Wheel Chair vs Pushchairs

SpeedFreak said:
This is a serious suggestion? It's not a wind up or a bait? That is simply a ridiculous proposal.
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Of course it's not a serious suggestion. It is absolutely ridiculous, as an example of how ridiculous it is to expect everyone to be treated absolutely equally and to be able to please everyone.

There's always going to be a situation where something's not good enough and someone is going to be disappointed/unhappy with the outcome. That is reality.

So what would be a reasonable solution?

2 wheelchair spaces? What if a third person in a wheelchair needs to get on a bus? 3 spaces? What if there's 4... etc.
 
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I wouldn't have moved either. Better they wait for the next bus than you drop your child trying to fold a pushchair away.

I see it as no different to when you want to get two pushchairs on, tough luck if there is no room.
 
Judgeneo said:
Not easy, certainly, very frustrating yes, but possible.

Unlike the situation for a wheelchair user.
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Of course it could be done, but it puts the child at risk of being dropped whilst the mother tries to fold the chair, and then makes the remainder of the journey less safe for both the mother and the baby. The issue here is the lack of provision, not the actons of the mother who was perfectly correct in what she did.
 
KillBoY_UK said:
So the wheelchair user can:

1. Get out of his wheelchair
2. fold it up
3. Get on the bus

Oh wait there's a 99% chance he or she can't do that. The wheel chair user is at the mercy of the other buses users. The push chair user is not they have other options, smaller pushchairs, collapsible pushchairs or even none at all and use one of those baby harness.
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The other 1% must be Andy from Little Britain.

That would have made a great sketch actually. Woman says no to moving her pushchair, Lou tries to explain he needs it and while he's doing it, Andy gets out, throws the pushchair off the bus, puts his wheelchair in the space and gets back in it, all without Lou noticing.

Brilliant!
 
robfosters said:
The other 1% must be Andy from Little Britain.

That would have made a great sketch actually. Woman says no to moving her pushchair, Lou tries to explain he needs it and while he's doing it, Andy gets out, throws the pushchair off the bus, puts his wheelchair in the space and gets back in it, all without Lou noticing.

Brilliant!
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That would have in fact, maybe for a red nose day special lol
 
theone8181 said:
Because all pushchairs fold the same right:rolleyes: I can say for a fact the pram I have for my daughter requires 2 hands to fold.
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So now you are saying the fact you have got a pram that is awkward to fold while holding your baby, then THAT makes it ok for a disabled man to wait an hour?
 
JBod said:
Oh. Wow. Clearly not a parent. Not that hard.... seriously? Freakin seriously???



Folding up the pushchair... do you know how much crap you have to carry around in order to accomodate a baby? Where do you suggest putting the bags? What do you suggest happens when the mother has to get off the bus? Carry a push chair, a large bag and a baby at the same time? Are you really advocating a mother hands her small baby to a random stranger on a bus? Or are you suggesting that for any parent who is alone with a child should always rely on a random stranger to collapse a buggy?

I realise this forum is heavily biased to single males between 16 and 45 but come on it should also be biased to people with an above average IQ.
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yep, not hard at all. you're an adult, work it out.

There's a place to store all that crap as well and you know it. some people just seem to have babies and become massive babies themselves. The parental instinct is like a common sense sedative. Correct, I'm not a parent, but I've looked after peoples babies before on my own and collapsed a push chair with stuff on it. some people become so self important when they **** out some kids, get over yourselves.

Surely you can manage it so a disabled man can take the bus as well?

B@
 
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Diddums said:
You choose to have kids, you don't choose to be in a wheelchair.

As you say, no brainer really. If you choose to have kids, then you need to adapt and live with that decision.
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The problem is in our culture we would favour the physically able, the rich and the shiny etc.. over the disabled / poor because we have a value based system for everything so we don’t tend to build in enough facilities for those with less ability.

B@Th*nG said:
some people just seem to have babies and become massive babies themselves
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come on now, common sense TWO times in a thread ?

Time to buy a lottery ticket...
 
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JBod said:
First come first served. Don't blame the people when the system is at fault. My wife often had to use the bus rather than the car to get the children to the hospital, have you seen the price of parking the car at an NHS hospital?

What do you propose, asking the woman to leave the bus in order for a disabled person to get on - in the case of my wife then missing a NHS appointment (with all the pain that entails)? Or waking a sleeping baby who will then scream for the next 20minutes and ruin that families day due to the child not getting a nap? If it is a mum alone with a baby have you ever actually tried to wake a sleeping baby while simultaniously collapsing a pram/buggy? Babies don't stand you know...

