Yesterday I get on a bus and had to squeeze between 2 strollers that were side by side and while I am trying to get by the bus driver hits the gas hard enough for me to fall and the 2 two dumb ass parents with the strollers sit there with smirks on their faces. Finally I got up and moved both strollers myself. Idiots.
—FUCKING IDIOTS.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.
Hand the parents condoms next time.
Don’t parents know there are nice small cloth strollers that fold up? Babies sleep in those just as well as the USS Enterprise.
Not meaning to be Captain Snarky Bus Driver here or anything, but there are poles to grab onto while you’re trying to squeeze by strollers. I don’t care what city you’re in, they all have at least one Captain Rush-Rush in their ranks. Be prepared.
Ya, or people could not have two strollers side by fucking side. Maybe fold them up and put their kid on their lap or a seat beside them.
For one thing these 2 strollers were huge and there was about 2 inches between them to get by so grabbing a pole was no use and when I finally got through the bus driver hits the gas and I fall and this was not funny at all. Another complaint for me to file.
The World is out to get you, Bon! Call the UN; no bus will bully you ever again.
What gets me about strollers on the bus is that they ALWAYS have to be at the front. Like the world will end if those carrying strollers go to the back. In the old school busses there’s plenty of room (out of the way) in the back and there’s a side seat in the back of ALF busses a stroller could fit nicely at.
But since most parents on this planet feel entitled to prime accommodations wherever they and their spawn go, just because they fucked and made a baby, I don’t see that suggestion going over too well (mainly because the back of the bus is ooooh so scary! *eyeroll*)
Doesn’t take any great intelligence to make a baby, despite what most parents these days tend to believe (and no, YOUR little “miracle” means pretty much jack shit to the rest of us)…
And yes, I’m migrainated and cranky. deal with it. 😛
Its unrealistic to drag a stroller up the stairs to the back and back down again. Its hard enough to get them on and off a bus in the first place. Also, babys cannot be in the cloth stroller until they are able to sit up on their own as those strollers have no back supports. That being said, there are snugglys that they can use.
I don’t mean the very back of the ALF bus, I mean the side seats close to the back door.
However, I used to lug a dolly around up and down stairs on a regular basis with 3-4 30 pound boxes so…if my little ass can do that, I’m sure someone with a stroller, which has wheels and isn’t as heavy or awkward can do it too. And you’d have to take the stroller up and down the stairs anyway if it was a non ALF bus so….
Thing *is* I can totally see why parents wouldn’t want to carry their kid in a snuggly all the time — they can get HEAVY and strain your back. And it *is* safer for an infant/child to be in a stroller with the wheels locked rather than in a seat or on a lap, but some parents just really need to stop thinking the world should/does revolve around them just because they procreated. In the grand scheme of things, people’s kids aren’t really that big of a deal to the rest of us.
Silly Bro Tim. How are they going to proclaim how much better they are without their strollers by Humvee?
Why is it always the, ahem, welfare types (don’t judge me for saying that either — y’all know who I’m talking about) that have the biggest fucking strollers?
They’re usually coming from walmart with the bottom of the stroller filled with bags with cheap walmart crap (and there’s usually at least ONE bag of cheetos in there…).
SD how foolish of me. But for the life of me I can’t remember those monsters from 10-20-30+ years ago. I wonder how my mother ever got along without them 40-50 years ago with six of us?
Society hadn’t developed the mamby pamby consumerist tidal wave and parents then were old enough to remember rationing?
When I was a little kid in the 80s, I didn’t even have a stroller. My parents just used to drag me around by my legs, like this:
http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-16159547.j…
When I was finally old enough to walk, I got a tether. Anyone else have those? When I was really bad, they put it around my neck.
Buy a car and shut the fuck up.
ever hold onto a toddler.. or an infant and fold up a stroller and carry it? or would you be the first at the front of the bus to help out the person trying to do all of this? Maybe metro transit should have some folding seats so you can tuck away the stroller in an area? i tell you ive NEVER gotten any help from anyone.. even when i asked all i got was ignorance.. thus.. my suv sized stroller will go wherever the hell it goes…
I remember when a stroller was skinnier than my ass (which is quite skinny) and weighed about 4 lbs. A quick flick of the wrist and that baby goes under your arm… the same arm you’ve got your toddler in. Strollers these days are build like SUV’s and even sport winter tires. Do the math then help yourself.
lalala yes I have and its not easy BUT I made the child not everyone else. When my children were young you HAD to fold up the stroller, even when it ment carry the child and shopping and stroller. It has only been since wheelchairs were allowed on the bus and parents fought for strollers (after all they are the childs wheelchair) that you can keep them open.
I don’t mind the wheelchairs as they are properly strapped in safely. I have however seen strollers roll down the bus, parents being stupid and not locking them. BTW you probally didn’t get help because of your attitude. NOONE is obligated to help you unless they were the one fucking you to make that baby.
