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?

@ColaFreezePop yes, I'm sorry, I should have phrased that better. I'm a physio and have seen many disabled women struggle more than men with wheelchairs. It's such a hidden bit of sexism.

@UpTheRhineWithoutAPaddle the trouble with reporting her post is that it will be deleted and then people will be in blissful ignorance of what a repulsive hateful person she really is.

@gingersausage. I know. I was just so totally shocked by the statements she made I felt I had to do something

@gingersausage @UpTheRhineWithoutAPaddle That comment was disgraceful. This thread has been a huge eye opener, I said I wasn't oblivious to people's struggles in the past however I didn't realise some people are so heartless to the extent they can be so mean so openly.

Huh? It’s not a “courtesy”. It’s a space with a clear purpose: to be used by any passenger, but with priority for a passenger in a wheelchair, such that the seat should be vacated if the need arises. I don’t see where the “would you rather” comes into it.

I was replying to someone saying they are not the same as blue badge spaces, they could be made like blue badge spaces and only be legally occupied by wheelchair users, it would mean the space was either free or occupied by a wheelchair user.

And yes if you paid £10 then yes you could use the space, if you have new born twins then that is an expense you would have to suck up. What would you do if there was no space on the bus for a buggy?

@sashh £10 on top of the standard amount for a journey is ridiculous, let's make parents who may be tight for money due to whatever reasons struggle even more. Money doesn't solve problems unless your idea is "haven't got a tenner then you walk or stay at home"
Wheelchair uses get free journeys ok the service is shit as I've learned but to make mothers pay that much is just unrealistic if we want to make this fair!

Yes you can fold the buggies but have you seen what a twin buggy looks like? It takes up more space as to when it's up so storage is a matter and then People arnt kind enough to "help" which I experienced myself.

1. People need to be better people!

2.there needs to be two separate sections one for wheelchair users only and one for buggies for people who can't collapse a twin buggy or a buggy in general only!

1. Have a section for the elderly like they have already at the front and take at least 4-6 seats out from the bottom deck because if people are well and able to stand then they can stand , I have to stand all day long I never sit on public transport so why can't we make space for everyone which isn't hard to do!

@Leighhalfpennysthigh don't worry I always remind people when they mention disabilities/ethnicity/class/whatever that the group mentioned includes women.

@MoonlightMistletoe there doesn't need to be two separate sections. Most people whether new parents and/or have a disability aren't a-holes and don't have the attitude a particular poster displayed on this thread.

If parents want a separate section for buggies then start campaigning for one!

That space you are pointing to in that pic looks like it's the wheel arch, therefore can't be removed to make space.

The space under the stairs used to be a storage space for buggies when I was a kid - and no buggies were allowed on unless collapsed. You had to be waiting at the bus stop with it already folded down, ready to get on the bus. Unfortunately there was no wheelchair provision.

Wheelchairs aside, fuck knows how many people of today would have coped in the 80's.

i really wish mn hq would start stamping out disablism. at least 2 posters on this thread would have been banned if it was trans/racism.

Wheelchair uses get free journeys ok the service is shit as I've learned but to make mothers pay that much is just unrealistic if we want to make this fair!
just highlighting this bit of your post op.
you talk about it being "fair".
odd choice of words. in most cases a wheelchair is for life. where as the small problems parents face on busses are very short lived (sn not included) maybe you need to think about that. or campaign.
obviously you won't .....as it a short time for you.

If parents want a separate section for buggies then start campaigning for one!

🙄

There is a buggy and a wheelchair priority on buses depending on the area. Wheelchair priority means that anyone can use it, but if a wheelchair user needs it, then the person there has to move and this should be enforced by the driver.