How many people in this thread advocating OMG DISABLED PEOPLE GET PRIORITY OF ALL THE THINGS are actually parents?

Guess what, life isn't fair. The best way to deal with these things is in a good old British queue - so I reiterate, first come first served or fix the system.

Perhaps have far less seating downstairs reserved for the elderly and far more space for standing/pushchairs or wheel chairs. What about more regular buses? What about suggesting the disabled person if they are that reliant on public transport should perhaps move to a more accomodating area?
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+ 1

Cant argue with that. First come first served.
 
B@Th*nG said:
yep, not hard at all. you're an adult, work it out.

There's a place to store all that crap as well and you know it. some people just seem to have babies and become massive babies themselves. The parental instinct is like a common sense sedative. Correct, I'm not a parent, but I've looked after peoples babies before on my own and collapsed a push chair with stuff on it. some people become so self important when they **** out some kids, get over yourselves.

Surely you can manage it so a disabled man can take the bus as well?

B@
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Yes, of course, you've "looked after babies" and "collapsed a buggy with one hand" whilst on a bus. From those of us who have actually done this, it is very difficult and there is a risk that the baby would get dropped. Again, the mother was correct, the issue is lack of provision. Should people in wheelchairs really be relying on the bus anyway?
 
jamief said:
Yes, of course, you've "looked after babies" and "collapsed a buggy with one hand" whilst on a bus. From those of us who have actually done this, it is very difficult and there is a risk that the baby would get dropped. Again, the mother was correct, the issue is lack of provision. Should people in wheelchairs really be relying on the bus anyway?
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Er, why not?

Well, aside from the fact the bus companies barely pay lip service to the needs of wheelchair users.

I've actually never seen a wheelchair user on the bus (I don't use it much, to be fair), but I suspect more would do it if there wasn't the fear of how difficult it is. It's sad that the service is so bad as to put people off.
 
Really there needs to be adequate provision for both and on an awful lot of buses this is clearly not the case. One would hope that people would be able to see the difference between:

a) a parent with a toddler and a runaround buggy
b) a parent with a newborn infant or a small child and was pregnant etc.

Surely there should be no hard and fast rule and it should be based upon need rather than discriminating against one group or another just because one group has a lobby which can get them 'protected status'. There are an awful lot of people who are reliant on their wheelchairs for moving more than say 25m but can manage short distances just fine - there are an awful lot of people who can't do that short distance at all.

There is a degree of risk too - if a person in a wheelchair fell on a bus they would end up with a minor injury in all likelihood now if a newborn was dropped you would end up with a major injury - the balance or actual potential of severity of risk lies with the parent and child the frequency of risk with the disabled person.

Maybe people should just you know be human and considerate and maybe buses should be better designed ...
 
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LOAM said:
Did you see my post above Mr.C? My understanding is that the regulations are in force now if the vehicle came into operation after Dec 31st 2000, vehicles prior to that have until 2017 to either be retired or retrofitted to comply. I have added a caveat to my post though to allow an escape route ;)
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The issue isn't the vehicle being compliant as we are talking about the operators not the manufacturers where different rules apply under the same legislation, but the ruling of the court not reflecting the guidance of the DoT and Government on its practical implementation.

Essentially there is no authority implied in the legislation that shows the company or its servants have to, under law, provide access to the space if the space is already occupied, even when the occupier is not disabled. The court ruled against this effectively and this means that the high court are going to have make a judgement on this...if they rule that the company and its servants have an obligation other than is laid out by the guidelines then the guidelines will have to change as will the implementation of the legislation. This will mean that drivers/inspectors will have to be given stipulated legal authority to remove paying passengers from their service if they occupy a disabled space that a wheelchair requires...this may also effect mobile disabled people if they wish to travel and the service is full, one of the implications is that it may be open to abuse insofar as priority is always given to disabled intending passengers even in the instance that bus is at capacity prior to them boarding.

It's a legal nightmare, hence why the operators want clarification.
 
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Don't these disable people get enough? Why didn't that cripple just get on another bus?

Both people in similar situation when on a bus so I don't see why the cripple should get priority.
 
Neodite said:
If the baby woke up? You put it back to sleep. I swear people here making our parenting is hard have never had kids and just been told by there mummys it was hard.
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Obviously every person and child is the same and there is absolutely no reason for others to have had different life experiences to yourself.

Back in the real world the early years of parenthood is hard work and tiring for many people. That is no excuse for not giving up one's seat on a bus but I can see how a person's judgement could be compromised in some cases.
 
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