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?

How long ago are u thinking? I remember the first wheelchair spaces coming in my area around 22 years ago and there defibately was no buggy spaces before that otherwise I would have used them

my2bundles

I’m thinking of the 1990s/2000s. I don’t mean the space wasn’t wheelchair accessible (I’m certain they were because they were buggy accessible). But I don’t know that they were dedicated wheelchair spaces. I remember them saying something more like “This space is for a wheelchair or pushchair” and having seats you could push up. It’s only more recently (2017) that the law has said the bus company has to give priority to wheelchair users.

I seem to remember that they existed before laws saying they had to be given up to a wheelchair user. In fact, I remember sitting and standing in them.

Whereabouts? The only buggy spaces I ever remember on buses pre wheelchair spaces were the storage space for folded up buggies.

Some regular seats were labeled as priority/access seating but not labeled for buggy users, simply for people disabled, pregnant or carrying small children.

By and large people used smaller, folding pushchairs for precisely this reason. Even with a double I had an umbrella fold type which could easily be packed up for the storage space. There was never a question of taking it onto a bus without breaking it down first and this wasn't a great hardship.

*Whereabouts? The only buggy spaces I ever remember on buses pre wheelchair spaces were the storage space for folded up buggies.

Some regular seats were labeled as priority/access seating but not labeled for buggy users, simply for people disabled, pregnant or carrying small children.*

North West. And they had pictures of buggies on them!

But anyway, what you said is exactly what I mean: even if they weren’t labelled “pushchair seat”, they were clearly available to all, not just wheelchair users. The difference now is that wheelchair users have priority. But that obviously leaves everyone else with a deficit, compared to what they had access to before.

There was never a question of taking it onto a bus without breaking it down first and this wasn't a great hardship.

Whereas I rarely got on a bus in the 90s without seeing at least one child sitting in a buggy, in a seat with a picture of a buggy!

Any foldup seats where I live were labelled for storage when not in use. They weren't buggy spaces. I always had to fold and this was less than 10 years ago. I bought for this purpose an easy fold buggy that I could fold as well as holding a non walking 2 year old.

Oh @MintyMabel I missed that I’m supposed to use taxis so I don’t inconvenience the buggy users.

Ok, well I have to travel periodically to three different towns to see various consultants at different hospitals. Because we live in the arse end of nowhere, these are between 20-25 miles away. Luckily, the county council offers a free bus pass that I can use between 9 and 6. A taxi would cost approximately £50 each way.

So if it’s ok to expect me to spend £100 to get to my hospital appointments so I don’t inconvenience the mummies and their buggies, why can’t they get a taxi to go bloody shopping?

Any foldup seats where I live were labelled for storage when not in use. They weren't buggy spaces. I always had to fold and this was less than 10 years ago. I bought for this purpose an easy fold buggy that I could fold as well as holding a non walking 2 year old.

Well, I suppose places are different. We had a luggage rack for cases, shopping, folded buggies, and at least one space (usually two) for wheelchairs/buggies. Then there were additional spaces for pregnant people/the elderly.

So if it’s ok to expect me to spend £100 to get to my hospital appointments so I don’t inconvenience the mummies and their buggies, why can’t they get a taxi to go bloody shopping?*

Nobody thinks it’s fine for you to spend lots of money, but you think it’s fine to make a large group of women in your local area use costly private transport just in case you need the accessible seat? Really?

Who says they're going shopping?? You realise that mothers sometimes leave the house for other reasons than just to go shopping?

Even with a double I had an umbrella fold type which could easily be packed up for the storage space. There was never a question of taking it onto a bus without breaking it down first and this wasn't a great hardship
Perhaps I am a snowflake then cos I don't want my newborn babies in umbrella pushchairs and I don't see logistically how i hold twins in my arms plus a nappy bag in one hand whilst folding and carrying the pushchair with the other and carrying it all in the bus a few weeks post C Section.

@churchandstate

I don’t think @gingersausage has said that anywhere. If I am reading her correctly she simply wants people to offer her the space she is entitled to and that disabled people have fought for should she need it. Seems more than reasonable to me

@Biancadelrioisback well we go for coffee too. Far to shallow, sefl absorbed and selfish to have other stuff like hospital appts, caring responsibilities, schoolrun, actual jobs to get to.

I don’t think @gingersausage has said that anywhere. If I am reading her correctly she simply wants people to offer her the space she is entitled to and that disabled people have fought for should she need it. Seems more than reasonable to me

I didn’t read it like that.

I think as a mum if I have a buggy I can’t easily fold I allow extra time in case someone needs the space more than I do. I’ve had to give up my space twice for wheelchair users- once I was only a 20min walk from home so no big deal and the other time I got a transfer. It’s slightly inconvenient for me for a couple of years. I can’t imagine the nightmare it must be for wheelchairs users.

Far to shallow, sefl absorbed and selfish to have other stuff like hospital appts, caring responsibilities, schoolrun, actual jobs to get to.

And obviously we can all afford cars and taxis. Not to mention it being so good for the environment for a few hundred women (more?) in every town to drive separately so that spaces can be reserved for people who are entitled to ask for them to be vacated anyway!

@churchandstate what the actual fuck? Where did I say that? I said IF YOU EXPECT ME TO then why can’t I expect others to do the same.

You really are the most disablist person I have ever come across. You would not dare treat someone of a different colour or religion or sexuality like this, yet disabled people are fair game. You disgust me.

You really are the most disablist person I have ever come across. You would not dare treat someone of a different colour or religion or sexuality like this, yet disabled people are fair game. You disgust me.

I am utterly flabbergasted. You asked why “mummies can’t use taxis to do their shopping”. I am assuming you said what you actually think. What is disabling about telling you why?

*disablist

Someone up the thread appeared to be praising a relative for using their DLA to get a taxi to appointments rather than using a bus. I think that is where the taxi comments have come from.

I think this is more a situation where parents with children in buggies have (as a group) had facilities they previously enjoyed limited or taken away, than that they just haven’t bothered asking for them. No?

Yeah, that’s a load of bollocks.

MintyMabel

What is bollocks? Can you back that up, please?

Sockwomble

I saw that, yes. Both expectations are silly.

@Vafanculo nice try but you were already going to miss your flight

YWNBU OP, she sounds an absolute lunatic. You were right to prepare to move and had every right to be there up to that point.

Thing is instead of demonising parents (mothers) with pushchairs are supposedly an especially selfish breed who laugh at people in wheelchairs and time their frivolous shopping trips to best ensure they can pram block the wheelchair user space, the emphasis should be on drivers doing their jobs (announcing down the bus there's someone with a wheelchair about to board, parking long enough to grab the babies out the pram, fold it and stow it safely then helping the wheelchair user to board etc) and peer pressure from others (without it inciting violence!) for parents to move. Plenty of people are selfish dicks, having a child under 4 doesn't make or absolve someone of being one. Most parents move, but if the perfectly able bodied people sitting in the footpassenger seats thought to offer help, or give up their seat so the parent isn't clinging to an overhead bar with a baby in their arms etc maybe the journey would be better for everyone.