Taking the buggy off of the bus for a wheelchair

[GoAgainstNicki]

I know in other places in the UK, there are buses that have no back doors so there’s a space for a wheelchair user and then buggy users. It’s not like that in London so the one space that’s available is for wheelchair users. Buggies are allowed to use the space if not needed by a wheelchair uses but need to get out of the way if necessary.

There’s been quite a few times where there’s been myself and another buggy on the bus when a wheelchair has needed the space. Each time, the other parent refuses to get off of the bus (even when I’ve got on first), so I get off to make space for the wheelchair. I also don’t like embarrassment so I’m not going to argue with another parent when a wheelchair user needs the space.

Now I’m always happy to get off for a wheelchair especially as buses come super frequently. However my issue comes with drivers not giving me a ticket to say that I’ve already paid to allow me on another bus. Just a few days ago, I didn’t have much money on my oyster but enough for my journey. I needed to take two buses within the same hour which I could afford with the money on my oyster. A wheelchair wanted to come on so I started to get ready to get off, no problem. I asked the driver if he could print a ticket as I no longer had money on my oyster (the one hour was up) and he said no!

Luckily a bus driver let me get on without paying but AIBU here? Why can’t it be standard practice for drivers to give you a ticket stating you’ve already paid if you have to get off for a wheelchair user?

(I know it won't help with 2 under 2 in the situation you described btw, but saw the post about the baby being too heavy to carry and wondered if you still wanted to carry either of them, it's certainly doable. Otherwise, I am all for the ongoing ticket solution 😊)

I don’t think you should have to pay again OP.

However I do think when you know you will be reliant on busses with dc you need think it through and pick an easy fold pram or use a sling/carrier. You say your baby weighs a stone, that’s only 14lb, my little ones were that weight by 3 months and I carried them until around 18months and I’m only a petite 5ft. It makes using public transport so much easier especially with other dc as you can sit anywhere on the bus all together.

I can empathise with OP because I travelled on public transport loads in London with a baby, and busses were the worst.

Reasons why those rubbish umbrella buggies aren’t any good for a long day out:

• Can’t bump up and down stairs very safely/without waking baby (I used to live up three flights of stairs no lift)
• Can’t fit much underneath or on the handles without unbalancing
• Who in their right mind would put a newborn in one of those things, for a whole day out?
• There’s still no way you could hold a newborn or very young baby safely while folding one up.
• You can’t fit a buggyboard on for the toddler/older child

So only useful in very limited circumstances.

Generations of us did it. It's really not hard.

I used to wear baby in a sling for bus journey, but also have an empty buggy with me (as
its impossible and unfair on baby to carry a large baby/small tod in a sling ALL day).

That way I could fold the buggy if needed - still not easy with a big baby strapped to me. And people don’t always give up their seat anyway. I will happily stand with my baby in a buggy, but not really safe to do so with baby in a sling (although I had to do it loads of times anyway).

My god there's always one. I would explain it to you but with your attitude you would never understand 😡

@Nordix if I hadn't put my baby in a lie flat umbrella buggy for a "whole day out" I wouldn't have been able to actually go out anywhere - either for a whole day or 10 minutes.
Should I have stayed home isolated in doors because I didn't have a 'proper' pram and had to rely on public transport? 🙄

Generations also had a proper luggage rack for umbrella buggies that no longer exist on buses.

They also had a friendly bus conductor that could help them on the bus.

Also the buses weren't rammed so full of people that you didn't have to worry about falling over because you physically could not.

Less women needed to use them as they had more local shops for everyday essentials so they wouldn't need to take their baby into town. Also there weren't all the baby activities for them to go to either.

I mean why shouldn't more women just spend their days at home having coffee mornings, cleaning the house and making sure that dinner was ready for the exact moment that their husband got home from work instead of getting ideas like going out for the day. /Sarcasm

Women back then put up with a lot of shit things. So weird how some would have us right back to those times if they could it seems.

I think it's worth remembering a pushchair can be folded and a baby/toddler can be seated on an adults lap.

Most wheelchairs can't be folded and the person sitting in it can't be tipped out into a seat/on the floor.

So disabled people should be refused entry to a bus because someone doesn't want to fold their pushchair down?;that's called discrimination.

My son was a stone at 2 months! I carried him till he was 2.5 years old. The weight is supported by the carrier

You’ve completely missed the point of this thread

Yeah no one is saying people shouldn't vacate the space

My son has a low weight because of his genetic disorder. One stone may not be heavy for some but I have a really bad back so carrying him is out of the question. My DD is 1 and a half and I definitely couldn’t carry her with a decent sling around the house. My back would break!

That’s neither here nor there anyway but thank you for all the comments. It’s clear that I’m not being unreasonable so I’ll continue to ask for a ‘single use only’ ticket from the driver if this ever happens again. However I’ll be keeping my oyster fully topped up from now on!

@strawberry2017 is.

@GoAgainstNicki don't forget Oyster cards do let you do "one more journey". If you haven't got enough and you beep your card will just go negative (so if you had 50p on the card it would put you at -£1.15). You can only do it once and the card won't work until you top up again. The next time you top up you do have to pay back the negative amount (so if you were on -£1.15 and topped up a fiver you would actually only have £3.75 on the card).
The driver should have given you a transfer ticket.

If your son has a genetic condition than he needs his buggy and you shouldn't be giving up your seat.

I just don't think it's fair that someone with a baby in a pushchair should be made to leave a bus for someone in a wheelchair.
Not all cases are the same and quite frequently there are reasons women can't fold down the pushchairs.
Mothers and babies have rights to.
It should be first come first serve.

God forbid a toddler uses its fucking legs.

Oh come on, a toddler can’t stand on a moving bus without falling over.
What a pointless and idiotic comment, never mind unnecessarily aggressive.

Thankfully the law disagrees with you.

For people saying "Just fold it up!" the rules where I am are strict - folded or not, the accessible space (some buses have 2) can hold 1 wheelchair which has priority over 2 buggies which have priority over 1 bike.

Whoever has the lower priority must leave. Sometimes the drivers will turn a blind eye but often they enforce it. I always feel terrible if someone with a bike has to get off because of me, especially when they look unhappy about it, but the driver won't change their mind if I fold the buggy. They just look at you like "what have you done that for?!"

Also, although you can still buy umbrella fold buggies the majority aren't like that and they are seen as old fashioned. Since I don't need to fold the buggy 99% of the time, there is very little point in practising doing it quickly/using a buggy that is less comfortable and holds less shopping. It's not really relevant what people did before there were accessible spaces on the bus, because different norms and expectations exist now.

We do also have a better ticket system where I live luckily, so I don't need a new ticket if I get off the bus. Since that was the question, OP is NBU - the ticket should remain valid for the next bus.

Quite. Happy for my toddler to stand with me but due to my lack of foresight in only having two hands, it is difficult for me to make sure he doesn't fall over while also folding and stowing a buggy. Even if there was space to put it which there often isn't.

Well there is nothing stopping parents from campaigning for better facilties for children. Just like disabled campaigners have had to for many years to just get things to a basic level of accessibility.

it may not always be easy but parents have a lot more choices in getting around than wheelchair users do.