Prams on buses

mummyoftwomonkeys

although I don't agree with the mum being so abrupt to the old dear I can see it from her side, my husband only learnt to drive just before the birth of our 2nd son so I had to get the bus quite a lot when my 1st son was young my dad lives 14 miles away so walking wasn't an option. Im assuming the bus is like the ones they have here with a large space and 3 seats? it used to annoy me when i got on a bus with a pushchair and an old dear would plonk down in the "buggy friendly" area and then everyone would watch me struggle to fold a pushchair down on my own. I never had a pram for either of mine but a girl I know in Scotland had one for her daughter and got on the bus ok but was told she couldn't get on for the return journey

smileylondongal

Nicki wrote: »

And assuming that everyone lives within a 45 minute walk of everywhere they need to get to is naive. Personally I live a 50 minute bus journey away from the hospital, which I often have to attend on my own behalf or with one of my children. There is no parking nearby and my youngest is too old for a portable stage 1 carseat and too young for a portable booster seat so taking the bus is by far the easiest way to get there. I guess I COULD walk for 3 hours or so there and back with my toddler in his pushchair and my disabled 10 year old if the appointment is for her. Forgive me though for being lazy, as I do take the bus and I do use the buggy space on that bus which has been set aside for mums like me.

I quite agree. I also think that buses, trains or whatever other mode of public transport available can't be used by ALL passengers solely for taking them 45 minutes+ to their destination! Most people use these services for short journeys - are they going to be stopped for travelling too, katerinasol?

This, I might add, all coming from someone who doesn't have children. Please don't post about something so strongly if you really don't know what it's like. I will hazard a guess that if/when you do become a parent many of your 'wants' will go out of the window and you'll have to sacrifice and focus on the 'needs' of the child first and foremost.

No, if it were freezing, I wouldn't have taken my child out for a 45 minute stroll rather than take a bus, for example. Please think before you post, people!

As for those holier than thou who claim to have walked on water and done a million things that more recent women aren't doing, well, times do change and perhaps just because you struggled doesn't mean we have to continue to - that's why the buggy space has been made available to mums and why you don't always have to fold down your child's transportation.

As I have said time and time again, all of this is about tolerance. If everyone could just take a few seconds to put themselves in the shoes of another, perhaps we'd all be all that much more respectful of each other.

mumps

KxMx wrote: »

Disabled (walking) can be accomodated elsewhere on the bus, unlike wheelchairs and prams, which is why spaces are provided!

I have already explained that I am talking about my MIL, she was terminally ill and due to a hip replacement that went wrong she found these seats the easiest to use. She had a letter from the bus company confirming that these seats were for wheelchair users, the disabled and people with buggies/prams. No one had priority, it was first come first served. She was still subject to abuse from mothers who would demand she move. I don't know the policies of all the bus companies in Britain, funnily enough, but in her area that was the policy. Personally I have no problem with that policy, if the seats aren't being used fine, if they are you have to decide if you can manage elsewhere on the bus or wait for the next one. Is a young mothers needs greater, is a sick lady in her 80s need greater, according to the rules of the bus company the seats are there for whoever gets there first (in the relevant categories of course.)

Unless you are medically qualifed, doctor OT, then I don't think you can reasonably make a decision about where a disabled person can be accommodated. It is just as easy to say buggies can be folded down and accommodated elsewhere.

mumps

biscit wrote: »

We were lucky that when my son was born the nearest hospital was in what would have been the gap between our village and the next one down the valley, so we could walk.

I'm, quite frankly, embarrassed to read the stories of what women recovering from C-sections can and can't do, and being unaware of this. Especially since my wife had to have one.

I think some people have a limited amount of empathy and resent that these days we're more civilised than in the past and to have a general background level of niceness you need to give greater consideration to all sorts of things thank you used to. So they tend to try and turn things on their heads- nice people who recycle, have no problem with P&C spaces, etc, aren't nice, they're arrogant and "holier than thou". The people for whom companies and society show more consideration aren't being shown consideration, they've a "sense of entitlement."

Are we? Do you think that is how it feels to the elderly person being moved? Consideration for everyone is needed. I have been a young mom with a buggy, an older mom with a buggy and more recently a granny with a buggy but at no time would I have said I needed these spaces more than my MIL, I am sure she isn't the only elderly person who has struggled to maintain a normal life as long as possible.

