to want to use the bus like everyone else?

[toddlertamer20]

Hi,
I'm a single mum of 3, live in london and am now reliant on a wheelchair. I use buses to get around as I don't drive. I'm just getting so sick and tired of people being so incredibly selfish on buses. Wheelchairs have the priority, as obviously we cannot fold, however, as I have found out in the last few years, if there are prams on board and they refuse to fold...there is not much the driver can do as they can't be physically removed.
Most of the time, if a bus comes along with 2 prams, I will wait for the next bus. But sometimes I have to be somewhere and considering that is the only spot I am able to use on the bus, I feel like I should be allowed to use it. Everytime I insist that I need to get on it either a)end up with an argument eith the driver as he won't ask people to move or fold their prams....then a call to TFL who apologise and promise the educate the driver again.
b) I get let on but then the people with the pram won't move and argue with me, one of these times the driver was oblivious that I was mid gangway still and pulled off causing me to be thrown into a pole and break my arm. Or c) They just pull off and don't even attempt to let me on or put the ramp down.
Today again I ended up in a big argument. I needed to get a bus to get my youngest from school. The bus didn't come for ages. It eventually came but 3 buggies were on board, one without a child in it. The driver tried to tell me the next bus would be along in 20 minutes to which I said I couldn't. So he played the announcement asking the people to move their buggies. Then suddenly another passenger comes to the door and informs me that I need to wait as the people with the prams were there first. So I told him that actually by law I have priority, and I need to be on this bus. He then proceeds to tell me how I just need to wait and can't just get on and kick people off. At this point I was late already to get my child from school, so I did insist I got on. In the end I was allowed on bus got a mouthful off both the parents with the prams. I just don't know if it's me. I can understand it's frustrating if you're on a bus and suddenly you have to move or fold your pram up, but I cannot fold my wheelchair. It feels like everyone thinks I am in the wrong when I'm trying my best to just be a normal mother! Please tell me there aren't just selfish people put there...or is this honestly just me?
(by the way I do try to leave super early to make sure I have plenty of time to get there but then I am also waiting outside in the cold and I have problems with my joints so not a good combination)

What does the blind person do with their guide dog?

@Parker231

Id just like to point out my above comment and remind people that many disabled children ride in specially built or adapted ‘buggies’ which often closely resemble big fancy jogging pushchairs. I know this is the exception but my son is one of those children who you’d probably look at and say ‘he should be taken out of his pushchair to make way for a wheelchair’ but it’s actually not safe at all as he is also disabled.

Not when the disabled (but non-wheelchair dependent) child is in the care of a non-disabled adult who can take the child off the bus.

It's a wheelchair space, put there after considerable campaigning by wheelchair users. Therefore the non-wheelchair user gets to wait. If you want a separate space for your children, start your own campaign.

Sorry but a wheelchair user trumps a child with autism. The space is for wheelchair users.

Have the dog sit outside the wheelchair space?

No I was talking to you effectively if that makes sense; talking about the person you were quoting.

Ohh I get it. Sorry @TimandGinger, I'm clearly doing too many things at once 😂

So a blind person should be made to go to the back of the bus if there is a seat at the front of the bus? Erm no... I mean if they feel comfortable and steady enough to do that then okay, but sometimes there is step and the bus driver starts moving before people get sat down, so I think it would be perfectly reasonable for them to take a front seat also 🤔

In everyone's way?

What?

Totally agree that some children are in wheelchair style buggies where getting in and out is not easy for the child.

From tfl

All buses have a wheelchair space available. By law, wheelchair users have priority over the space as it is the only place they can travel safely. When a wheelchair user is not using the space, you can use it on a first come first served basis.

I don’t know why other disabilities are being discussed. The WHEELCHAIR accessible space is for those in wheelchairs (or special needs pushchairs which should be treated as wheelchairs)

priority seats should be given up for those with other disabilities, or others on the bus should give up their seats.

Your posts on this thread are so horrible and extreme that many posters have accused you of being a troll, and many more have thought it, because your views are so unpleasant that other women find it difficult to believe they are genuine.

Perhaps think about that for a bit rather than doubling down.

@Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree then, because I definitely disagree and if that make me selfish and entitled or whatever then I can take that. I don't go on public transport now anyway because I've got a car which is safer and less stressful for my family's circumstances, but I will defend any other parent that feels they need to use the space if they feel they have a justifiable need.

There are priority seats at the front of the bus for anyone less able to stand or walk far: intended for blind people (and their dogs), pregnant women, elderly or anyone less able to walk down the bus or unable to stand.

The wheelchair space is separate to that. And is designed purely for wheelchairs or specialist disabled buggies acting as wheelchairs.

A blind person and their dog doesn’t need to use the wheelchair space. They use the priority seats at the front. And yea, there are signs when you sit there telling you to give up the seat for someone if asked to do so.

It really isn’t that difficult to understand unless you are an entitled knob.

I know you probably don’t mean to sound as bigoted as you do but ask yourself whether that means that ‘disabled toilets’ are just for wheelchair users or ‘disabled parking spaces’ are just for wheelchair users. They’re not, they’re for disabled people who cannot safely access the provision for others.

Wheel chair users are given priority over pushchairs very clearly in busses because it because a really serious issue and unless they spelt it out in black and white no one understood that. Pushchairs are not disabled but a disabled child in a special mobility pushchair, a disabled person who requires a large bulky walking frame, a blind person who can’t negotiate a busy bus and needs open access to get on/off. A wheelchair user doesn’t have priority over other disabled people.

Also whilst your very condemning of learning disabilities ask yourself how someone caring for an adult or child who is an active danger to themselves and everyone around them unless restrained is supposed to go about daily life if they are unable to transport that person. A severely autistic person can often be a wheelchair user because they can’t walk and have no real concept of the world around them, does that make it ok in your book?

Well, yes. Just the same as everyone standing on the bus is in everyone else's way. Are you seriously suggesting a dog should displace a wheelchair user?

@Rinoachicken

The last few busses I’ve been on those priory seats have folded down into the wheelchair space so it’s either the priory seats or the wheelchair space x

I feel so frustrated for you OP. I had to get off the bus this week to let a wheelchair user on. I was holding a sleeping baby and couldn’t hold him and fold the pushchair. With DTs I didn’t get the bus at all because again, I couldn’t hold and fold if needed.

Oh, bog off with your bigoted shite, please. All I said was the wheelchair space is first and foremost for people with physical disabilities, which trump other disabilities which don't affect mobility.
Again, fuck off with the bigot nonsense, ok?

Your defence won't help them: the fact remains that wheelchair users have priority in wheelchair spaces. If you had lobbied and campaigned for a space for people in your position, how would you feel about other people coming along and taking the space because they had decided it was justifiable for them?

Currently sat on a bus as it happens. On the left with the high back is the wheelchair space. On the right - fold up priority seats. First row of normal seats on each side also labelled as priority seating.

buggies can use both spaces if they are not otherwise needed. But if they are needed, then the buggies need to fold up or get off.

YANBU, I can’t believe anybody has even vote YABU.

I’m sorry that people are so selfish and ignorant of the law. You shouldn’t have to fight so hard just to get a bus, there is no excuse for someone to not move or fold down a pram. It is clearly signed that wheelchairs are a priority.

@Thehonestbadger this is what I was trying to articulate. It's not as clear cut as what this person and others are making out. Every circumstance is different. I don't think it's fair for people to start determining whose need is more great for the space if both people who want the space are disabled. I'm glad someone else understands what I'm trying to say.

That is a much better design I’m hoping most are like that and the couple I’ve been on have been a fluke