AIBU to expect to be a priority getting on a bus in a wheelchair

[Worrysaboutalot]

I am going to start using buses whilst in my power chair.

Apart from wondering how I will physically be able to get on to the bus, I would like to know what is the law regarding prams and wheelchairs.

Do I have priority over a pram or not ?

Can I insist that a pram is folded, so I can get on?

There is only 1 bus every 2 hours between my village and the shopping centre, so I really can't risk being stranded there. On other hand I need to get out of the house too.

Any advice welcome. I am in the North West if that makes any difference.

@Samcro

why do people keep telling the op to do things like look into taxi's? why not suggest that option to people with babies? I really wish bus drivers would just stop the bus until the parent vacated the space. or never let anyone apart from a wheelchair/sn buggy use the space.

Because what happens if the space is being used by someone equally entitled to use it?

.what happens if it isn't the lowest of the low on MN - a mother with a buggy - but the driver who decides the bus is full, he'd need to shift 10 people off and even if they did so willingly it'd take ages and he's running late so he drives on past?

What if op misses her bus by 2 minutes?

And yes, experience that some people are dicks.

I mean she's said taxis aren't an option so it's irrelevant but I don't think it's people suggesting she use those because she shouldn't use a bus.

@SleepingStandingUp

or never let anyone apart from a wheelchair/sn buggy use the space. Yeah cos I can totally balance 25lb of wriggly twins in my arms along with carrying a pushchair and nappy bag plus keeping hold of my son and his oxygen tanks because the only "group" we can judge en mass is parents with pushchairs who are all selfish entitled dicks. And yes, I give myself enough time to get off of needed.

If your child has special needs then they would be allowed to use the space wouldn't they? The vast majority of pram users are not disabled though.

or never let anyone apart from a wheelchair/sn buggy use the space.

That’s what happens here now. There is a buggy space and a wheelchair space on most local buses.

It used to be that if there was already a buggy on the driver would allow a second, but tell them if a wheelchair user wanted on then they’d have to fold.

The bus company got so sick of the arguments over it that they no longer allow a buggy to use it.

They have been good with disabled children though. They actively encourage you to get in touch if your child has additional needs and they’ll send you a card so that if you ever have any trouble with a driver not allowing your buggy in the wheelchair space you can show it (to be fair to drivers it’s not always instantly obvious. Especially in winter when the buggy is laden with blankets).

I'm in N Essex op a bit out in the sticks. If you're anywhere near me I'd be happy to give you a lift anywhere if your chair will fit in the boot of the car.

If not me have you any friends that you could make a day out with to accompany you?

I'm not saying you shouldn't get priority at all but just want to help. X

@Belladonna12 he isn't in a wheelchair / special buggy. He walks, I load the pushchair for his 10 month olds brotherS up with 2 O2 cylinders. And we move.
But the idea that every Mommy with a pram is just off for coffee and shouldn't have more than a handbag and a baby to hold in one arm what she collapses the pram with the other is clearly silly. Even before the pandemic, I'd have struggled offloading two squirmy fatties onto other passengers whilst I collapsed everything when drivers simply don't have the patience / time to wait.

@SleepingStandingUp

or never let anyone apart from a wheelchair/sn buggy use the space. Yeah cos I can totally balance 25lb of wriggly twins in my arms along with carrying a pushchair and nappy bag plus keeping hold of my son and his oxygen tanks because the only "group" we can judge en mass is parents with pushchairs who are all selfish entitled dicks. And yes, I give myself enough time to get off of needed.

People have been taking twins on buses for a long time. My aunt did it in the days before buses even had disabled spots which could be used for buggies and she had a toddler too. She would put one in a carrier and hold the other on her knee. Usually someone else would help her.

Bloomburger
That is such a kind thought. Thank you.

I am in Greater Manchester, so no where near you. Plus I doubt any woman would be able to lift my folded chair into a boot.

I will try travelling on the bus outside busy times and see how I go.

On the bright side Mobility have set up an account for me and are processing my application.

Next week I will chase my DVLA license paperwork and see if I need to send them more stuff or not.

I will keep looking onward and upward.
I'll see what happens.

[quote SleepingStandingUp]@Belladonna12 he isn't in a wheelchair / special buggy. He walks, I load the pushchair for his 10 month olds brotherS up with 2 O2 cylinders. And we move.
But the idea that every Mommy with a pram is just off for coffee and shouldn't have more than a handbag and a baby to hold in one arm what she collapses the pram with the other is clearly silly. Even before the pandemic, I'd have struggled offloading two squirmy fatties onto other passengers whilst I collapsed everything when drivers simply don't have the patience / time to wait.[/quote]
The great majority can fold it up (or they could easily buy something that would fold up) and it's not "silly" to suggest that. Most people here being mothers of small children so they do know what they're talking about when they say that people generally should be able to do this because they did it themselves. I don't even remember wheelchair spaces on buses when my children were small.