You’re right, Mama9 – no one is OBLIGATED to help a parent on the bus.
However, maybe it’s the just way I was raised, but common decency makes me WANT to help someone when I see them struggling, whether it’s with a baby and stroller or anything else. Instead of looking the other way and saying “you got yourself into this mess”. Call me crazy, but I think it’s better to help people when they’re in need, rather than be bitter.
Having said that, I see no reason to lug a stroller the size of a golf cart onto the bus. If you’re a regular transit user, invest in something smaller and more managable.
hey pdg you must know some drivers that went to the bob newhart school of bus driving…i am so old
Jesus christ, when I was an infant my mother got harassed by a driver once when she brought me on the bus in my stroller. It was a little umbrella stroller (and yes, I was 3 months old and yes my back turned out fine) and she went to the back. He even went back to show her the “policy”…when they got to the old mumford terminal he went to talk to a supervisor and the supervisor must’ve told him to fuck off with harassing a young woman with a baby because he got back on and never said one word to her.
I’m not really sure why metro transit’s priority was making new buses so wheelchair accessible when it’s clear that strollers are a much bigger problem. In other cities they have designated “buggy” spaces for people with carriages, small shopping trolleys, luggage, etc. usually by the door and with proper stuff for the parent/whatever to hold on to or sit next to the stroller. That’s really what we need around here! Also, gotta agree with PK about the kind of people with strollers I USUALLY see on buses: teenagers with babies and a massive sense of entitlement.
that was uncalled for Fat. I hope it gets removed.
Words Kay should never type = “uncalled for”
Let’s just say for a minute that all parents who ride buses bought umbrella strollers- where would they put any extra bags they may have? Usually when you’re out with a baby, you’ll have a bag with extra stuff in it, diapers, formula, etc. That’s one bag to carry. Then if they’re shopping, where do they put their purchases? That’s why they have the bigger strollers, so that they can carry more than just the kid. It’s very unwieldy to carry bags in both arms and push a stroller. I would think that these people using the bus, that it’s their only means of transportation, which means sometimes you have to take the kid out shopping with you. It’s not like they can get a cab when they need groceries, I find it hard to believe cabs have babyseats to put in whenever necessary.
kay, stop playing a victim for once.
I had a big stroller so I could get my grocerys home. And a lot of the time its not even walking around strollers on the bus that pisses me off but the attitude of the parents. When you’re squeezing by them and, god forbid, some part of your body brushes the stroller and you get a dirty look or a “watch it”, that’s what pisses me off.
Same here, virgomom.
I have no problem with kids, really, but, what I DO have a problem with is the self entitled parents of said kids. I’ve seen first hand what happens to these kids when they grow up and it ain’t pretty.
What’s wrong with saying, “Learn how to close your legs until you get out of junior high, welfare-mom,”?
Virgomom and Pretty Kitty- you’re right. I was playing devil’s advocate with the big stroller issue. I get tired of so many people saying that the umbrella strollers should be the only ones used like they’re practical 100% of the time. There are times when they’re good, and times when you need the big ones. But yeah, there are some parents out there that seem to think that it’s you that has the problem if you so much as look at the stroller while trying to squeeze past it. They look at you as if to say, “yes, I’m in the way, what are you going to do about it?”
Nice Goin Fat- Are you serious? Hope not. You do realize that not every female with a kid on the bus is a welfare mom.
I just thought of an idea while riding the bus today: they now have bike racks at the front of some of the buses, so why not stroller racks, too? If it’s too much of a pain to take your kid out, I’m sure they’d be fine left in there. They’d probably have fun, actually, plus no one would have to put up with them crying and whining on the bus. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!
I’m not touching this thread… wow…
NGF quit being so mean to poor lovable kay, you are victimizing her. Hell all us mean old Nova Scotians are maligning that poor Ontario/Western girl.
Man I’ve gotta stop posting when I’m drinking and driving. LOL.
Need a co-pilot, Bro?
oooo please please please pick Fat oh so deserving to meet a hydro pole all up close and personal like… have another drink, Tim. Have one on me.
sometimes the poles on the buses are too high or far apart. i find that is often the case and cause of discomfort and embarrassment. particularly on the link where there are no behind the seat handles.
Save the money you spend on the stroller and invest in a snuggli and good backpack with back support. Christ.
I am tired of seeing all the self-entitled moms thinking they need special treatment because they popped out a kid. Other people need to ride the bus as well, and I don’t appreciate having to squeeze between 2 strollers the size of hummers so I can find a seat.
First of all…you low lifes are complaining about BABIES!!!!! Good lord.
Sencondly…someone said “In the grand scheme of things, people’s kids aren’t really that big of a deal to the rest of us.” You’re an idiot for saying that…in the Grand Scheme of things, babies are really the only thing that matters to ALL of us…or should we all have none and wait for the species to end.