Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

Bus companies are not required by law to force parents with buggies to make way for wheelchair users

466 replies

DuelingFanjo · 08/12/2014 11:12

story

First Bus wins wheelchair court judgement - Bus companies are not required by law to force parents with buggies to make way for wheelchair users in designated bays on vehicles, senior judges ruled.

Might be a controversial opinion but I am glad.

OP posts:
OrangeyTulips · 09/12/2014 17:52

I didn't have a car when ds was small so I'd put him in a sling while waiting for a bus. Then I'd remove the fleece insert from the pushchair and fold it up (it was a lightweight McLaren volo). Meant I could always get on the bus if a pushchair/wheelchair was in the space.

5madthings · 09/12/2014 18:02

curious they could introduce a system where the driver gives them a ticket to use on the next bus, not difficult.

PuffinsAreFictitious · 09/12/2014 18:13

Really, unless there is a really good reason and not just that you're a twunt who gives not a hoot about anyone, like a tiny tiny number of people there is absolutely no excuse for anyone not to fold their buggy or move if a wheelchair user boards the bus and they are in the way.

Thankfully, most people were taught good manners and have some empathy.

With luck, what most bus drivers will do is just stop the bus until the person in the way moves, the longer they take, the more people around them will know exactly what sort of customer they're dealing with.

I actually feel slightly sorry for people like WUME. She must have had a heck of a life to have so little empathy or kindness. Doesn't mean she's entitled to take up a space which a wheelchair user needs mind.

hazeyjane · 09/12/2014 18:18

Wow WUME, aren't you a peach.

OddFodd · 09/12/2014 18:25

Curious - if you're on a bus in London that breaks down, you get a transfer ticket. Easily done.

Thinking of this thread of the course of the day, it's occurred to me that I only ever had to move out of the wheelchair space once. Have you ever been asked to curiousg/tinsel? Maybe it's less common in London

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 18:34

I've only been on a bus once in about 15 years, and I wasn't asked to move

But I am a terrible driver (with zero confidence) and the ease of getting a bus a few weeks ago means I was going to start doing it more, but not after this thread! Wink

PuffinsAreFictitious · 09/12/2014 18:36

Why curious?

Because of the tiny chance that a wheelchair user might need the spot you're standing in?

How odd!

hazeyjane · 09/12/2014 18:42

I can't drive (despite having had hundreds and lessons and 3 tests), unfortunately we have no choice but to catch the bus.

We do use a charitable hospital link service (there is no official transport service ds is eligible for) when the journey is too long for the bus (3 of ds's clinics/therapies take nearly 2 hours on the bus due to changes - I tried it once and nearly had a nervous breakdown!) But the link service is run by retired volunteers and sometimes struggles to keep up with demand, so we only use it when absolutely necessary.

But for 2 of the different hospital appointments we use the bus, ds has a lot of appointments (4 in the last 2 weeks, another 3 before Christmas).

We need the bus, we cannot fold, if someone refused to fold for us, we would just have to miss the appointment,

WonderingWillow · 09/12/2014 19:00

puffins no more odd than a poster advising another to sell her TV to purchase a second, foldable buggy for her tiny baby when using the bus, on the off chance a disabled user gets on Confused

If you can fold, do it. If you can't (twin/large pram, more kids than you can fit on your lap, hand me down pram that won't fold, disability or illness), and tbh I doubt that is common! Then you can't. But people who can't fold for genuine reasons are few and far between, and probably travel between quieter times anyway. I can't see a mother of triplets travelling at 8am on a Monday usually Wink

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 19:02

It was really more of a joke Puffins...

But actually, I couldn't hold both my children, fold and hold my 2 piece pram and bags and pay to get on, so according to most on this thread, I shouldn't be getting the bus just in case someone with a wheelchair comes.

hazeyjane · 09/12/2014 19:09

Curious, I don't know how old your children are or what your reasons are for not wanting to 'hand them over to a stranger' - but would you have a problem if, for example, i got on with ds in his buggy and there wasn't room for us both, for me to hold your dcs whilst you folded, or for me that fold your buggy - so that we could both travel?