Interesting - thankfully I never had to get a bus when my twins were babies, but from what I've read if I got on at stop A and put double buggy in disabled spot, then at stop D in the middle of no where the driver would have made me get off if there was a wheel chair user waiting?

I 100% agree that wheel chair users should have priority, however if buggies are allowed on the bus then there really ought to be a designated buggy spot too and they should only allow on the correct amount of buggies/wheel chair for spaces allocated.
Surely we can't really have a situation when a new mother is abandoned in a town/village she doesn't know with her baby/babies? I could not have folded my pushchair whilst holding 1 baby let alone 2, and definitely wouldn't be letting a stranger hold them during a pandemic.

Realise this doesn't help OP at all though, sorry to have gone off in a different direction!

You have priority but there's only one space and if the bus is full (nowhere for the people in the wheelchair space to move to) he won't make them get off as they have already paid for the journey. I suspect this is rare on a rural route but don't leave it to the last bus if you can help it for extra assurance. If you are boarding at the first stop on the route for the return journey this is very helpful!

Do remember that there are some people with what look like pushchairs from afar but are actually certified as wheelchairs as their dc is disabled, my friend has had all kinds of comments but her dc cannot easily be lifted out due to oxygen tanks!

@IMNOTSHOUTING

Only one wheelchair space around here and where I used to live (front door entry and exit buses)

In theory you get priority. In practice, I think it depends if anyone wants to challenge the pram users. I don't think there's any guarantee you will never get stranded, because there could be more than one wheelchair user needing the bus, and not all could fit, and none is more worthy than the other.

@twinmum2017

Interesting - thankfully I never had to get a bus when my twins were babies, but from what I've read if I got on at stop A and put double buggy in disabled spot, then at stop D in the middle of no where the driver would have made me get off if there was a wheel chair user waiting?

I 100% agree that wheel chair users should have priority, however if buggies are allowed on the bus then there really ought to be a designated buggy spot too and they should only allow on the correct amount of buggies/wheel chair for spaces allocated.
Surely we can't really have a situation when a new mother is abandoned in a town/village she doesn't know with her baby/babies? I could not have folded my pushchair whilst holding 1 baby let alone 2, and definitely wouldn't be letting a stranger hold them during a pandemic.

Realise this doesn't help OP at all though, sorry to have gone off in a different direction!

Obviously not pandemic times, but when my twins were little people were always very helpful when I got on the bus. Prams had to be folded then so when they were tiny it was a case of one in a carrier (which I only used getting on and off buses as I didn’t get on with them), a backpack as a changing bag and then ask the driver or another passenger to hold the other baby while I folded the pram.

And even now with DD4 being in a SN buggy people are always helpful if you ask them I find.

I’ve always found that bus drivers are very helpful if you are getting organised to fold when they arrive. I’ve seen some be grumpy to other parents sometimes, but without fail it’s been when they haven’t bothered to organise the pram as they’ve assumed they’ll be able to keep it up.

Why are mothers so demonised? They have just as much need to use public transport as anyone else. It's not always because they are selfish they can't move- folding a pram isn't an easy thing to do while holding a baby, and now with SD no one can help. What of the mother and/or baby have medical needs, are going to a hospital appointment or have to be somewhere for whatever reason?

There is one space for wheelchairs and one for prams in almost all busses I've been on for years. The pram space doesn't have the same set up to allow a wheelchair, but no doubt the parent with a pram there would be lynched by the MN mob for daring to exist.
Does another disabled passenger get the same amount for hate for using the space someone else wants?

OP, if busses are that infrequent you should have a back up plan. There could well be another wheelchair already on the bus or ahead of you in the queue. No one can guarantee you will be able to get on the bus every time, no doubt the bus company would say you will definitely be able to get on a bus every time because they simply can't.

@twinmum2017 there is a spot for just buggies but I struggle getting my double pram in there. So yes I'd have to get off if that space was full room. I guess you'd have to hope the Mom with a singleton would fold hers but...
Also jalfy drivers now say they can't have two biggies on die to Corona virus (and half say it's fine), and a small weird minority say my double counts as two and only two are allowed so have refused to let me on with another single / let a single on if I'm on even though the designated spots are available.

It's far more inconvenient to not be allowed on his after bus because one is already on and the wheelchair space is empty than it is for me to get off on the occasion that spot is needed for someone in a wheelchair

@IMNOTSHOUTING and where did she put the oxygen tanks whilst she did all that given no one can hold the babies because there's a pandemic??

Why are mothers so demonised? They have just as much need to use public transport as anyone else. It's not always because they are selfish they can't move- folding a pram isn't an easy thing to do while holding a baby, and now with SD no one can help. What of the mother and/or baby have medical needs, are going to a hospital appointment or have to be somewhere for whatever reason?

That's a pretty stupid comment considering most people on here are mothers. Rather than thinking people are demonising mothers by suggesting they shouldn't use wheelchair spaces perhaps consider that most people have managed to be parents without stopping those in wheelchairs from travelling.

