Pushchairs on escalators

[Orissiah]

Excuse the stupid question but I am going on the London Underground on Monday for the first time (alone) with my six week old baby in her pram (she faces me in her Bugaboo Bee).

How should I balance the pram on the escalators (this question would apply to a shopping mall with escalators too!)?

Also, I'm expecting to ask a random person to help me carry the buggy down the stairs into the Tube station itself. But how do you negotiate stairs?

Thanks,
O

why not mspontipine?

I travel on the Tube with my 1 yr old every morning in rush hour ( am prepared for the heaps of condemnation about to come my way)

It is easier with a sling and back pack.

Lifts are in most places but none or very few on the Northern, Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines. Jubilee line is great!!

I occasionally use my P&T three wheeler. So lone in the body. Have used friends Bugaboo aswell. If going up -

front wheels on to step, as the step goes up push against the riser in front.

Then most important - leave 4-5 steps before you step on

Pushchair tilts but is quite safe.

On the way down same procedure but pull the pushchair back against the step.

If anyone complains just speak loudly that you could start claiming benefits and pretend you are going to work - shuts most of them up! My other favourite is - yes, a baby have you never seen on before.

touch alarmist there MsPontipine!why so adamantly against this?it is the quickest way to get around Ldn

plenty people manage this daily

Fatback why would anyone condemn you?if you have to travel then you have to

i do tube busy times with buggy

has to be done

if folk dont like it -too bad

err MsPontipine what would you suggest I do if I need to travel across London with the baby? 25mins by tube or 3 buses taking 1.5hrs. People do it out of necessity not choice or perhaps I should tell ds1 aged 4 that there are no more trips to museums etc because its to much of a faff to get there on the bus. Please don't suggest a sling for ds2 as he is 11 months and weighs 10kg+, carrying him and all the junk stuff needed for a day out with the kids would be a non-starter.

This is brilliant! There are so many places an escalator-phobe can go to!

Anyway, I've copied all the posts with the no-escalator stations into a list and added a couple more (please add more if you know any...). Apologies for any mistakes.

District/Circle/Metropolitan/Hammersmith & City
Hammersmith has a lift, no stairs needed
Westminster I believe
Notting Hill Gate - district and circle is just stairs, so doable
Earls Court - has lifts
Paddington - has lifts
Farringdon

Piccadilly
Caledonian Road
Covent Garden (but v. overcrowded station)
Russell Square

Jubilee
Most on Jubilee Line south/east of Green Park (i.e. the new bit)
all Jubilee line stations south of GP have lifts. And north of that, Kilburn and Wembley Park do

Northern
Goodge Street (Northern)
Warren St (V-line and Northern)
Hampstead
Chalk Farm
East Finchley (stairs but not too many)
Finchley Central and West Finchley (lifts)
London Bridge
Waterloo (follow signs to Jubilee Line interchange)
Hendon (stairs but not too many)

Central
Holland Park has lift plus stairs - Shepherd's Bush is shut until October.
Shepherds Bush (Central) - closed -had escalators (who knows after refurb)
Holland Park & Queensway - have lifts

Bakerloo
Edgware Road (Bakerloo) - has lifts

Interchanges
(nb these only apply if you're taking two tubes heading basically in the same direction):
Oxford Circus - Victoria/Bakerloo line
Baker St - Metropolitan line/Circle line and Bakerloo/Jubilee line
Green Park - only 8 stairs between Victoria/Jubilee lines

No steps at Brixton tube! But the lifts are quite tucked away...handy if you're starting your journey from somewhere in South London.
And Tottenham Hale has lifts out. But you do have to deal with stairs from the ticket hall.

I'm too cowardly to take ds's buggy on the Tube, but I've done buses at busy times and incurred wrath. Bus rush hours are different from tube ones though - worst time of day is about 2.30 to 4 pm - it's school related. I've had far easier journeys from Kings Cross at 5 or 5.30 pm (the beginning of the bus route which is quite crucial) or from Wood Green tube at similar times (again, 2 buses start there, whereas I would just walk from Turnpike Lane which is nearer home)

Zone 2 interchanges which are good are Finsbury Park Victoria/Piccadilly and Stockwell Northern/Victoria.

Sorry - I didn't mean to shout and run - I just think that if you think it is ok to take a baby in a buggy on an escalator you may as well throw away your car seat, sunscreen, new cot matresses, sterilising equipment and any other necessary life saving items while you're at it.

Oh for god's sake just wheel it on and hold on! Why all the fuss?

This really is a UK paranoia thing. Believe me, when you live in places where an escalator is a luxury you're just bloody glad you don't have to lug the buggy up the stairs.

I'm sorry but I'm on a visit back to my lovely English homeland and wondering if everyone's gone mad while I've been away.

