Buggies and Buses

Gatling

Was heading out last Friday with the OH and two kids ,
And using Db with a buggy so we got on at our regular stop no other buggies were on board at the time so happy days ,couple of stops later a 2nd buggy user parks beside our's driver asked person to fold it down she refused ,driver pulls out and carries on the journey several stops later 2 more buggies board driver again you have to fold them down ,reply why should we now driver again pulls away from the stop,now we have 4 buggies on board 2 in the bay one beside the single seat at the base of the stairs and one in the main isle beside the driver ,
Now the girl beside the driver parked dead center of the isle to the point boarding took an average 5 mins at each stop due to this obnoxious girl giving everybody dirty looks for excusing themselves as they had to push past her ,she stayed there from tallaght to the city center ,
Always though there was a one buggy rule ,I know 2 isn't much of an issue but 4 is damn stupid and dangerous imo ,
Its been while since I heard a driver make some one fold a buggy due to lack of space

dfx-

It's happened a few times on buses I've been on and with multiple wheelchair users too.

A particularly packed 16 I was on from the Airport has a lot of space taken up by luggage racks (VG50), two buggies on board, one other already folded up and standing passengers downstairs.

A wheelchair user then stopped the bus in Santry, I wonder what is the order of merit..

endacl

dfx- wrote: »

It's happened a few times on buses I've been on and with multiple wheelchair users too.

A particularly packed 16 I was on from the Airport has a lot of space taken up by luggage racks (VG50), two buggies on board, one other already folded up and standing passengers downstairs.

A wheelchair user then stopped the bus in Santry, I wonder what is the order of merit..

Wheelchair gets priority. Buggies can be folded up. Wheelchairs can't (realistically). Buggies get to use the wheelchair bay while there's no wheelchair on board. Easy-peasy.

cdebru

endacl wrote: »

Wheelchair gets priority. Buggies can be folded up. Wheelchairs can't (realistically). Buggies get to use the wheelchair bay while there's no wheelchair on board. Easy-peasy.

No it is first up best dressed, the driver can ask a person with a buggy to fold it to make room for the wheelchair but they can not insist on it. If they refuse the wheelchair user has to wait for another bus.


To the OP drivers fault he should have insisted if they refuse knock off the engine and wait.

corktina

The driver is in a no-win situation. Management should have resolved this issue long ago by making it clear what the rules are.

It seems to me they should simply say No Buggies unless folded

Dravokivich

endacl wrote: »

Wheelchair gets priority. Buggies can be folded up. Wheelchairs can't (realistically). Buggies get to use the wheelchair bay while there's no wheelchair on board. Easy-peasy.

There is no priority. First on wins. There was a big thread about it a few weeks ago.

OP, By rights, the driver can refuse those extra buggy users onto the bus as well. Wonder why they didn't.

corktina wrote: »

The driver is in a no-win situation. Management should have resolved this issue long ago by making it clear what the rules are.

It seems to me they should simply say No Buggies unless folded

As far as they are concerned though, they did. It's just some people with buggies tend to feel "entitled." The problem is they don't care that the bus is a shared space and only looking to where they can fit, without consideration towards the others on board. This was even a problem with people leaving folded buggies by doorways, before the accessible buses were brought in.

quozl

corktina wrote: »

It seems to me they should simply say No Buggies unless folded

My wife travelled on the bus fairly regularly with twin infants in a double-buggy.

There is no way (that I know of) to safely hold two infants on a bus other than in a buggy. Hence why buggys need to be allowed on buses.

My wife regularly had to wait for another bus as there was no room on many of them for the buggy but that's life.

I'm not defending the situation in the OP, I'm just pointing out that a blanket ban on buggies on buses would not be desirable IMO.

AlekSmart

quozl wrote: »

My wife regularly had to wait for another bus as there was no room on many of them for the buggy but that's life.

I'm not defending the situation in the OP, I'm just pointing out that a blanket ban on buggies on buses would not be desirable IMO.

This is the core issue here....ONE Bus = ONE Occupied Buggy.

The risk of an extended wait should a Bus arrive with an occupied buggy-space needs to be made far clearer to everybody.

There is a perception that each buggy pusher is entitled to that space,and this perception needs to be very clearly challenged and adjusted.

First occupier on,be that Wheelchair or Buggy,is the possessor of the facility.

Not a perfect situation,but Life itself mirrors that !!

endacl

cdebru wrote: »

No it is first up best dressed, the driver can ask a person with a buggy to fold it to make room for the wheelchair but they can not insist on it. If they refuse the wheelchair user has to wait for another bus.


To the OP drivers fault he should have insisted if they refuse knock off the engine and wait.

I know. I wasn't talking rules though. I was talking manners and basic decency...

