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?

I've never seen a person with a buggy not get off when a wheelchair user needs the bus

I have. So your point is ...?

You are missing the point @Angelf1sh
I didn't see a wheelchair I saw a phone and a woman shouting so while you are right in saying she didn't need to ask , she didn't need to shout either.

This is why I don’t use the bus with my toddler in the buggy. I would never not move to accommodate a wheelchair but rather than faff around folding on a moving bus I would just get off. And who needs that stress/faff?

It’s not really as simple as just saying parents with buggies need to fold. Sometimes it’s not that simple. There needs to be space for both.

I think the cadet was incredibly rude. No matter how frustrated she was there is no justification for shouting and being aggressive and more importantly neglected the poor man to the extent he had a fall.

Of course wheelchairs take priority and as a buggy user I will happily move or fold or get the next bus if the space is needed.

Disabled campaigners fought long and hard for these spaces and I appreciate them letting us use them when not needed

People with buggies arent psychic and able to predict the arrival of a wheelchair. That woman sounds vile and probably enjoys the drama.

I was going a distance to go to a family gathering which everyone else had gone in their cars but there wasn't enough room for the buggies plus car seats

OP do you really not see the irony of writing this?

There was not enough room for you in a family car because everyone else had taken up the space....

Think about facing that experience every single time you wanted to get somewhere?

It saddens and sickens me that today's snowflakes

Oh do bore off. Calling people snowflakes is the debate equivalent of a 2yo sticking their hands over their ears and going "LALALALALA, can't hear you!". People are allowed to want convenience in their day to day lives, it doesn't make them snowflakes. My mum used to have a twin tub to do laundry and our house was heated with a coal fire that had to be cleaned out twice a day. Does it make me a snowflake that I have an automatic washing machine and central heating? No. Our parents day is over and done with and there are reasons why daily activities have moved on in their execution.

Whenever I take my pram on the bus I always pay the extra 50p for a day ticket. If a disabled person wants to get on, I'll get off and wait for the next bus as my pushchair doesn't fold up quickly with one hand and I have a buggy board and at least two bags on it too.

Of course a disabled person should have priority, they have no choice but to use a wheelchair, my child in a pram is just laziness on my part. However, there are people who believe that because they got there first they shouldn't have to give up the space.

Perhaps the woman has had to argue so many times she'd got herself ready for another argument (not needed where I live as there are signs on the bus that state prams/pushchairs must move if a disabled person wants to get on). Or perhaps she was running late, in a hurry, having a bad day. Since having children I'm very sympathetic to this and would have just brushed it aside. Don't bother getting worked up about it.

I've said this before but I think buggies should pay a charge of £5 or £10 if it is not folded. People would soon learn to fold their buggies / buy a buggy that they can fold.

And if they happily do so, what then? How is that going to solve it? I’d pay that if it meant not having to learn to drive, buy a car, pay for insurance, mots, upkeep, deal with parking etc.. Saying that I’ve not so far had to break and fold my buggy (a tandem double which breaks down to a single) down despite riding a bus for years and have been able to move mine when I’ve seen a wheelchair user. Not sure if it is just my routes, but there aren’t as many wheelchair users as some people seem to think there are on buses and the spaces are used more by those who are elderly, disabled, or have children.

Yes, I agree people should move when there is a wheelchair user, but it is ridiculous to think making those with buggy and strollers pay extra for not having them broke down for the off chance there may be one. Are you going to charge the elderly people with shopping trolleys who sit there £5-£10 pounds. Can’t exactly store and break down a shopping trolley full of items and bags on the bus either.

Eiffel. Yes it is just as simple as expecting patents to fold a buggy. Generations of parents have managed this without a problem. . If space is the issue for you then do what wheelchair users had to do and campaign for it.

@MsMaisel I don’t believe it either, but not because the chair wouldn’t tip over. Have you ever been a wheelchair user?

I was trying to board a bus a few weeks ago, and because it was raining and the idiot driver didn’t want to get wet and was too lazy to get out and put the ramp down, he insisted that I could get on if he pulled the bus up to the raised kerb at the stop. There was a gap of about 3-4 inches between the kerb and the bus, and I knew my chair would get stuck but I had little choice. (That’s the reality of being disabled by the way, you have to do as you are told.) I tried to power my chair onto the bus, and yes it got stuck and fucking tipped. Luckily my daughter was behind me so she managed to catch it and stop it going over. Sadly, she’s used to shit like this. Eventually, he deigned to haul his arse out of the bus to put the ramp down and told me it was “my own fault because my chair had stupid wheels”.

No one else is expected to put up and shut up with treatment like this, other than the disabled, who have no voice and no choice.

It's ever so hard getting on a bus with a wheelchair when there are buggies on it already.