@Belladonna12 but most isn't all. Daily I can only get on of I food, which in my circumstances I can't, means I can't get to my hospital appointments for my son an hour away. Treating adults like adults does.
These are the rules, enforce them properly, job done. And I'm not unique. There's posters on here who are disabled, not in a wheelchair and couldn't manange to get their children out of a pushchair. There's a myriad of reasons why banking pushchairs does and did mean some people couldn't get out and about.
And before you point out that biggies blocking the wheelchair space does for people in wheelchairs o fully agree.

These are the rules, enforce th, job done.

@majesticallyawkward

OP is also a mother, as am I.

Demonised?! This is a thread about the OP’s challenges in accessing wheelchair spaces. A few people are twisting themselves in knots to tell everyone their temporary need to use a pram is soooooooo hard too. Firstly, yup, we know. The vast majority of posters are parents. I still have a child small enough to need a pram. Secondly, before people with access needs fought for the space, it didn’t exist before. Those activists haven’t said Prams can’t be in the space, simply to make sure wheelchair users get priority.

I hate the whole “you need a back up plan” as if people with disabilities don’t plan their entire lives to the nth degree. Perhaps parents with Prams could plan a bit better, instead of complaining they can’t get off the bus mid journey, buy a fold up pram or have money for a taxi. Similar things are said to people with disabilities when they are concerned about their legal right to use the accessible space.

For those in the back.....obviously nobody should be put at risk of danger i.e. a parent with a spine condition shouldn’t be forced to fold a pram, hold bags and their baby on a moving bus. However, this isn’t an every day occurrence and access to public transport is enshrined in legislation. Having a non foldable pram is not the same.

@Belladonna12

Why are mothers so demonised? They have just as much need to use public transport as anyone else. It's not always because they are selfish they can't move- folding a pram isn't an easy thing to do while holding a baby, and now with SD no one can help. What of the mother and/or baby have medical needs, are going to a hospital appointment or have to be somewhere for whatever reason?

That's a pretty stupid comment considering most people on here are mothers. Rather than thinking people are demonising mothers by suggesting they shouldn't use wheelchair spaces perhaps consider that most people have managed to be parents without stopping those in wheelchairs from travelling.

Women with buggies on buses are demonised on MN. We're all selfish entitled idiots dragging our spawn around on buses just to be selfish if you listen to some posters. Never mind the ones who move not just for people in wheelchairs but for other pushchairs, who hold each others babies pre pandemic to get everyone on, who have argued with the driver about letting me on with DS in his special buggy when I hadn't got the guts to do it myself. Nope, were all selfish cowbags only concerned that little Jaiyden isn't disturbed.

There's no reason anyone has to stop anyone on a wheelchair travelling if drivers did their jobs

Women with buggies on buses are demonised on MN. We're all selfish entitled idiots dragging our spawn around on buses just to be selfish if you listen to some posters.

They are obviously not talking about all women on buses as most people on here have been a woman on a bus with a buggy themselves. They are talking about those who use the disabled spaces and don't think it's fair that they should be expected to stop using the space if someone with a wheelchair gets on. You have said yourself that you have got off the bus so you wouldn't be one of those people.

[quote SleepingStandingUp]@Belladonna12 but most isn't all. Daily I can only get on of I food, which in my circumstances I can't, means I can't get to my hospital appointments for my son an hour away. Treating adults like adults does.
These are the rules, enforce them properly, job done. And I'm not unique. There's posters on here who are disabled, not in a wheelchair and couldn't manange to get their children out of a pushchair. There's a myriad of reasons why banking pushchairs does and did mean some people couldn't get out and about.
And before you point out that biggies blocking the wheelchair space does for people in wheelchairs o fully agree.

These are the rules, enforce th, job done.[/quote]
I am disabled but that doesn't mean I can't sit in a chair. As I said I don't remember there being wheelchair spaces when my children were younger and it didn't occur to me that I would be able to keep the pram open on the bus . On the odd occasion I had to go on the bus I usually got help folding it . It's really not the same as being in a wheelchair. The spaces were put there for wheelchair users and if there were no wheelchair users they wouldn't be there.

@SleepingStandingUp

So if you had to get off assuming you can't fold the buggy etc, would you get a refund on your ticket?

I honestly can't believe this actually happens to people. Just getting out the house with 2 babies was a challenge in itself, if I had been asked to get off a bus at a random stop that would have been me done and staying home until they could go without the buggy.

I mean I suppose if I regularly had to use the bus I would have bought a smaller more easily folded double, or a single and a sling. But if it was a one off need then I wouldn't have even thought about it.

I might have worried about the buggy fitting on at all, but I honestly would never have thought that I might get kicked off

@SleepingStandingUp

Everyone, including me, has said multiple times that children whether in a SN or regular buggy with disabilites, SN or other health issues which necessitates them using the wheelchair space should be able to do so. The vast majority of parents can simply buy a buggie which can be quickly folded. If they choose not to do that they can only blame themselves if they have to vacate for a wheelchair user who doesn't have the option of simply folding their wheelchair.