Wheelchair / buggy on bus

[MoonlightMistletoe]

Today I had got the bus with my sister we both have children I had my toddler who was walking and my one year old who's only just started to walk who is still in a buggy, my sister has a 12week old baby who was also in a buggy.

We had got on the bus as you do and the next stop another parent got on with their buggy, a few stops later we stop and straight away a woman is screaming/shouting at the rear doors with her phone in our faces demanding we collapse our buggies, very angry , shouting at us with buggies and also at the driver. The driver is telling us to stay put due to her being aggressive and recording us. Someone on the bus was telling us to co operate with the woman who wanted to get a person on the bus who was in a wheelchair. We know disabled people are a priority and had absolutely not said we wouldn't put the buggies down, I was taking my sleeping one year out the buggy while this woman was still swearing and being nasty and recording us, I had given my baby to my sister to sit with my toddler and herself while I was about to take her baby out the pram then all of a sudden everyone made a "ohhhhhhh" gasp and the disabled man has fallen down the side of the curb and bus sideways in his wheelchair.

She then looses her absolute shit at us for her own mistakes being so caught up in recording us to make sure we move that the man is now probably injured.

AIBU to think all she had to do was say excuse me can we move the buggies so I can get the wheelchair on?

@churchandstate

And I have suggested another solution, because all yours are unacceptable if you cede the basic premise that new parents who use buses are people in need of a basic service, not parasites who should take whatever crap is handed out to them.

Again let me remind you I'm a mother of two and have been that new parent twice.

There is no need for you not to use the bus. But when a wheelchair user gets on fold your buggy, or wear a sling so that you can all travel.

The wheelchair user does not have all the choices that you do. They should not be prevented from travelling because you don't like slings, or find it a hassle to fold, or don't want anyone to help you.

No one will think or are a parasite unless you behave like one.

Just be a decent human.

Both are available church right now. Just not the unlimited supply you seem to expect.

Where did I say anything like that?

Surely if your twins have blue badges @SinkGirl you really should be able to use wheelchair spaces?

Buses like this are the solution.

In the left is a wheelchair space - wide enough to safely accommodate a wheelchair and has a safety bar.

On the right where the lady is sitting there is a pushchair space. It can accommodate 1-3 pushchairs depending on their size. It is narrower than the wheelchair space and has no safety bar.

Both areas have flip down seating so can be used by other passengers when not needed. There are two storage areas for luggage and folded pushchairs.

The image is from google but this style of bus is in operation in my area, admittedly not every bus but enough of them for it to be fairly common to have two bays. If you want to do something proactive then write to your local bus company asking them to obtain more of this model.

I have four children and have managed to ferry them around to most places without ever being a dick about it or wringing my hands over what ifs. I've asked strangers to help me and no one has stolen a child from me or harmed a child, how would they when I'm literally two feet away and blocking the exit?

Some people can’t carry a baby like that should have thought about that before you for pregnant and thus not had kids
Some people have two small children skittles have thought of that and not had a second. According to other threads on here, even twins doesn't exclude you from this, you still choose to contribute with the pregnancy.
Some people use their buggy to carry their food shopping, and have no other way to do it. should have thought about that before and not had them then.

Do you know there's always a reason they basically deserve it? Presumably the PP is ignoring the parents house disability might stop them carrying a baby in a sling or the older children who may have a disability that won't see them cleared to use the disability space by the casual observer and might make slinging impossible.

As for be my Mom it with 7 under 4 plus a o f coal and she practically giggled along the road a. How do you know she never moaned? Memory is a funny thing and we often forget how hard we find something decades later b. I'm assuming your kick ass mom / Nan also relished the challenge of scribing the washing by hand and living without electricity. I assume you do likewise?

@SinkGirl you could get something like this or this made and fasten it in a prominent place. The symbols make it perfectly obvious what you are trying to convey without having to explain!