AVOID KINGS CROSS if at all possible, far too many stairs. Escalators are simple though.

Took DD aged 2.10 to London (where I'm from) last weekend from rural Wales and she LOVED it, totally unfazed by all the people and already wants to go back [proud]

MsPontipine I suspect that there are more babies involved in car accidents everyday than there are in accidents on escalators so by taking the car rather than going by tube you are probably increasing the risk of injury to the child. I recommend that you stay at home with the baby at all times. Oh but hang on don't Rospa say that the bulk of accidents to children happen in the home. Okay then lets stand in the garden with the baby, oh damn they've got hypothermia. I've got a better idea lets not leave the hospital with the baby at all, that would be safe, apart from the risk of MRSA, MSSA, C Diff (any other superbugs).

So MsPontipine have you ever done any of the following
Made up a milk feed with water at less than 70 degrees c
Pushed the buggy out first when crossing the road e.g. between parked cars so if you have missed something coming the baby is in the firing line.
Placed a baby on a raised surface and let go even for a second
Fed food or milk and then realised it had been out for a bit longer than you thought
Left your baby unattended in a room on the floor etc even for a few seconds
Put something hot/potentially hazardous down with a cruising/toddling baby in the room and then had to grab it when you realise they can reach higher than you think.

Maybe I am just a bad mummy however did DS1 make it to 4

Yes I probably did do some of those things but the hazardous ones would have been due to pure accident not to conscious and deliberate action.

TwoCurlyWurlies - I'm with you on this. I use the tube - it can be a nightmare - but it's a nightmare when you're on it alone. I just shove the buggy on - up or down and hang on. And the help with stairs is usually very readily offered so belies the idea that London is a big unfriendly place. Saw a mum with six children and a double buggy the other day on the platform and she was fluster free and fine.

Read the other day that one thing Gwyneth Paltrow likes about London is that you don't have to fold your buggy to get it in a cab. Unless you're rocketing about in an unlicenced one with no seat belts. Just thought I'd add a can of worms to the menu. Or travel in mini-cabs with children a whole new thread?!

Access from Waterloo rail to the jubilee line ticket office and then down into the platforms is do-able via 2 lifts.

If you hate escalators and lifts but like shopping the 139 bus starts at Waterloo to Oxford St and you can usually get your pram on there no problem.

BTW if any mums live in Kingston-on-Thames or are planning to visit, they've just installed lifts from the station platform to street level. Haven't tried them out but spotted them from the train the other day.

I tried this 1st time in a mahoosive 3 wheeler. Don't recommend it in that.

Oh, I think the station facts on this thread shoudl be made into a permanent page on MN!

MT - that's one of the reasons I take the buggy up the escalators backwards on the step below. Nothing to push the feet against (apart from fellow commuters below )

mspontipine - do you live in london?? if you live in london you either go everywhere on tube and buses, or you drive and pay congestion charge everyday which most mums can't afford. most of us who live in london, i live zone 2 are urban mums - you got to hussle and bussle around town, i'm in and out of oxford street and north london all the time and if you take a tube you take an escalator and if you have a couple of toddlers with you you can't use a sling. To tell someone not to use an escalator with a pram who is about to go on the tube in london is impossible, in that case she should just catch black taxis and buses everywhere. but if you want a day in london on london transport you've got to be a bit pushy and confident and a strong lady cos there is lots of lifting and running to get first on the tube as the doors open in rush hour, I now have a fitter body than I ever had before children due to selling my car and going everywhere on the tubes and buses!

yes be bold shuve on with buggy.ask folk to vacate pram space (it is allocated after all) and tube/bus necessarry to get around ldn

urban city, so yes busy bustle but also amazing city,vibrant buzzy. no not for retiring genteel types

people may not spontaneously offer so if you need/want help ask

but when i was back in Glasgow/edinburgh it was all tutty and noone helped either.

cities

when pg on tube - ask for a seat.it is so so busy people may not necessarily see you are pg

speak up
shuve on

everyone else does

No I don't live in London I live near a large safari park. When pressed for time or if I haven't planned my route properly ds and I sometimes take a short cut through the lions enclosure. I assume it's safe as althogh there are warning signs everywhere I have never seen anybody actually being eaten by lions.

Any tips on technique please let me know.

Dooom, doooooooom, doooooooooom

Hilarious. Pleased to see we are keeping a sense of perspective on this thread. Yes, in this dangerous urban environment some of us choose to live in obviously escalators are a comparable danger to ferocious wildcats - easier all round just to stay in.

There are such hazards at London Zoo. The elephants were sent off to live in the country when one of them unexpectedly sat down on his keeper. Still, no escalator involved so that was a bonus.