some of the single decker buses are just too narrow to push it down the aisle, and where I live (east london) the buses do get very busy, there are always loads of prams on them, just less hassle for me to take a smaller buggy.

lanismum · 06/07/2007 22:48

also, I have had drivers refuse to let me on with it

dontgetmestarted · 06/07/2007 22:55

whenever i get on the bus with my 2.5 ds and 15m dd in her maclaren, there is always another mum with her buggy parked across the length of the buggy area and never moves it to let anyone else get in there and i end up squashed against the doors having to move a buggy and a toddler everytime the bus stops. wouldn't mind, but her ds doesnt even sit in the bloody thing for the journey.
i just make sure that i make life as difficult as possible for her when she goes to get off by not moving my buggy quickly enough and clipping her wheels when she does move.
i made her miss her stop once by delaying her. now that was bloody satisfying i tell you.

shellandjessica · 06/07/2007 22:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScottishMummy · 06/07/2007 23:01

blimey!!!so much for the mothers empathy and all that - poor u

Original poster
nappyaddict · 06/07/2007 23:41

i must admit in some buses i do have it lengthways cos i don't want it to be in the way of the aisle but there is still space for one more buggy usually next to me. and i will also admit to taking ds out of it sometimes cos he gets upset or needs feeding.

OP posts:
twelveyeargap · 07/07/2007 00:55

Ignore! Big buggies are the four wheel drives of the bus world. I have a Mountain Buggy. It's HUGE. Long AND wide wheelbase and I get on the bus with it. Only problem I've had so far is a bus driver of a single decker trying to tell me, after I had swiped my Oyster card and politely suggested I get on at the back as I had a large pushchair, that I HAD to get on at the front with the pram. "Fine," sez I, "but I'll be blocking the aisle because this yoke does not fit through there." Silly muppet bus driver. They're usually pleased when I offer to get on the back. I usually do if there are people standing in the forward part of the aisle of the bigger buses.

If another person with a pram gets on, I shift mine about to squeeze the other one in and smile and apologise, but if some bint was rude to me about it, I'd probably say, "Gosh, yes, it is a tight squeeze. The driver probably should have told you to fold yours or wait for the next bus. That's ALWAYS happening to me when there's already someone on the bus with a pram."

sez23 · 07/07/2007 00:59

so much better to be able to push buggys straight onto bus. drivers keep going past me as i'm struggling to fold my naffing thing up.

twelveyeargap · 07/07/2007 01:03

I used to live in the country (back in Ireland) and our buses were more like coaches. Used to have to take DD1 to the bus stop, put her in a sling, fold up the buggy, load it onto the side or back luggage hold of the bus, get on and do it all again at the other end and remember to remind the bus driver that I had to get the buggy off so he didn't drive off with it as soon as I stepped off. Gagh!

incanada · 07/07/2007 03:43

i live in the middle of the city and try to walk everywhere with ds. when taking a bus, i almost always carried him in the baby bjorn until he was about 11 mos, just beacuse of the difficulty getting on & off the bus. still put him in it sometimes though if i'm using a bus route that is busy/has no wheelchair/stroller access.

i got in the habit of using the carrier because people are just so bloody nasty when you take a pram on the bus, drivers included. when you've had a hard day and maybe a sleepless nigh/bay teething etc it can be just enough to put you over the edge.

Original poster
nappyaddict · 07/07/2007 10:29

wow you people were up early!!

OP posts:
berolina · 07/07/2007 12:33

Come to Berlin - loads of room on (almost all) buses for buggies, nobody folds them. Was on a bus with ds in buggy and 5 other buggies once - OK, 4 of them were the stroller type, and it was a bit crowded, but the other passengers and the drivers didn't bat an eyelid. They run on time too! One thing the Germans really get right (along with tenants' rights and recycling) is public transport.

woopsadaisy · 07/07/2007 12:49

the only time that there wasn't enough room on a bus for my pushchair, i folded it and put dd on my lap,
the bus stopped suddenly and we fell and dd broke her leg!