If you can wheel your buggy on the bus and not have to fold it down that is great but when people say they can't do that then the women who did do it can't help but wonder why, obviously some of these moms might have problems but so have alot of elderly people.

Remember if we are lucky we will all get old some day, its getting a bit close for me but I am fit and well, In 20 years time I might need help and I hope it is there.

carlislelass

Our neighbour has a zimmer frame after having a stroke. Is he supposed to struggle to the back of the bus? I personally would go back to the days when buggies had to be folded...and we all managed

Alex-Riley.

carlislelass wrote: »

Our neighbour has a zimmer frame after having a stroke. Is he supposed to struggle to the back of the bus? I personally would go back to the days when buggies had to be folded...and we all managed

I had to take someone elses kids down town when I was babysitting but I had to make sure a 2 year old didn't start causing havoc on the bus and keep my eye on a 3 month old baby

and I think you're misunderstanding what a lot of us are saying we're not saying go to the back why can't someone else move towards the back and let the disabled person sit near the front

mumps

Alex-Riley. wrote: »

I had to take someone elses kids down town when I was babysitting but I had to make sure a 2 year old didn't start causing havoc on the bus and keep my eye on a 3 month old baby

and I think you're misunderstanding what a lot of us are saying we're not saying go to the back why can't someone else move towards the back and let the disabled person sit near the front

Perhaps, like my late MIL, they find the fold down seats easier because of their particular disability.

Dazi

carlislelass wrote: »

Our neighbour has a zimmer frame after having a stroke. Is he supposed to struggle to the back of the bus? I personally would go back to the days when buggies had to be folded...and we all managed

I used to do that with toddler and baby carried in a sling, I shudder now at how it used to be. It is so much better with buggy spaces, also before buses changed it was impossible to get a wheelchair in so this has opened up a lifeline for wheelchair users who have no access to a car. I can remember standing on a bus, with a baby in a sling, holding onto toddler and arm round a pole hanging onto the fold up buggy too as the storage space was full of peoples shopping.

I think maybe the mum was sharp but most buses have seats just behind the buggy/wheelchair spaces that say please give up this seat for disabled people and I think most people would do that, although sometimes it might take someone else to give them a nudge

Alex-Riley.

mumps wrote: »

Perhaps, like my late MIL, they find the fold down seats easier because of their particular disability.

so what's your MIL going to do if someone with a wheelchair gets on

Mupette

Nicki wrote: »

??????

I've had two c sections and in the first few weeks after both, I could lift one light shopping bag at a time, put it under a pushchair and push the pushchair along. Just as well really if I wanted to look after my family. I couldn't though have carried more than one shopping bag at a time, plus a pushchair and a baby. Nor could I have lifted an empty folded pushchair into a luggage rack I don't think. This isn't me being pathetic, it is also the medical advice you are given after a c section which is as big an operation as an old fashioned hysterectomy and requires a minimum of 6 weeks before you are permitted to lift anything heavier than your baby.

You may feel yourself to be supermum, but frankly its going to inconvenience the bus a heck of a lot more if a postpartum mum ruptures her newly healing uterus and haemmoredges all over the bus which will have to wait for a 999 ambulance and hope she survives until it gets there. It won't be a question of having to squeeze past a pushchair in that case but you'd all be getting off and waiting for the next bus to come along!

Nicki i see your point, and no i am not a supermum, but i have been on both sides, a mum with buggy and baby and shopping, and now i am disabled, when i am reliant on my wheelchair, and need to get a bus i just find it disheartning to see buggies in the buggy and wheelchair area, and the mums refuse to fold the buggy down, i am going by only my own experiences, mums with friends who could help with this.. where as i have to get back off the bus, and wait for another if they dont. I would of thought a new mum with a very recent c section wouldnt be taking risks so soon after the op, this isnt a cocky answer, just a genuine question,

ThumbRemote wrote: »

So because you struggled, everyone else has to for the rest of time?

I think its more along the lines of..... if you dont have anything wrong with you, and you see someone who clearly does need the space, stop the attitude of why should i, shopping and buggies in the luggage compartment and baby and toddlers on your laps..
Its called respect for others and not being selfish. (not aimed at you so please dont make it personal)

MarilynMonroe wrote: »

I take you had one then and are speaking from experience? No? thought not

no not had a c section so i couldnt possibly understand how that is, the only knowledge i have is friends that have. Although after the birth of my son i did have problems and was in angony for quite a few months, but i am sure not as agonising as a c section