Prams or wheelchairs ?

Have to say that a lot of mums today are just downright lazy and dont walk anywhere! Ive seen mums with buggys go two bus stops! When my kids were babies I walked to the nearest town 3 miles there 3 miles back.

I remember years ago I went to get on a train for a longer journey with my pram in the guards van and I couldnt get in as there was a lady in there with a pram full of flowers!!! I was angry as I had to wait another 30 mins for the next train.

I agree with Gononsuch, it is today's society but why are we sitting here moaning about it? Why don't we do something? Next time you see such a thing make a fuss. Stand by the driver and incite others to do the same. The bus can't move if you stand there so refuse to move until the mother either folds the pushchair or moves. In the last few years I have discovered how much a 'little old lady' can get away with saying and doing as no one gets really angry with the old.

I suspect this only happens in the cities, those of us who live outside generally find people to be kind and thoughtful.

Here is First Bus policy:

www.firstgroup.com/bus-accessibility

I think it's terrible that young mothers with prams do not make way for a wheelchair user.
I remember once, in the sixties, having to take the bus to do an important errand.I had one child of just two and a half and a six month old baby.The pram was a fold up one but not as easy as the ones today.I can remember clearly the bus arriving, putting the eldest child on the bus, taking baby out of the pram, putting her under one arm whilst I folded the pram and put it on the bus. I really can't see many young mothers doing that today.
How they can sit there so smug and make no attempt to help the wheelchair user is beyond me.

Sorry to disagree with some of you. I have seen mums in that situation. One had a pushchair with small child and 2 other children plus shopping. She had walked 2 stops down the street to be able to get on the bus before it came to the middle of the busy high street stop. 2 stops from where she had got on someone with a wheelchair wanted on the bus. It was almost impossible for the mum to fold the buggie and manage 3 children , a pram and shopping. The person in the wheelchairs needs are no greater than the mums. Why should wheelchairs get priority over mums with children..They may be disabled but don't need to be first in everything. We are far to accommodating in this country try sometimes. Public transport is for everyone.

I think we walked more Indinana.

That probably rather depends on where you live, how near the shops/town is for example. I walked to my mother's house, only half a mile away, with a local shop for basics/essentials en route. If I needed to go to town I had to get the bus, as it was 5 miles away along winding country roads with no footpath. I think the same is true today. My DD walks to my house regularly, 2 miles there and back. In poor weather she uses the bus. If she wants to go into town it is 7 miles away, so it's the bus again.
To be honest I get weary of hearing how everyone was so much better, kinder, more helpful, considerate etc. etc. when we were young. I know plenty of young people today who put themselves out for others, who are generous and thoughtful. I also know plenty who aren't. It was ever thus.

Well said nipsmum.

It's nothing to do with walking less, pram/pushchair sizes or a sense of entitlement. It's to do with the newer style of buses that have the drop down step making it possible for wheelchair users to take the bus and parents to get on without folding the pushchair. There's no point in comparing what you did with today's Mums with pushchairs because the buses didn't exist then. Good manners have never been universal.

It's a pity there isn't enough room for both...

We have new busses where I live and the space is only small is 2 buggies or 1 wheelchair. I do agree as well as some mums think its their right tpnhave the space the toddler isn't even in the buggies. However we have a gentleman further up frtom me who gets on the bus never smiles puts his feet out so nobody else can use the space. The other week a mother got on the bus with her disabled little girl if he had manoeuvred his chair both could have fit in the space her chair is tiny but he wouldn't so mum had to lift her our sit her on the seat and fold up her chair so it does work both ways.

nipsmum I cannot (in my wildest dreams) imagine ever refusing to fold up my buggy to enable a wheelchair user to catch the bus. My dad bless him pushed my mum all over and didn't use the bus that often. However there were times when he had no choice. My mum died earlier this year and my dad has been having treatment on his legs and back. The doctor said they are damaged because of the strain put on them by pushing my mum around for so long. But hey, as long as the young ones can get on the bus with their brood and their buggies, what does that matter? I mean heaven forbid they should walk a couple of stops.

