Prams on buses

Beetlemama

The other local parents and us had a sort of points system when our son was little, we didn't know each other, it was just sort of understood. If more than one pushchair/pram was waiting, everyone sort of had a look in the prams and a silent decision was made by the group about who needed to fold down and who could stay up, priority was given to teeny weeny babies, and mothers who looked like they had already been crying, lol

Disabled people always got first shot at the space, and we - having already been voted most likely to need the pram space - got off the bus the one time a chap in a wheel chair was waiting at a stop further along. We got the next bus instead.

With regard to old ladies though....I'm not sure on that one, she did ok getting there and getting on the bus, I don't see that relocating to another space hurt her much. Maybe she could have been asked in a more polite fashion, and certainly the other bus users would have been aware what was going on since these spaces are at the front and therefore everyone has a front row seat to watch. Someone should have immediately clocked it and offered her a different seat.

I got up on my way to work once to give my seat to a pregnant woman who was standing, all the young chaps suddenly needed to look at their trainers for some reason, I was then given a seat myself by an obviously (physically apparent) learning disabled chap of about 25 - who was by far the only gentleman on the bus.

Do I think men should give up their seat to women? not really, they paid to ride too. Am I happy to think that some still will? absolutely.

I always stuck my kid on my lap when the bus got busy, it's all just about manners, an adult isn't more entitled to a seat than a child, but it seems like a good compromise - of course now he's almost as big as me, I just stand and give up my seat if someone more deserving comes along, I dont make DS give up his seat because he has a minor disability and is likely to fall.

k66yla

Mums why don't you just fold your pushchairs up. What would you do if the buses did'nt have pushchair/wheelchair space? Theres 11 months between my 2 and I use to manage to get the bus with them and fold the tandem pushchair up! You plan your trips out, if you have to walk then walk, thats what your legs are for! its not a god given right to space on a bus.

pmduk

Unfortunately it is very rare to see people fold pushchairs anymore even if there's not child in it.

custardy

k66yla wrote: »

Mums why don't you just fold your pushchairs up. What would you do if the buses did'nt have pushchair/wheelchair space? Theres 11 months between my 2 and I use to manage to get the bus with them and fold the tandem pushchair up! You plan your trips out, if you have to walk then walk, thats what your legs are for! its not a god given right to space on a bus.

or a seat.........

zaksmum

It just leaves me feeling really uncomfortable to see a frail elderly lady having to move right to the back of the bus to accomodate a young girl with a pram.

Everyone has their own opinion but as far as I can see the old lady's need for the seat was greater. If she'd fallen while trying to make her way to the back of the moving bus and broken a hip, that could have dire consequences for her. No wonder some old people never go outdoors with young fit people showing them such a lack of consideration.

Nicki

zaksmum wrote: »

It just leaves me feeling really uncomfortable to see a frail elderly lady having to move right to the back of the bus to accomodate a young girl with a pram.

Everyone has their own opinion but as far as I can see the old lady's need for the seat was greater. If she'd fallen while trying to make her way to the back of the moving bus and broken a hip, that could have dire consequences for her. No wonder some old people never go outdoors with young fit people showing them such a lack of consideration.

Your first post said the bus was only half full, so you are now altering the facts to suit your own opinion.

I would be very sorry to see an old lady break her hip on a moving bus yes. I would also be very sorry to see a baby dropped on a moving bus as his mum tried to walk down to a seat at the back, whilst carrying her folded pushchair, nappy bag and baby in arms past the old lady sitting in the buggy part. Babies bones are just as vulnerable to damage as the elderly, and to be dropped and hit on the head could be devastating for a baby for the whole of its life. And I would further be devastated to see a toddler killed on a busy road, when mum couldn't hold his hand, unfold the pushchair and place her younger baby in the pram having got off the bus with her pushchair folded.

There are risks to both elderly people and to babies in having to manoeuvre to the back of a moving bus, and I am sorry but I do not see why one trumps the other, and I stand by my position that the elderly lady would have been safer and more comfortable if she had just selected a different seat from the outset, or moved without being asked when she saw the girl with the pram boarding the bus, at which point the bus would have been stationery and she would have been in no risk of falling. Any risk to the elderly lady was of her own making.

gravitytolls

lauraandclive wrote: »

Not an elderly person, no. You stated the logo showed a wheelchair and a pram. The elderly lady had neither. The girl had a pram.

And I'm sorry to say it's people with your attitude who make me very nervous of getting a bus now I have a very young baby and a pram. I've seen how awkward it can be getting a pram on a bus, and the fact that other passengers can have such a negative view of prams just make it an experience I will probably never do.

I understand your point about the elderly lady, but the few occasions I have been on a bus, the passengers always have to do what the driver tells them. Especially with a pram otherwise they get evicted from the bus. So the girl probably had experience of that and knew her pram had to go in the pram slot. And no, she shouldn't have to walk. I'm sure it wasn't too much effort for the elderly lady to move as surely she had to walk to get on/ off the bus/ to her destination etc.

