London Underground and Baby - Help Please!!

[mrspinkrat]

Hi
This coming weekend we are off to London - we have a 14 month old and a buggy. Can anyone advise on the best way of using the tube - does the buggy have to folded and the baby carried down the escalator or are there lifts available? Also, is there a space for the buggy on the train? I am starting to really panic as on one leg of the tube journey we will have our luggage as well as baby, pushchair and older child. Can anyone help please? Mrspinkrat xx

Thx Wandering Trolley - do the cabs allow the pushchair in with the baby in situ? If so, a cab is looking like the best option now to get us to our accommodation. Have you a rough idea of cost as I have no clue - £10, £20, £50????? Oldest child won't need a seat so it might be promising as long as I can afford it? I'm prepared for a battle on the tube over the weekend once we are refreshed from our journey down and minus luggage etc.!

You could wheel the buggy into the cab and put the brakes on. Check the legal situation with car seats though - black cabs very rarely crash, but you can't account for other drivers.

Might cost £20-£30 tops - depends a lot on traffic. Remember to tip the driver!

I reckon you'll get to Hammersmith 330-4pm.

wt...op...black cabs do accept pushchairs when braked there is enough room, just hold on to it though ...they spin on a sixpence...

the tube should be quiet at that time though but taxi nice way to see the sights!

This may sound really stupid but for the cost of a taxi journey from kings cross to hammersmith you could actually buy a new cheap umbrella type stroller!

One option would be to leave buggy at home. The tube journey would then by easier and you could buy a cheap or second hand one in kings street for walking to the river for a pint and other such nice activities

I dreaded doing it but once tried it was really easy. I have a light cosatto umbrella buggy and bent my route to try and include disabled stations but only included one and that was for te changing of lines. I used the escalator at first station and where there were stairs someone - passenger or guard - always offered to help me. This was in the middle of the day though.

My friend took her phil and ted double with 2 kids in to Aldgate and then saw the stairs (I used to bend my route to avoid this station when pregnant). Before she could even ask for assistance, 2 men picked the buggy up and carried it up the stairs. She said it weighed about 30KG.

I find buses (which I take the most) are often worse because there's always someone on it with a bugaboo and not enough room to manouvere a buggy into the space. No one ever folds a buggy up. And that's providing the driver hasn't refused to let you on and driven past the stop because he already has one buggy!

I did it for years, and even commuted.

Rarely had a problem and often had help from passersby.

The escalators are more of a problem when they are big kids too big for a buggy, and you have less (or less agile) adults than kids in the party.

My dds entire Nursery goes on the Tube once a year for a trip, with 2 kids per adult.

i think you are allowed to have toddler sitting on your lap in a black cab - no rules about it i think? - i guess it depends on how safe you feel - wrap the seat belt around you both i guess

tube should be fine at that time though

hamleys - it would be hell on saturday - maybe find out what time it opens on sunday and be first there so its not too busy - not sure id bother though really

so many other things to do - you could spend a whole day on the southbank - just walking around tate modern, london eye, aquarium fab!

I travel frequently on the tube with a buggy. The escalators are the worst. I thought there was a knack to it but I now know you just hang on for dear life. I have always found there are people who offer help on the stairs (and this has included thavelling in rush hour)

i travel to work daly with a bugaboo on bus and no problem the bug can sit adjacent to other pram eg 2 fit in side by side

bug handle flips so can go in buggy space and flip it over save space

My DD collected a buggy for me Thursday that I had bought on ebay as it was near where she is at college. She had a hilarious journey home, as she wheeled rather than carried it.

She had no end offers of help up and down steps and all she had in it were her accountancy training manuals. Everyone made room for her on the train from Kings Cross to St Albans, she had the hood up as it had been raining and she thought as people looked concerned at the hood and apron being up, she better check "her baby"

She was amazed at the help she was offered, and this was in the rush hour.

Sling for a baby and fold your buggy.

The TFL website gives you details about the facilities availabele at each station. Not many have lifts.

newgirl - don't wrap a seatbelt around yourself and a child - if you were in a crash your weight would crush the child - ugh hideous.

You can check on the Transport for London website to see what facilities are available at each station. Generally, there are not lifts in many stations.

If using escalators, put the baby in a sling and have a lightweight fold-up pushchair. Have everything else you need to carry in a backpack, so that you have your hands free for the baby and buggy.

You only have to carry your baby on the escalator, and can put them in the buggy as soon as you get off - you don't have to go through the turnstiles (not that they turn), because the station staff will open a gate for you.

No problems with a buggy on the train. Best to avoid rush hour though. If it's busy, take the bus instead.

urgh ok - i am thinking of going to london in november to visit my friend, see the lights etc. my daughter is 2 and half. what does everyone think? should i go with or without the buggy??!!