I’ve never had a license and have been using public transport for years and the signs for this have been there. I have yet seen an issue where a wheelchair user has not been able to use said space nor any parent moan about having to move for one. Most stand up when they see one and start to move or wait to see where the wheelchair person wants to move. Some wheelchair users don’t want to be in the wheelchair space and rather have the smaller buggy space if available or don’t mind being in that space if there are more than one buggy on the wheelchair space. I’ve also not seen a wheelchair user not allowed on/kicked off or a parent with a buggy (not saying it doesn’t happen). I’ve seen elderly people with trolleys use the wheelchair space grumble, people with massive pieces of luggage eyeroll yet no one is telling them to campaign for their own space, yet parents with buggies and prams are such an issue.

@Samcro I'm not saying disabled people getting free travel is unfair I was saying that it's unrealistic for parents to pay an extra 10pound to bring a pram on the bus.

I've said I know wheelchair users have the priority and so they should! My OP wasn't about who should have what it was more the fact she was being unnecessarily abusive and therefore they didn't end up on the bus anyway.

phoenixrosehere these threads happen so often. its never started by anyone complaining about luggage or something else. always by a parent.

@phoenixrosehere instead of jumping in with both boots at the end of a very long thread, maybe read a few pages and get a feeling for it yeah?

No wheelchair users “would rather be in the smaller space”. We’re not allowed to be. We have to sit in the designated space, face backwards with the back of the chair against the “wall” and put the brakes on. If the wheelchair space is full, WE CAN’T GET ON THE DAMN BUS. I don’t care what you’ve seen or haven’t seen, that’s immaterial; wheelchair users on this thread have said it happens to them.

"I have yet seen an issue where a wheelchair user has not been able to use said space nor any parent moan about having to move for one."

People have told you it happens.

Parents of disabled children campaign and fight for what their children need all the time. Pram users could this for buggy spaces.

@Samcro I wasn't complaining that I had to move though was I ? I was shocked that I didn't get the chance to, Instead get a mouthful of abuse the second the door opened!

@Samcro a suitcase isn't the same as a baby is it !

Wheelchair uses get free journeys ok the service is shit as I've learned but to make mothers pay that much is just unrealistic if we want to make this fair!

Children under 5 usually travel for free on the presumption that they will be sitting on an adult's lap and therefore not taking up space that a fare paying passenger could use.

It's really not hard. Pop baby in a simple sling (less than £5 to make your own) and fold before the bus pulls up. Use a backpack for all your stuff. Keep toddlers on reins. Use a lightweight folding buggy. It's liberating. And much easier than negotiating buses with a wheelchair. Believe me.

@gingersausage

Read what I fully said before responding at me. I didn’t say it doesn’t happen and I have read the thread thank you very much and know that it does.

I’m saying that seemingly blaming parents with buggies is ridiculous.

If some of you are going to respond only to the small part that I said at least use most of it instead of a tiny part.

By the way, my oldest is disabled so I do know what it’s like to have to fight for him.

No wheelchair users “would rather be in the smaller space”. We’re not allowed to be.

This is what I’ve seen and experienced on the buses I have ridden on. Do you tend to tell people what they have and have not seen? Do you speak for every wheelchair person?

I’ve been in the buggy space and have been asked if I could move to a wheelchair accessible for a wheelchair user because that space suited them better. I didn’t ask why, just moved. Next time it happens I’ll ask for a video and send to you.

The bus shouldn’t move at all until the Wheelchair is safely in the allocated space with the chair against the backrest

I’m not a fucking “wheelchair person” I’m a wheelchair USER! You’d think having a child with disabilities, you would know how to refer to people correctly.

I agree with a PP who said that it shouldn't have to be wheelchairs vs buggies, buses should have a section for one and a section for the other. That's only fair.

Round where I am the buses do have wheelchair space to one side and buggy/foldaway seat space to the other side (both areas clearly marked as buggy or wheelchair). Buggies do use the wheelchair side if the buggy space is already occupied but that is only as long as it isn't needed by a wheelchair.

So it is clearly not beyond the realm of possibilities for other bus companies to do the same.