Scruffles

endacl wrote: »

Wheelchair gets priority. Buggies can be folded up. Wheelchairs can't (realistically). Buggies get to use the wheelchair bay while there's no wheelchair on board. Easy-peasy.

unless its a powerchair or an ancient manual/attendent wheelie,wheelchairs can be folded up to a degree,they easily pull up in the middle and become very flat plus the back can be folded down to,the bigger problem with wheelchairs isnt the foldability its more because there woud be risk from people having to transfer themselves with no support from wheelie to bus seat, that woud probably be a unaceptable 'health and safety' thing for the company.

bus using wheelchair users have less options as most of them arent properly accessible/have working ramps so in that sense they shoud be given priority as buggy users can use any bus,but being in a wheelchair doesnt necesarily make a person more in need of the bus than a buggy pusher,its just a mobility aid we use,am not able to access public transport so cant comment from personal experience.
with buggies,a lot of the expensive ones now days are impossible to fold without practicaly taking it apart,and if its one parent on their own with the pram it can make it a lot more difficult for them to actualy do.

Gatling

Using complicated fold down is a totally lazy excuse ,
If you know your going to be regularly using public transport well then you buy a practical easy to fold buggy /stroller you know at some stage your going to have to fold at some stage ,
Funny thing I see women using taxi's and mates cars and can easily fold there buggys ,
Yet the same women boarding a bus suddenly have no idea how to fold aka refuse to fold the same buggy ,

I understand how difficult it is for twin buggies and so on but the key word her is the sense of "entitlement" and the attitude of nobody can tell me what to do

the groutch

the GT buses have made this even worse, with parent thinking they have he right to use the area in front of the middle door for their buggy.

Gatling

the groutch wrote: »

the GT buses have made this even worse, with parent thinking they have he right to use the area in front of the middle door for their buggy.

Haven't been on one yet but I've seen buggies in the space ,

Sooner or later a bad accident is going to raise the issues of buggies and public transport big time

Dravokivich

the groutch wrote: »

the GT buses have made this even worse, with parent thinking they have he right to use the area in front of the middle door for their buggy.

Its just the return of an old problem, prior to the accessible buses coming in around 2000. A lot of the reason why drivers didn't use the middle doors back then was due to safety concerns from people leaving all kinds of crap stacked up there. There were even notices put up in the area by DB, but people persisted on doing it. I'm not surprised it's happening again.

uck51js9zml2yt

Gatling wrote: »

Using complicated fold down is a totally lazy excuse ,
If you know your going to be regularly using public transport well then you buy a practical easy to fold buggy /stroller you know at some stage your going to have to fold at some stage ,
Funny thing I see women using taxi's and mates cars and can easily fold there buggys ,
Yet the same women boarding a bus suddenly have no idea how to fold aka refuse to fold the same buggy ,

I understand how difficult it is for twin buggies and so on but the key word her is the sense of "entitlement" and the attitude of nobody can tell me what to do

try having to hold a baby in one arm and fold a buggy at the same time generally on a moving bus and tell me how safe it is.

Dravokivich

Vincenzo Proud Tic-tac-toe wrote: »

try having to hold a baby in one arm and fold a buggy at the same time generally on a moving bus and tell me how safe it is.

You are meant to do it prior to boarding the bus. Why put yourself and child in a position of risk?

uck51js9zml2yt

Dravokivich wrote: »

You are meant to do it prior to boarding the bus. Why put yourself and child in a position of risk?

even if you fold it before geting on its still dangerous. not to mention holding a changing bag as well.

and then you're expected to get on the bus baby in one arm, buggy and bag in the other and have your third hand free to pay the driver.
generally the bus will then move off as you're walking downcrhe aisle with no free hands to grab a rail.

Dravokivich

Most buses I've been on, the driver gives someone with a kid a bit of time to organise themselves then come back up and pay. If you are being rushed by the driver and not by your own need to charge on, complain.

Gatling

Vincenzo Proud Tic-tac-toe wrote: »

try having to hold a baby in one arm and fold a buggy at the same time generally on a moving bus and tell me how safe it is.

Regularly have to do it ,even after major shoulder surgery earlier in the year left me one armed for best part of 6 months ,
And I've said this in previous threads if you know your using Public transport you should be been practical ,my baby bag is a small back pack ,not a huge Suitcase ,again a practical buggy ours folds flat with a twist ,

Joshycat

the groutch wrote: »

the GT buses have made this even worse, with parent thinking they have he right to use the area in front of the middle door for their buggy.

Well I have seen 4 buggies on the GT's on the 29a all at the one time,2 buggies in the wheelchair space,another buggie in the 'buggy bay' behind the stairs and another infront of the middle door.