OddFodd · 09/12/2014 19:11

Of course you can get the bus, curious! You may just have to get off if a wheelchair user gets on and needs the space you're occupying. If you were carrying a piano (obviously you can't carry a piano but bear with me) then I'm sure a bus driver would be happy to carry you as long as the piano wasn't occupying a space needed by another passenger. If the bus filled up, you may have to get off. You'd absolutely understand that, wouldn't you?

So why is a buggy (double or otherwise) any different? It's just a big bulky THING that takes up a ton of space that belongs to another passenger if they need it.

It's really the same as bags on seats on trains now I come to think of it. :)

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 19:15

I know it sounds like I'm being intentionally difficult, but it would really be an impossible situation. My DD2 would scream bloody murder if anyone else held her, DD1 has just turned 4 so most people would assume she was fine, but actually she has severe hyper mobility and can't do steps by herself, or climb on seats and is really unsteady. My pram sticks, and you really have to give it some to take it down... It's a bugaboo cameleon as well so even folded takes up a ridiculous amount of space...

If I felt like I was going to be asked to put my pram down / hold it, I genuinely couldn't do it, and wouldn't be trying to be difficult.

MostHighlyFlavouredLady · 09/12/2014 19:17

curious, you can get on the bus. You can even stay on the bus if you change your attitude and accommodate the wheelchair user.

If you are unwilling, or are too inflexible to figure out how to arrange yourself, your children and your belongings into a way that makes the wheelchair space accessible for the wheelchair user who needs it then the only option available to you is to get off.

I have 3 young children, close in age, one with moderate ASD and don't drive. I have to manage all of them regularly for appointments during rush hour when all are tired and guess what? I also do shopping with them, using the buses. I can have scooters too and at one time even a couple of small trikes.

In those circumstances I curse if a wheelchair user arrives at the next stop, though be sure I'm not cursing them, just at my requirement to think fast to use the resources and people around me to ensure nothing we are doing will prevent that person from getting on, keep my children safe and stop my shopping from falling all over the bus.

I don't deny it is a regular pita. But I CHOSE to travel that way and thank the feck for my luck the days no wheelchair user NEEDS the space and I can BORROW it for my convenience.

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 19:19

MostHighlyFlavoured - did you even read my post?

Babiecakes11 · 09/12/2014 19:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bilberry · 09/12/2014 19:21

bus companies will simply refuse buggies at all

They couldn't do this at it would be illegal discrimination

SauvignonBlanche · 09/12/2014 19:25

I know it sounds like I'm being intentionally difficult Hmm

Yes, it does, if you intend to make travel on the bus a regular event, rather than once very 15 years, then be prepared.
Invest in a cheap lightweight stroller that can be closed one handed.

Collapse the stroller as the bus arrives, hold your baby with one arm help DD to a seat with the other the retrieve stroller, 99 times out of 100 someone will offer to carry the stroller on for you.

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 19:26

I don't have 3 arms. How do I carry both children and a buggy, as well as a bag?

SauvignonBlanche · 09/12/2014 19:27

I accept that it it difficult to get on a bus with a toddler and a baby, I have done it, but it is no way comparable to the difficulty in negotiating the world as a wheelchair user and failure to comprehend that is just obtuse.

curiousgeorgie · 09/12/2014 19:28

I have acknowledged how difficult it must be, I'm not really sure what else you're looking for.

Babiecakes11 · 09/12/2014 19:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MostHighlyFlavouredLady · 09/12/2014 19:29

I read your post curious. Did you read mine?

Your buggy space needs are no different and no greater than the majority of buggy users. Using a bus with an aging stiff buggy and small children and shopping is hard work made even more difficult by lack of space and even more so when the space you have carved becomes no longer available for you.

You, and none of them, are an exception. Your temporary disadvantage is worthy of a campaign perhaps but not of the denial to a wheelchair user of THEIR space.

SauvignonBlanche · 09/12/2014 19:29

It's a wonder you ever manage to leave the house with your level of comprehension.

It must be exhausting being such a GF? Hmm

MostHighlyFlavouredLady · 09/12/2014 19:31

bilberry, banning buggies is not illegal discrimination. Buggies, last I looked, had no rights in law. Theirs is not a protected status.