I agree with you to some extent Indiana there are many young mums who like your DD are caring and would do anything they could to help someone less fortunate than themselves, but there are plenty who are very selfish too. This happened to my mum and dad many, many times. Also had horrible bus drivers who refused to pull up close to the kerb and refused to put the ramp down saying that they were running late.

Yes I agree re the horrible bus drivers too, gillybob - my DD nearly broke her ankle when she fell trying to save the pram as she tipped it out of the bus - all because the driver refused to lower the platform. His excuse? "It hardly makes any difference". Utter rubbish!
But, again, there are plenty of good and helpful bus drivers too. All I'm saying is we shouldn't generalise, accusing "all young mums" of being selfish and lazy. There are good and bad people of all ages. Always have been.

They did have huge prams but they DIDNT take them on buses in t' old days I had a soft body that came off the wheels/ base which folded in half and the soft carry cot bit with baby in sat on your knee People should walk with big push chairs/ buggies if they re foldable get on, a buggy should NEVER. have priority over a wheelchair user in my opinion My kids always folded theirs too I used to get in a muddle with the different ways of folding theirs it seems to be this last generation that expects to get on a bus with a big unfolded buggy

Some of these mothers with buggies are so selfish these days!! We always had to fold up our pushchairs to get on the bus, and put it in the cubby hole by the driver. Otherwise it just takes up too much room. Also, they don't seem to care if they push the chairs into your legs either!! Selfish or what!!
Anyone would think they were the first women on the earth to ever have a baby, or bring up children!

The mum, recovering from c section, with twins in a double pram in carry cots, has waited, in the rain, for a bus with enough space, as a single buggy was already using the space. Does she get off the bus? There has been occasion she has walked the four miles from town, not easy pushing a double buggy.

Not easy for a 5ft 3in woman of 75+ with dodgy hips pushing a 15 stone man in a wheelchair because it is an hour to the next bus, either.

I was on a bus recently and by the time we reached the terminus, there were two buggies (unfolded, with babies in them), a lady with one of those things on wheels that help people walk, three people with those big square shopping trolleys and two dogs. It was chaos.

Totally agree. The size of some buggies are ridiculous. They have whacking great big wheels which I feel are totally unnecessary. No wonder there isn't enough room for some passengers and wheelchair users.

Like many others, I too had a small buggy that folded up like an umbrella.
You don't seem to see them anymore. But just the right size for getting on and of a bus.
These young mums nowadays are a bit selfish to say the least.
They always seem to have their eyes on their mobile phones and not on the child.

Okay we are a nation of people who queue for buses. First come first served regardless of anything else.

I have a fold up buggy to use when I take my grandson to town on the bus. It's a bit like the Mcclarren striped baby buggy I used when taking his mummy to town as a toddler. I have had to fold it up once, but it was no big deal. Lots of offers to let my gs sit on people's knees.
The bus driver was completely wrong to make the man in the wheelchair wait for a bus , whilst allowing the two selfish creatures to behave badly. What a poor example to set for their children.

I wonder if there's a safety issue here for babies on an adult's knee. Strapped into a buggy, they must be safer if the bus stops suddenly. Also, while the buggy is being folded and unfolded, what does the mother do with the baby? Hand it to the person in the wheelchair or a stranger on the bus? Asking someone else to sort the buggy out is a non starter. They are only easy if you know how. I don't know what the answer is for wheelchair users but I'm willing to bet no driver would ask a wheelchair user to make way for a baby.

I never ever got on a bus with my babies, the pushchair was a big Silver Cross one and did not fold to a manageable size. I walked everywhere, first with the big pram with the toddler on the seat, and later with the pushchair. I had to walk two and a half miles to the baby clinic, then it was uphill all the way home, I lost all the baby weight within a few weeks.

What I find really surprising is how practically everyone on this thread says that a wheelchair user should take priority over a pushchair. I totally agree with this. So why is it,that where I live,whenever there is a wheelchair user needing to get on the bus where there are already pushchairs,without exception,there is always an argument,with the pushchair user refusing point-blank to fold it down? Not only that,they are usually rude and aggressive with it too. The driver seems powerless to intervene,and inevitably the poor wheelchair user gets left behind as the bus drives off.

All I can conclude is that the troublesome pushchair users are not kind,thoughtful MN users!