Pushchair fight on bus

[Partygal]

After picking my child up from her child minder today, I arrived the bus stop to find two women with buggies waiting.

Knowing that the driver wouldn’t let three of us on, I walked round the corner to the previous stop and got on there.

When it arrived at the next stop, sure enough only mum was allowed on - the other was told to wait 30 minutes for the next bus. I was screamed at and called a cunt and a queue jumper by one mum who tried to shove me off the bus.

I don’t think I did anything wrong, nor did the police when they turned up after being called by the driver.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

Folding isn’t as easy as it seems, it’s still bulky and often there is shopping bags in the basket underneath.

Because the OP thought of it and they didn't! And she's the one with the car who presumably doesn't use buses very often.

The folding issue was a later post, and of course you should fold your buggy but some of them are less foldable than others. I had one of the Maclaren umbrella types that were very easy to fold but I don't see them around anymore.

I would have also said it was down the bus driver to make the OP fold her buggy if she had one she could fold easily. Calling the police (if it indeed happened) was a massive overreaction to what was his issue to solve.

So you take them out. Not a reason not to fold, if it's one that can be folded.

50 years ago I was a child in a pram. All the parents used fold up buggys for bus journeys, they where folded before boarding and parents carried buggys, child/children and bags onto the bus. There wasn't any enormous prams on the bus

This.

Children are little for only a few years, and parents can stop using buggies etc. A wheelchair user generally can’t.

So then why is OP posting about this and trying to justify her actions?

I mean I’m the same as you, I doubt I’d see the other mums again so I wouldn’t be bothered about that. Or if I did see them again I’d style it out. But I’m also not a selfish sly bitch with no manners who’s acting hurt/surprised/superior after 2 people have been annoyed at getting/not getting on a crowded bus when I’m sat there going home…. Last thing the bus driver and other passengers wanted was a confrontation and for police to be called too.

I think buses should be designed with everyone's needs in mind, to encourage more people to use them more often, including parents with pushchairs and shopping

Agreed. I rarely went on buses as we drove a lot. But everyone had the striped fold up pushchairs though when I was a baby DM did have a huge silver cross pram.

How do you hold a baby, shopping bags, changing bag, bassinet attachment, buggy frame all at the same time?

I must admit I tried the bus once with a pushchair, far more trouble than it’s worth with buggy wars, overcrowded buses, and aggressive mothers. I just drive to the town centre now, it’s a lot less stress even given that the parking is super expensive.

I had a pushchair that you could collapse with one hand, never used a changing bag for short outings and was nearly always able to hand the baby to a willing middle aged woman who was smiling or making faces at him.

'Aggressive mothers'? Bloody women eh, spreading their anger around everywhere

Quite often if you fold up your buggy, you need 4-5 times the space as the non folded buggy as you need space for the folded buggy (which doesn't take much less space as the unfolded version), a seat so that you can have the child safely on your lap, the same amount of space as the unfolded buggy for your 4-5 shopping bags worth of stuff that was underneath the buggy. You also need the 10 mins to get all the separate parts of the buggy and shopping onto the bus the the first place which really helps the mood of the other passengers.

The ones on London buses generally are rough as it gets to be fair.

Blossomtoes - what if the pp is on a longer journey and needs more stuff

Annie- hilarious, way to stereotype the thousands of mums living in london, are the mums outside of London nicer?

The umbrella type ones are good for airports and short journeys. If I’m going to the town centre I take the proper pushchair a) is it is more comfortable for baby b) it has a basket in the bottom for my shopping.

if I got onto a bus and had to fold I’d have 2 pieces of pushchair, 3 or more shopping bags, changing bag and baby. I’d be holding everyone up behind me faffing, inevitably people would get cross at that too. Plus where would all that stuff go?

It’s my experience, not claiming it’s a fact. 🤷‍♀️

I am sure.

I'm also dyslexic and miss stuff - I read what I think I've put sometimes, rather than what I did put.

I don't know why, but it's always clearer when it's posted than when it's "under construction" so to speak. Maybe psychological, but there you go.

Not least, as if walking to a bus stop up-route represents the apex of super-human ingenuity.

If people really believe this then the UK education system is in even more trouble than I thought.

Or maybe because it's against a different colour background - I have always found yellow paper easier to read/write on and used acetate at uni.

The problem is that some bus routes habitually will have lots of buggy users and wheelchair-users fighting for the same limited space. Even in large cities, it is often the case that those in the more deprived areas have less local access to shops and other services, so have to travel on public transport. Often too far to comfortably do it on foot with small infant(s) in tow, particularly when the weather is like it's been over the past week or so.

In an ideal world people should only be travelling on the bus with a very lightweight foldable buggy and one infant. No shopping or heavy change bags involved. Certainly no prams! But that's not many people's reality.

And no-one has yet mentioned elderly people with their 'shoppers' taking up valuable seat and aisle space too. If you get all three user types on a bus at the same time, vying for seats or space simultaneously, that really does create a perfect storm for some very disgruntled behaviour.

Not really sure what the solution is. Clearly those in wheelchairs should have priority but then what? It's really an infrastructure issue, isn't it?

You were smart... but ethically a bit... meh.

Buses need to go back to having buggy/suitcases storage under the stairs and a buggy storage behind the front door. Think 60s-90s buses. All the buggys had to be folded, this allowed 10 + buggys to be carried and no one got left behind. for those saying it's to much to fold, carry kids shopping etc well my grandparents did it, then my parents and also myself managed it just fine. But we weren't snowflakes.

Exactly so why is it worth becoming physically violent in front of small children none the less? It’s just an adult version of “you cut me in the lunch line” argument all over again only there is no line. So don’t be immature and fight like children. Just suck it up and fold and sit down and hope you have better luck next time.