Wheelchair V Pushchair?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36534907
What do we think people, should the woman have moved her buggy from the disabled spot?

[sp1814]

I side with the bloke in the wheelchair. He can't fold his wheelchair and take a seat.

In the situation where the buggy user refuses to budge, the driver doesn't have to call the police - he can simply switch off the engine and tell all passengers that the bus will not move until the buggy space has been cleared.

Under those circumstances, the BLT* system normally kicks in, inducing embarrassment in the offender, followed by a quick exit.



*BLT = 'British Loud Tutting'

[Ellipsis]

> So the problem is that the bus company are allowing pushchairs to occupy the space that it is legally obliged to offer to someone else.

I think technically the issue is that the bus company are allowing pushchair occupants to occupy the space. If the buggy was in the space unoccupied, it would be moved. The implication is also that if people were stood in the wheelchair space, they would not be forced to move.

[Gromit]

The law is the problem. It states that buses must have a wheelchair space. But it does not say wheelchairs have priority, and it should.

[Ellipsis]

Agreed. And priority should mean they actually get to use it, rather than something woolly like this ...

> > although wheelchair users have priority to occupy the wheelchair space, there is no legal requirement for bus drivers to move other passengers from it

... which means they don't have priority at all.

[atalanta]

Not sure if this is the same case as the one I heard about. The one I heard about included a pushchair or pram which could not be collapsed, several children, a long wait between buses, and heavy rain. It is very difficult to put a mother and three children off a bus to have to wait for three-quarters of an hour in pouring rain for the next one. Especially if she has already waited for some time in the rain to get on the bus which she did board.

[anotheoldgit]

Bus drivers have enough work to carry out simply driving the bus.

Bus companies should be forced to employ conductors once again, not only to collect fares but also to short out these differences, also to keep general order on the bus.

Alternatively they could also be forced to remove a set of seats so as to make room for separate buggy and wheel chair areas, and if the buggy area was full then the person with buggy and child would have to wait for the next bus, and the same should apply to any wheel chair user.

[ummmm]

And then fairs will go up, AOG. Bus travel is already ridiculously expensive in this country.

[tamborine]

First come, first served! Saves all this arjy-barjy

[mikey4444]

I seem to recall we had a similar debate about this subject in the recent past.

Surely no normal person would refuse to make room for disabled person ?

[Ellipsis]

That's correct, Mikey, but not everybody is normal as this case shows ...

[mikey4444]

Ellipsis......my best guess is that this sort of thing doesn't happen very often, or at least I hope it doesn't. But the bus company need to put in more resilient rules and stick by them.

[webbo3]

The problem is the buggies nowadays are the size of a small country and either cant or are difficult to fold down, when my son was small we had a tiny push chair which could be folded down and a bag of bits and bobs over our shoulder.

simple, have a sign saying if you are the last buggy on the bus and a wheel chair needs to get on you WILL be asked to leave the bus.


Dave.

[mikey4444]

Dave.... seems like common sense but common sense is not always appreciated by everybody !

[sp1814]

AOG

Conductors are not needed because fairs are not collected any more. You cannot use cash on London buses. It's Oyster cards only.

In order for conductors to be reintroduced, TfL would have to take out all Oyster card readers from buses because if they didn't, people would tap in when they got on the bus, and then have to tap on the conductor's mobile unit (as they currently do with random inspections).

A huge waste of money and/or a huge duplication of effort.

[sp1814]

Ugh!

'fares', not 'fairs'.

[ludwig]

Ok, so they want the bus company to 'require', rather than 'request' that the able bodied person makes way for the wheelchair user.

What does that mean exactly - that if the person says no when asked to move, that the bus driver is required to physically eject the un-cooperative mother (and baby) from the bus?

Interesting. Good luck with that bus companies.