7.5 months pregnant & rudely refused a seat on the train!

Nicki

ciderwithrosie wrote: »

That's one of my personal bug-bears too. Sometimes if there's 2 or 3 mothers with great big buggies on the bus then other passengers can hardly get on and off - get the baby out and fold it up !!!!!!! There's usually plenty of people (me included) that don't mind holding a baby or shopping, and the bus drivers are usually amenable and will wait. I managed with 3 little ones on public transport, get a sling or back carrier!

I don't get why pushchairs on buses enrage people so much. I often take my little one on a bus in his, put the buggy in the allocated space and am not in anyone's way. If there are already 2 buggies on a third isn't allowed and if a wheelchair gets on the buggies get off. It really isn't a big deal to anyone else unless they want to make it one.

When my baby wa smaller I did sometimes use a sling if I wasn't going to need the pushchair at my destination, but its madness to have to carry your baby around all day along with all your shopping and his baby bag just because the odd person on a bus might give you a filthy look for 15 minutes . And my experience of trying to board a bus with a toddler and a folded pushchair was that the driver would not let me on. A folded pushchair in the aisle is far more of a trip hazard and obstruction than an assembled one in the buggy park and if you are already holding a toddler on your knee its hard to have your buggy there too! Don't get me started on straphanging with a toddler on one hand and a folded buggy on the other...

FatVonD

I'd always give up my seat for a pregnant woman but I confess I do now avoid the priority seats so I'm less likely to have to!

The bus I get to work every morning leaves from a busy station and there are regularly hundreds (no exaggeration) of people in the queue but the buses come out every couple of minutes and are empty as they're at the start of the route so it's a fast-moving queue.

At the front people decide whether to take the bus that's there and risk standing or to step to one side to the head of the 'new' queue to be first onto the next one and guaranteed a seat. The wait for the next bus is usually no longer than a minute (sometimes it's right behind waiting for the other to exit the space) so I always opt to wait for the next one.

It's then really annoying when you get a seat to have to give it up for someone that has got on to a full bus knowing that someone will have to give up their seat for them because they have a 'baby on board' badge when they too could have just waited a minute longer to be guaranteed their own :mad:

sulkisu

jaqui59 wrote: »

Question ...

When and why did the Human Race begin to behave so diabolically?

They haven't. For every person who would have responded rudely as the girl did, there are two who would have given up their seats. In fact OP says that other passengers did offer their seats. Yet we focus on the actions of one rude woman, instead of the polite ones.

alias*alibi

What's a baby on board badge??? I haven't used public transport in years so intrigued!

DUKE

Perhaps you could address everyone on the train by asking loudly if anyone would like to give up their seat for you.

LondonDiva

Nicki wrote: »

I often take my little one on a bus in his, put the buggy in the allocated space and am not in anyone's way.

It is not an allocated buggy space, it is a wheelchair space that has evolved into a 'buggy space'.

Nicki wrote: »

I don't get why pushchairs on buses enrage people so much.

because since the introduction of priority spaces, pushchairs have doubled in size and a lot of buggy users seem to have forgotten their basic manners and common sense.

Nicki wrote: »

If there are already 2 buggies on a third isn't allowed and if a wheelchair gets on the buggies get off. It really isn't a big deal to anyone else unless they want to make it one.

Where I am, if there are already two pushcairs on in rush hour, the third person with a buggy will still try to cram the buggy on the bus clogging up the ailse and making it impossible for other passengers to manouver. I have seen people with pushchairs flatly refuse to fold the buggy so a wheelchair user can board. Hence the phrase 'pram raiders'.

Nicki

It is an "allocated space" in the sense that it is the space which bus companies ask people with pushchairs to use and if it is full pushchairs aren't allowed anywhere else on the bus. In my part of London it is clearly labelled for pushchairs AND wheelchairs. I have no problem with wheelchair users getting first priority to the space and have never seen anyone else object to this either but as with other kinds of antisocial behaviour I am sure it happens sometimes. I'd dispute it is the norm however.

Also in my part of London the drivers will not allow a third pushchair on and as I have said will also not allow folded pushchairs if the space for pushchairs and wheelchairs is occupied.

ETA my pushchair for my current child is miles smaller than what was available when I had my first child 13 years ago. It is a Bugaboo bee and very narrow with folding handles so takes up the footprint of a medium suitcase. Most people on buses here have something similar or a McLaren style umbrella fold. Not much call for massive 3 wheeler all terrain jobs in the city

ziggy2004

Del_Astra wrote: »

OP - You think that is bad, just wait until the baby arrives and you have to use public transport with a pram.

I don't think you could do anything, say anything to this person, I would have moved to another carriage to be honest.

.

barbiedoll wrote: »

On a slightly different note, Transport for London are currently running a campaign reminding mothers that wheelchair users have priority over pushchairs and buggy users and that they have to be prepared to fold their prams if required to do so. This is another instance of giving passengers a benefit, which they then take as an absolute entitlement. How do they think that mothers travelled with their kids before prams were allowed on buses? We got our kids out and folded our prams up. Yet I have seen and heard some unholy rows on buses over prams and pushchairs taking up space, again, passengers expect to travel on crowded vehicles as though it were their own personal transport.

Manners and good sense are in short supply on public transport, that's for sure!

Get a sling!! Best investment I ever made to enable using public transport with children. Buggies/prams and public transport just do not mix well.

OP I would not address it, someone who is being that rude does not deserve any further consideration.

PinkLipgloss

I found a sling fine when my son was a small baby however as he got bigger it just wasn't practical.

I'm a small weakling whilst he's a tall/heavy baby (95 percentile for his height/weight :eek:) .

Thankfully I have never encountered any issues at all when using my buggy on public transport. However that's probably because I live in a society where manners and consideration for others are highly valued.

thegirlintheattic

Whilst it was a rude response, pregnant women don't automatically have a right to a seat and shouldn't expect one. It's nice if it is offered but you shouldn't be going around asking for a seat.