2 strollers per bus

[GingerBeverage]

How many times have you been told you can't get on a bus because there are already 2 strollers on board?
I'd have thought that any analysis of London bus users would highlight that people with strollers are some of the biggest users of the service.
Would it be SO terrible to have a little more space for us, and for wheelchair users?

The bendy buses had more space for buggies and wheelchairs which I found useful when DD was small. I do think some routes would benefit from more buggy spaces.
I wish there was luggage space too. The bloody box for the Metro newspaper is where the luggage space should be!

I think that the availability of wheelchair spaces has now existed for long enough that some younger mothers (by which I mean those who have no reason to have taken much note of how things were before then since they were children/teens themselves. Also note word 'some') do genuinely think they have a right to take unfolded pushchairs onto any bus and keep them up. A lot of drivers choose not to challenge this, because how many arguments per shift would that cause?

The poster above who doesn't see why anyone would take public transport into account when buying a pushchair, or why she should get off the bus when she was there first is not an anomaly in wider society.

@toomuchtooold

sits in electric wheelchair, looks at taxi prices

Imagine!

Blimey.
Fwiw my bus route is every 15min and I waited 45min off peak to get the 3rd one with space. At least it wasn't raining!
And of course I'd expect a wheelchair to have priority every time. I'd just like to see maybe even 1 more space on board.

campaign then
its odd that parents moan so much about this. and god forbid they have to fold or get off for a wheelchair user. yet they never ever campaign.

@GingerBeverage I waited 45min off peak to get the 3rd one with space. At least it wasn't raining!
Would you not buy a foldable buggy, most fold in one move.
You'd easily hold a baby with a toddler in reins.

Isn't it funny how on Mumsnet when people complain about selfish people not standing on a bus or drivers using P&C without kids, posters are falling over themselves to come up with possible disabilities/reasons they might be struggling. But when it comes to mothers on buses (and it usually is mothers dealing with this) we are supposed to juggle kids while folding buggy and holding shopping without under our arms. Posters are falling over themselves to make other mothers feel inadequate, but some mothers also have reduced mobility and health issues themselves and that is never considered.

YABU.

EmeraldShamrock - Yep good idea. I do try and use sling as well but my back pain is quite bad these days. Maybe I need an electric stroller I can roller skate behind

@GingerBeverage if you get an electric stroller buy a buggy board instead, less work. 😂

You'd easily hold a baby with a toddler in reins.

Not necessarily. Being a parent isn't a disability obviously but there are plenty parents with disabilities (not always visible) who don't seem to get much consideration.

EmeraldShamrock - I reckon we're onto something here!

I went on a bus with DD for the first time yesterday. It was a nightmare, I folded the pushchair but there was nowhere to store it. So I ended up with DD on my knee, trying to balance a folded pushchair in the space in front of me. Did I mention I have MS? The lady next to me wanted to get off the bus and pressed the button, I couldn’t move till the driver stopped as I couldn’t balance on the moving bus, but the driver obviously thought the button press was a mistake as no one stood up... he went past the lady’s stop and I felt awful. Then I still had to negotiate getting up with DD and the pushchair again when it was my stop. Never again, so guess I’ll be driving everywhere for a while yet.

• @SleepingStandingUp ahhh twins... fetches out the violin

Walk. Taxi. Uber. Take a friend. Sling. One in a sling one in a folding thing.*

Really!!
Would you be okay with other groups of people being told this?
A fair few of these ideas could be given to wheelchair users as well. Which would also be totally out of order.
Public transport exists to transport the public which includes twin babies and their carers. Including those who have to travel beyond walking distance and can't afford private transport or the hire of that.
I think it is fantastic you have a ready supply of friends willing to help you move around public transport, while I had twin babies I didn't have this.
@WiddlinDiddlin

I don’t know where everyone hears about these so called selfish mothers with prams. I worked for a disability charity for over 10 years and never heard of any mothers with prams refusing to move or fold on buses

@midwest

I AM a wheelchair user, it's been mentioned several times now.

These ARE the options we have, and generally, have to take, because using public transport is such a fucking lottery.

I have no idea when I go to the bus stop IF the bus arriving will be a bus I can get on at all.

If it is, will it already be full of pushchairs/prams that won't move.

If I have to wait, will I miss my connection - thats important because my connection is usually a train, where I have HAD to book assistance to get on/off it.