The bus driver has to stop the bus, get out of his compartment, fiddle about with the ramp and then the wheelchair user can finally get on.

For some reason though all this "fuss" doesn't seem to alert anybody in the wheelchair section that they might have to move and get ready to do this.

When i get on the bus with my adult daughter in her wheelchair I pop on first and ask anybody that is in the space if they need any help moving the pushchair or in folding it down etc and I try to do this as nicely as I possibly can but you are still met with huffs and sighs.

I know for a fact that when my daughter is out on her own she doens't even attempt to get on the bus if she sees prams already on.

It's a sorry state but people are not always as willing or nice as they can be to let a wheelchair user on - the woman was out of order for shouting but I can understand her frustration!

I've said this before but I think buggies should pay a charge of £5 or £10 if it is not folded. People would soon learn to fold their buggies / buy a buggy that they can fold.

And then you'll get people saying "I've paid £10, I am not moving".

The solution to all of it is simple:

Don't be a dick.

Sit where you like but if you're in a priority space and a priority user needs it, then move.

If you see someone struggling, offer to help instead of tutting and muttering.

If you see shitty behaviour, report it to the bus company. The more complaint they get then the more likely it is they will have to take action.

Mainly though, don't be a dick.

@Dolorabelle public transport is for the public including myself, is there no room for mums with buggies anywhere then ? Like I said I wasn't refusing I just wasn't given the chance, the abusive words where heard BEFORE I even saw a wheelchair.

@Dolorabelle For the last part to your post I can completely understand her frustrations but her anger didn't get her anywhere that is the problem because if she didn't loose her shit she would have got on the bus without all of that drama!

I wouldn't have moved my buggy with someone so aggressive and filming me without even giving me a chance to move. Anyone with that attitude shouldn't be allowed on public transport. He could have lashed out and become violent

I use public transport occasionally and would never not move for a person in a wheelchair. A year ago the bus stopped for a man in a wheelchair and me and the other mum were already on our way out before being asked when his carer said no to stay put, they would wait. The bus driver thanked us for being considerate despite the bus running late and everyone being massively delayed. I think most mums would get off. Also our bus company labels it an "accessible space for wheelchair and pram users to take priority" but most people make way for wheel chair users and people on mobility scooters. The worst incident I witnessed was a lady with her dog in a buggy refusing to get off as she was tired and her dog couldn't walk very far. She refused to move out of the wheelchair space which can only be used by wheelchair users as it has a rail to the space with fold up seats for prams and buggies. She was abusive and threw a right stink so the bus driver refused to move until she moved to the pram space or disembarked. She chose to disembark. Some people are just entitled

"I've never seen a person with a buggy not get off when a wheelchair user needs the bus."

I've had someone jump the queue so they could get to the space before I could get ds's sn buggy on and then whinge loudly when I asked them to move.
I have friends who regularly experience moaning from those with prams when they take their adult children with wheelchairs on public transport.

I'm kind of anxious about this happening to me in future.
I have a medical condition that means while I am not legally forbidden from driving, I feel like it would be irresponsible of me to be on the roads. So I take the bus.
I'm currently overdue for my first baby, and will be using the buses to get around when he is very little. The buggy doesn't fold up well when it's in the mode for newborns.

To be honest, most of the friction I've seen on buses has been between buggy users and other buggy users, trying to fit too many buggies on one bus.
But I would hate to inconvenience a person who uses a wheelchair, as it is their space.

Back to OP, that lady was really rude and absolutely shouldn't have acted the way she did. However, I probably would have moved up once I realised what she was shouting about, regardless of what the driver said. It's his choice to let her on or not, but the space should be there.

Feel terrible for that poor bloke who not only has an explosive and aggressive career but also fell out of his wheelchair!

Carer not career. Bloomin' phone.

This thread highlights why I avoid public transport with DS. It’s not worth the hassle. Luckily I can drive but the barriers to accessing public transport leave many people With disabilities housebound or with very limited options for getting out.

The woman is just a horrible person who loves drama

Ever been a carer for someone confined to a wheelchair? snuggybuggy? What an apt user name.

Instead of the huge 4x4 buggies that are so common, why not use a simple Maclaren without all the bells and whistles which fold up like a doddle.

Meanwhile I do hope the poor man who fell out of his wheelchair is ok. Am guessing his carer was at the end of her wits and that's why she lost her temper. This probably wasn't the first bus she waited for which had no room for the wheelchair.

Wheelchair users have priority over buggy users. However people who are being aggressive and filming other passengers shouldn't be allowed on the bus. I hope the man was ok.

Dolorabelle

Not sure what you’re talking about, tbh. It makes practical sense for the space to be used by anyone UNLESS it is needed by a person using a wheelchair. And it’s the law. HTH.