Double buggy in London help - tandem or side by side?

[MimiArtini]

I’m currently expecting and will have an 18month age gap.. Trying to figure out the best solution for a double buggy.

I live in London and currently use a babyzen yoyo which is greeat for shops and hoping on buses.. I know a double will be a far far cry from this! But ideally looking for the closest thing to it, if it exists. Something that I can actually fit on a bus with?!

Does anyone have any recommendations? I’m assuming a tandem would be the way to go but I don’t love the idea of one child being low to the ground with no view! Are there are side by sides that actually fit through doorways and onto a bus?

Thanks in advance!

I live in London. One friend used an out n about nipper. I've also seen lots of babyjoggers around. I had my uppababy vista set up as a double for a little while on tandem mode and it was so long that it still caused bus issues - especially when in the carry cot stage. Nearly everyone I know using a double basically tries to avoid getting the bus if at all possible.

I think the mountain duet is supposed to be the narrowest double buggy so that might be one to look at? It's basically the same width as my vista so you'd def get it on a bus at least. Hopefully someone will be along that used one!

Hi OP, I use Mountain duet in my job as a nanny with twins in London.. Lots of people say ‘you’ll never get that though there!’ When they see it but I always do 🤣 most of the time we don’t need double doors open etc. I get it on the bus by pushing it directly through the middle doors then braking it in the space before I pay. It’s really fine, it’s a nice buggy to push.

It was a while back but I either used a Phil and Ted's , a mountain buggy duet or my trusty maclaren single with the other in a sling (when dc3 was born the others were only just 3 and 2 so would also wear the little 2 and put the big one in the buggy if they needed a nap).

Three wheelers can tip so would try and avoid the bus else I'd have to stand hanging on to it. Our pavements also have a severe wrist/arm ache fighting the buggy's determination to go into the road

I used a secondhand Phil & Teds in London with the same age gap. It's still huge compared to a Yoyo but it's about the same size as a standard large buggy.

It wasn't ideal having the youngest low to the ground and eventually they protested - by that age the eldest was sensible enough to use a buggy board reliably so we switched to that. But it was incredibly useful for the first year or so. I think we got around to lots more places than other friends who used a side by side (they can get through doors but can they get down narrow pavements cluttered with sandwich boards and bistro seating, and tiny shops with aisles crammed together?).

Mountain buggy fan here. Got it through every doorway, on the bus and round my local tiny co-op.

I did get the aerotech wheels though as the thought of blowing up tyres etc if you ended going over a bit of glass or something didn't do it for me.

Bigger basket underneath than the out and about.

Was really quite sad when I sold it last year as oldest was 4 and we just didn't need it.

We are SE London.

I have a similar age gap and got a Mountain Buggy Duet. As previous posters have said, it's incredible what narrow gaps you can get through! I get on through the middle doors of buses and use it regularly on the overground too. The only thing I don't love about it is that the seats are quite reclined but it doesn't seem to bother my toddler. You can buy a carrycot for it but be warned it's very slim and a pain to get on and off!

What did you end up going for? I have the baby city jogger

I used loads of double buggies in London on public transport and definitely recommend Mountain Duet or Baby jogger double

Whatever you do don't get one of those with three wheels. I've seen too many people go front ways down a step of some sort and wobble precariously. There's not always the space to turn. Have you considered a buggy board or buggy plus carrier? I recall looking at double buggies and deciding my large babies were going to outgrow the slim ones in about two weeks (yes, I exaggerate but the point is they wouldn't have been worth buying).

I had the Baby Jogger City Select and would NOT recommend. It had four wheels and was very rigid and unwieldy going around corners and getting on trains. I wish I’d gotten a three-wheeler like the Nipper mentioned above. There’s no perfect solution - either you go for width but with the advantage of having three wheels, or length where one baby is stacked above the other. With the Phil and Ted the child underneath can’t really see much but I guess they don’t know any different!

My 4 wheel out n about was great. Just about fitted through a normal door and stable to push. If my oldest has been more of a slender build I would have got a mountain buggy but he was a wide unit and didn't fit 🤣.

Once the oldest was 2.5 I swapped to a buggy board and single buggy again.