So yeah, I do distances most of you would do on the bus, in my electric chair, freezing my tits off, negotiating dropped kerbs with nobs parked over them, wheely bins left everywhere, driving on the road putting myself at danger..

I take expensive taxis or pay a driver to take me to things further away.

I don't have a bunch of friends willing to help me all over the place, I have to pay a taxi, or hire a driver. I can't afford it either, and this isn't for a few years whilst children are small.

This is my entire life.

@GingerBeverage OP I do get your frustration since you are someone who has a small pushchair and would get off if a wheelchair user needed the space. Imo ideally buses would have dedicated space for two pushchairs and dedicated space for one wheelchair. But that probably still wouldn’t be harmonious because, people. There would still be people with luggage or shopping trolleys taking up the pushchair spaces or someone with a large pram/sleeping baby and a huge sense of entitlement taking up the wheelchair space and refusing to move.

@WiddlinDiddlin your comments were directed at twin parents not the parents of buggies who wouldn't leave the priority space as they should.
None of the twin parents on this thread have suggested that they wouldn't move out of the priority space.
I'm unclear why you think this group in particular should be excluded from public transport?
Ironically I would suggest that after wheelchair users and their family and carers this is probably a group that has greater sympathy with some of the challenges that people who use wheelchairs have.
Because for a while they face similar (not saying identical)challenges around access in shops, restaurants, public transport etc.
Ten years on I haven't forgotten the constant issues that came up, it is one reason I'd never suggest that people who use wheelchairs shouldn't have priority space.

I don’t know where everyone hears about these so called selfish mothers with prams

@newlifenewme2020 the two mothers I saw - note, not ‘heard about’ - do this on two different occasions were in South London. HTH.

"campaign then
its odd that parents moan so much about this. and god forbid they have to fold or get off for a wheelchair user. yet they never ever campaign."

This.

@WiddlinDiddlinthe only time I need a violin is at 2 am when the 4 week Olds are screaming but thanks 😂😂

Walk 3.5 hours each way to a 10am hospital appt with the twins and a 4 yo on o2? Yeah, sure.

Taxi. Uber. on carer's allowance? You're having a laugh.

Take a friend. yeah cos all my mates are queuing to have a day off work to come to the hospital with me.

Sling. so one in the sling, o2 on my back, one floppy newborn in arms, remove 2 car seats, carry them and the folded base with other and walk 4 yo on. Yeah, I'm sure anyone in rl actually thinks that's reasoae.

Thankfully all I need is the bus, ideally with the wheelchair space free as pushchair is so long. Cos most of us arent dicks and shift if a wheelchair user gets in and allows for that in our timings. It works perfectly.

@toomuchtoooldi i also have a hold with additional needs so I really am a trolling wet dream. He's currnetly watching Hansel and Gretel whilst the twins scream.

Werking - Induced Demand innit! But we did buy the smallest stroller for the very reason that I don't like to put other people out or inconvenience anyone, whether on transport or a crowded pavement or busy cafe. Some strollers are double the size of mine. But hey, it's all part of London life.
I guess I was just frustrated not being able to get on board. I should be glad I'm able bodied.

@viques Life honestly was tough in those days if you wanted to get about.. We all did a lot more walking. that's it tho, everyone wants to make easier for everyone. Except that scum, buggy pushing mothers. They deserve for life to be as hard as we can reasonably make it for them cos they dare have kids and not drive.

It IS frustrating @GingerBeverage. I bought a very light easily-foldable pushchair especially for using on public transport for my dc but it was still a hassle.

@WiddlinDiddlinand it's clearly shit you have to face those challenges every day, no one is going to argue that. But what a shit world it would be if we assumed the s tions of a few selfish dicks was representative of everyone they shared a commonality with, and therefore the only answer was to try and exclude all of those people from certain public spaces / make their lives as difficult as possible.
You want buggy pushers off buses because a few selfish dicks are selfish dicks. In most cases there is no conflict for spaces or people move out the space so no need to demonise every one.

The pensioner pushed in front of me and her trolley blocked the aisle. Let's ban all pensioners.

The school kids were dicking about and taking up extra space on the bus. Let's ban all teenagers.

The white guy in a suit blatantly didn't give up his seat to the disabled man / elderly woman / pregnant teenager. Let's ban all white men in suits

Doesnt workk that way does it?