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?

Buses already do take into account the vulnerable groups thanks to the long campaign of wheelchair users. If there's not enough for your completely fictional bus usage campaign for more.

Biancadelrioisback

I didn’t say otherwise.

Why does it have to be mothers with babies vs wheelchair users? Both groups deserve provision of space on public transport in their own right. Both groups should be catered for on buses. Absolutely crap to deny mothers with buggies space on a bus. There’s a huge push towards improving the environment with less plastics, recycling, less car use, yet public transport makes it a war between the needs of two groups rather than actually making provisions for both groups.

My god you really are delusional 😂😂😂😂

What sort of wheelchair was this? Transits don't move themselves and I struggle to see how this could happen with a self propelled.

I’ve seen it happen a lot, but then my mum has been in nero hospitals the last three years.

Just an observation.... isn’t it interesting how this discussion is only about mums with pushchairs? I don’t think I’ve seen a post referring to parents - yet there are plenty of dads out there caring for small babies (though not the aftermath of pregnancy / delivery). Traditional gender roles still very prevalent.

FWIW I have had my eyes opened to how hard life is for wheelchair users in the last 6 months since my daughter started to use a wheelchair. I have a new awareness of poorly maintained dropped curbs, cobbled streets, potholes that tip her forward. Lifts that take ages to come and are then too full to use. Happily I’ve encountered nothing but help and support on public transport but the level of challenge (for me) has been in a different league to manouvering a pushchair even post section. It just doesn’t compare. And it must be so much harder with an adult - she’s still light enough that I can physically pick her up and carry her and the chair up a step if need be.
I would never have blocked a wheelchair space before - but I will be more aware in the future.

@churchandstate - surely the attempts at prioritising wheelchair spaces are exactly what you're crying out for - supporting vulnerable bus users who otherwise wouldn't be able to access the bus - whether to go to work, to go to hospital, to go shopping, to pick up children..... - disabled people. Your attempts to shoehorn in an alternate reality where a mother (or father- but perhaps these people are less vulnerable in your mind) is completely unable to neither use a sling, ask for help, fold a buggy (yes one they've practiced folding before - not the biggest ask in the world ) seems preponderous to me and many other posters on the thread

This is hilarious thanks for the laugh. Now go away and calm your blood pressure 😉😂

The most vulnerable are the people who need to use the wheelchair space because they are in a wheelchair, not parents.
So tiresome that yet again on one of these goady threads someone wants to grandstand and argue the toss over a wheelchair space being for wheelchairs.

so that new mums and small babies aren’t forced off public transport

Having been a new mum with small babies (pl) and toddlers on public transport it is perfectly possible to choose lighterweight pushchairs (my first one was second hand, the light weight type are commoner if you go for the second hand option) and its perfectly possible to ask for help. You don't want strangers touching your PFB? Fine then let them hold the bag and fold down the pushchair.

If you choose instead to get off the bus then fine but you are making a choice you are not being forced off you are choosing to leave rather than accept the help of others.

I've no idea why you are insistent that the parent/carer with the pushchair is the victim here other than out of sheer goadiness. You want pushchair spaces in addition to wheelchair spaces? Fine, campaign for them. But dont pretend the situation is really comparable to people who genuinely have no choices if that space is not available.

Good luck with your campaign.

@myrtleWilson just as I think everyone has forgotten the men looking after babies!

Church I'm sorry I understood your argument for a while but something has gone very wrong.
What would you like the set up to be? What is it you are arguing for?
Understanding that not all parents have it easy?
More pushchair space on buses?
Fewer seats?
I just don't get it.

Why would the op get off and walk. Not without a bloody refund you wouldn't. In my area you can only buy single tickets if you get off your going to be charged again. No way do you get off when you have already paid. If your a stop or two away fair enough but you could be miles from the location you have paid to get too. What happens if the bus is one an hour or if you get in the next one and theirs another wheelchair. Could cosy you a bloody fortune getting on and off all the way. If someone was that vile I'd have told her I was about to collapse my pram but she can now sod off like the driver told her. Being a carer does not mean you get to be rude and treat others like dirt.

preposterous not preponderous....

Your attempts to shoehorn in an alternate reality where a mother (or father- but perhaps these people are less vulnerable in your mind) is completely unable to neither use a sling, ask for help, fold a buggy (yes one they've practiced folding before - not the biggest ask in the world hmm) seems preponderous to me and many other posters on the thread

Then maybe they shouldn’t seem preposterous to you, and you need to give it more thought. I grew up in an area where I wouldn’t hand my child over to a stranger while I folded my buggy. People might help, might not - again, it suits the argument of disingenuous people to pretend others will always help, and forces people into the role of supplicant when actually, it isn’t ridiculous to suggest that facilities are adapted so that everyone can access public transport without begging people for help. And obviously some people can’t use slings.

Yes, I mean fathers, too.

Biancadelrioisback

More pushchair space on buses where needed, so that these arguments don’t arise.

If you choose instead to get off the bus then fine but you are making a choice you are not being forced off you are choosing to leave rather than accept the help of others.

😂

If people are offering help, of course. But why should parents be forced into a position where they need to ask strangers to help them? What if nobody wants to help them?

Everyone can access buses, there are buggy spaces already if u require more campaign but not sure how far u will get because passengers also need seating.

People with disabilities and carers have to campaign and fight for every bit of provision that they get. Perhaps parents could do the same.

I haven't used a bus since having DS, but I used to use one daily for a number of years, I don't ever recall a dad with a pram on a bus. Of course they exist, but certainly out of my circle of friends those who use the buses do so as their partners use the car for work, or they can't justify the cost of running one on mat leave; invariably it is overwhelmingly women on buses with prams. Not that it should make a difference, buses should just provide somewhere to store folded prams, the ones here are bloody old and are every 40 minutes; accommodate both and no one has an issue. I have only encountered it once, but the wheelchair space was already occupied by someone in a wheelchair, and someone else also in a wheelchair wanted to get on. As they couldn't get both on, the bus driver handed over a card and called for an accessible taxi, which was paid for by the bus company. I am guessing that's not common (unfortunately I'm guessing many have to wait because of poor provision), but it's always stuck with me.

It's worth noting that on some buses there is a section on both sides. One for wheelchairs. One buggy zone. The buggy zone can not be occupied by a wheelchair, it's not equipped for such. So prams occupying such space causes no detriment to a wheelchair user. I'm lucky enough to live where the bus operator provides for both. It goes without saying that id vacate the other side if needed, but to try to say babies aren't welcome on buses at all is just plain sad. Both for the babies, and the Mums.

So what have you actually done in terms of campaigning for change of layout on buses, for on tap licensed baby handlers on buses or whatever else you think would work then church ? As such a passionate, articulate fighter for the rights of vulnerable on buses, I've no doubt you'll have literature (or google references ) available and email addresses to send them to? No doubt you'll have been in contact with the appropriate APPGs etc - you could convert an army overnight by sharing your plan of action.

Church therefore lose regular seating? Because we wouldn't lose priority seating for elderly or disabled people or pregnant women. And then if there are fewer seats, you'll have more people standing, which is more dangerous. So if we pop a limit on that, then there will be fewer people on the buses? And if the buses aren't making as much money, they won't improve (better routes, newer buses, more frequent services). And of course, able bodied people will be less inclined to get the bus if they know they will have to stand so more people will be using cars.
I'm not sure what cities everyone lives in but in Newcastle they are introducing a clean air zone in the city centre as we currently have illegal levels of air pollution in the city centre. They are practically begging people to take the bus over drive.

I suppose we could make buses bigger but again, how do we combat the pollution?