Completely agree. I'm an older (cough) mother, I have a big pram, for extensive travelling, big basket, comfortable for a long period for baby, and a buggy type, less comfy, but smaller. The smaller one I can fold and carry on, the big one, no chance, and it takes up much the same space folded.

TBH, I've never been on a bus with a wheelchair, but I have several times been refused access to the bus because there is already a pushchair on there and they need to leave space in case a wheelchair user gets on.

As for the suggestion the girl in question should've walked ~ why, does she not have as much entitlement to be a paying customer as anyone else?

Anyhoo, I've been on a bus where a similar situation occurred. We parked and rode, the bus was pretty full. We sat opposite another pushchair, there were folding seats which provide space for wheelchairs/pushchairs occupied by passengers with neither. An elderly lady walked past us, commented loudly that 'these seats shouldn't be taken up prams, it's a disgrace.'

She made her way to the rear of the bus (no walking stick etc.) complaining loudly, until another passenger commented loudly that 'it's a disgrace that some people think they're worth more than anyone else because they have a free bus pass.'

Much chuckles from most of the bus.

Maybe the girl was rude in not thanking the woman for moving, but perhaps had she not needed to force the situation she'd've felt more inclined to gratitude?

Perhaps the issue is that too many people excpect concessions for them, too few people are grateful for the services and concessions they have and too many people are ready to moan about the young and the babies. As if anyone should 'think' about having babies because it may inconvenience an older person. Pffft.

aloise

jayne2011 wrote: »

And its scary leaving the house enough as it is as a new mum, 1st/2nd/3rd time. I've had postnatal depression 3 times and the thing, i find, that makes me worse is staying in and not getting out and about! Being eyed up by annoyed passengers at me getting on is really upsetting. You can feel people watching and judging.
Mums keep to your pram bit, elderly and disabled to your bit! If theres no space, wait for the next one and hope its doesn't rain, snow and that your not waiting long. First come, first on.

So which bit would you allocate to the elderly and disabled? the roof perhaps?. Do you not realise how much courage it takes for a disabled elderly person to actually get themselves out of the house and onto public transport. Their disability is through age, not through choice as pregnancy is. They have struggled when younger with babies and prams, and deserve to be able to get out and about as much as they can. I have been in a position of trying to get a pram on the bus recently with my granddaughter. No room, so either wait for the next bus or fold the pram. The latter seemed the most sensible.:D
There is room for both arguments here, all it takes is a bit of consideration on both parts.
I'm with the folk on here who hate the trolleys that some oldies take on a bus. Why do they need them so big for Gods sake.:mad: They are not feeding large families and i can't believe they can afford to fill them.

Delivery_Driver

zaksmum wrote: »

It just leaves me feeling really uncomfortable to see a frail elderly lady having to move right to the back of the bus to accomodate a young girl with a pram.

Everyone has their own opinion but as far as I can see the old lady's need for the seat was greater. If she'd fallen while trying to make her way to the back of the moving bus and broken a hip, that could have dire consequences for her. No wonder some old people never go outdoors with young fit people showing them such a lack of consideration.

In those circumstances I'd give the lady my seat.That way neither of them are put out.

The bus driver isn't supposed to drive off while passengers are still trying to sit down so the lady would be no more likely to fall over and break her hip than she would when walking to the bus stop/from the bus to wherever she was going.

I'm all for showing the elderly respect(its a 2 way street however) but if the seat is for those with prams/disabled then its on the lady to move and another decent person to give up their seat for the lady.

zaksmum

Nicki wrote: »

Your first post said the bus was only half full, so you are now altering the facts to suit your own opinion.

I would be very sorry to see an old lady break her hip on a moving bus yes. I would also be very sorry to see a baby dropped on a moving bus as his mum tried to walk down to a seat at the back, whilst carrying her folded pushchair, nappy bag and baby in arms past the old lady sitting in the buggy part. Babies bones are just as vulnerable to damage as the elderly, and to be dropped and hit on the head could be devastating for a baby for the whole of its life. And I would further be devastated to see a toddler killed on a busy road, when mum couldn't hold his hand, unfold the pushchair and place her younger baby in the pram having got off the bus with her pushchair folded.

There are risks to both elderly people and to babies in having to manoeuvre to the back of a moving bus, and I am sorry but I do not see why one trumps the other, and I stand by my position that the elderly lady would have been safer and more comfortable if she had just selected a different seat from the outset, or moved without being asked when she saw the girl with the pram boarding the bus, at which point the bus would have been stationery and she would have been in no risk of falling. Any risk to the elderly lady was of her own making.

The bus was only half full - where have I said otherwise? What facts am I altering? The old lady had to go to the back of the bus as the majority of passengers had taken seats near to the front. The only empty seats were near the back.

And had she moved immediately the bus would NOT have been stationary! Our bus drivers certainly don't wait till passengers are seated to move off. Soon as the last passenger boards they are away.

Why on earth should the old lady have moved without being asked as soon as she saw the girl with the pram boarding? She was infirm/disabled and had every right to sit in the first available seat!