OP

As a wheelchair user and going by a couple of your posts I would say the driver never lets her on if there’s buggys on (probably waved her away as the bus pulled up) which is why she was shouting and filming it. If the driver had said to fold instead of telling people not to it probably wouldn’t have got that bad. She no doubt recognised the driver the same as he recognised her and knew he wouldn’t let her on

I’ve been through this with one driver and it got to the stage he wouldn’t let me on even if there were no buggys on. He just didn’t like wheelchair users and sounds like your driver could be the same (she will be reacting to how he’s treated the wheelchair user in the past by not letting them on)

To the ones saying they’ve never seen a wheelchair user not allowed on the bus. I’ve used a wheelchair for nearly 7 years and the first year (til I started fighting back) I was regularly left at the bus stop for 3 or 4 buses in a row. I’ve been screamed at, sworn at, threatened, verbally abused etc and the drivers do nothing except drive off which just gives the buggy user the idea that they are in the right and it happens again and again. It still happens now (only Saturday a guy with a buggy yelled at the driver as I got on the bus first even though he was at the bus stop first), I have often thought about filming every time a bus pulls up just in case

You have a right to keep your buggy up with a sleeping 12 week old just as much as they have a right!

No you don't.

Buggies should be folded in order to even get on the bus imo.

I am stepping away from the thread now because I am so fucking angry that people think it’s acceptable to talk to others like this.

That's probably best. You seem to have gotten so entrenched in your views that right now someone could post "church is right" and you'd argue the opposite.

HoHoHoik

I am right. Some people on this thread, unfortunately, are actual knobheads.

Goodnight.

@1plus2equalstrouble
Of course the physically able can stand. But whether they will or whether there would be enough space for disabled people and people not terribly steady on their feet leaves a question mark. Not to mention the number of seats this removes... unless the bus is as photod by HoHoHoik.

@IcaMorgan that’s absolutely shocking. I’m always moaning about shit drivers who can’t be arsed to put the ramp down for me or who don’t let me on if there’s a buggy there, but luckily I’ve never been verbally abused.

Church it's a good idea to step away if a thread actually has this affect on you in real life. It's aibu people are going to give their opinion.

@HoHoHoik they look like our old buses before upgrade 😂😂😂😂 Regardless of, and drivers here rigidly enforce the 2 only rule, so 1 of each or two pushchairs

my2bundles

Yes, real life, real people, my. When you speak to people like this, it affects them in real life. HTH.

Church after your last outburst it's clear aibu is not the place for you.

church, I mean this kindly but you really should use the 'hide thread' option if its affecting you that way.

You need to take a long hard look at how you speak to people then.

@churchandstate

Excuse me, but now I am starting to get really pissed off. Who do you think you’re talking to?

I think I am calmly taking part in an internet discussion with someone who is not able to do the same without swearing and name calling.

It's probably wise that you've decided to step away from the thread.

@churchandstate, you’ve affected my real life with how awful you’ve been about disabled people, but you are so determined to be right at all costs that you can’t see anything beyond your own narrow view.

@OlaEliza oh do bore off. This and unilateral threads are full of reasons why women physically cannot carry the kids, along and pushchair onto the bus without even getting into drivers that pull off as the door shut before you've even sat down.

@Mummyoflittledragon pull down seats? I just think buses need more flexible seating. Leaving a side wheelchaire users for a moment we often catch the bus with two pushchairs up and then pass 3 more parents who cannot get on, Mom's stressing about missing pick up or hospital etc and it isn't always practical to be potentially an hour early for everywhere

@IcaMorgan I believe that must be the case the driver did say he "knows her for causing a scene" which on one hand I feel if you are verbally abusing passengers especially in front of young children then you shouldn't be allowed on however it's unfair massively unfair on the wheelchair user which is the priority but again that was the consequence of the carers actions.

Maybe she used to have manners but clearly was frustrated and now given up being "nice" but that does not mean you take your anger out on the passengers who are actually trying to get out of the way. I panicked and was shaking because I hate absolutely hate drama and the only person I feel sorry for is that man.

In my eyes it's the woman's fault for being aggressive and calling people "jumped up cunts" waving a phone in people's faces before knowing what was wrong! "This is going all over social media" When that man fell into the curb she then shut her nasty mouth.

Being loud and aggressive is not the way forward.

I am terrible sorry you experience the things you do I am not oblivious to what goes on and I know some people can be selfish and feel entitled. I won't be getting on a bus anytime soon after this!

@MoonlightMistletoe so what happened after the man fell into the road

@1plus2equalstrouble The woman put her phone in her pocket and helped him up , there where two other people at the bus stop who also helped, they then went back to the bus stop and the bus driver shut the doors and drove to the next stop.