Not so much a bitch but a followup to an issue that seems to come up every month or so. I like the rule about operator discretion to deal with SUV-sized models blocking the aisle. Taken from the current GoTimes issue:
Baby Stroller Guidelines
For the safety and well-being of babies &
young children, other passengers and Metro
Transit operators, we ask that the following
guidelines be respected when travelling with
baby strollers:
• Strollers should be small, light-weight and
foldable. Recommended size should not be
larger than 42” x 22.5”.
• Upon boarding the bus, children should be
removed from the stroller and held by the
parent or guardian. Those wishing to leave
children in the stroller should remain near the
front of the bus, utilizing the courtesy seats
when available.
• The brake must be engaged at all times
when the bus is in movement.
• The stroller should not obstruct the aisle or
impede the flow of passengers.
• Mobility-impaired passengers have priority
of the front of the bus.
• At the operators’ discretion, larger
strollers that impede the flow of passengers
when boarding or exiting, or deemed unsafe
for transport may be refused entry.
Metro Transit serves over 90,000
passengers daily throughout our community.
We ask those travelling with strollers to be
mindful of other passengers.
—voice_of_reason
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.
Loves it!
Excellent!
ahhh yes…but will they enforce this?
Happy Monday!
“At the operators’ discretion, larger strollers that impede the flow of passengers when boarding or exiting, or deemed unsafe for transport may be refused entry”
I’d love to see that happen!
Mind Snap – I’m hoping the NSURB public passenger division starts sending out their enforcement people to the terminals to witness the aisle blocking by strollers – which is contrary to the motor carrier act regulations. Passengers are not allowed to place objects in the aisle and impede others.
Transit passengers may not listen to the drivers when they bring this up but when a URB official tells the driver to park it until the aisle is cleared then I bet the other 40+ passengers on the bus will push for the offender to be removed.
After reading multiple bitches here about this a couple years ago, I decided to try following these rules. I brought a smaller stroller and when I got onto the bus (60 to dartmouth general) I folded the stroller up, put the brakes on and held my son in my lap…..not even 3 mins after entering the bus he made a turn and between trying to keep the baby from flying and the stroller from rolling it was damn near impossible. Sure enough the stroller was too much to hold onto and it went flying across the aisle and smoked a senior citizen in the knee. He pretended like it didn’t hurt him but I know it did. I felt so bad but it put into perspective how hard it actually is to juggle these rules….oh yeah and I’ve never taken my son on a bus since.
When I travelled on the bus with my son, 8 or so years ago, we had to fold up the stroller before getting on the bus, that was the rule. (I even saw one bus driver refuse to leave mumford terminal because there was a girl with her stroller not folded and kid sitting in it) I’m not sure when the rules changed, but you should’ve seen some of the dirty looks I’d get from people when they had to wait for me to fold up the stroller, all while juggling my son, bags, etc. Sometimes the really impatient ones would push by me. It was very rare to get help from anyone, including the bus driver himself. On a really bad day I would feel like crying and sometimes did, after I got off the bus and then struggled again to unfold the stroller and juggle. Anyway, point is, I don’t think us parents can win either way with most people.
s’what you signed up for though.
In many other Canadian cities, strollers can also use the area for wheelchairs. That is, you push up the bus seat and park the stroller there. Wheelchairs still have priority, but if there are none on board this is a great solution for everyone as the stroller is out of the aisle. Here however, people get all bent out of shape whining about how this is taking seats away meant for disabled people (um, by that token no one should be allowed to ever sit in those courtesy seats either). Even a driver once told me he could not go until I put the seat back down, meaning the stroller was stuck back out in the aisle blocking everything. My solution was to get a car. Open your minds people, change is good!!
Mag-fuckin-nificent. Somebody finally grew a set at MT. I hope to really see the first unwed, fat, teenage mother, get refused entry. It will be a great day indeed.
Unwed? That’s your prerogative. Fat? Maybe it’s genetic. Teenage mom? Their business. All of the above, with a roaring sense of entitlement? I’ll join you for a chuckle, Dr F.
That’s awesome! And Redfox, don’t worry, if a driver doesn’t enforce this on a bus I am traveling on, I will make sure to call the driver on it.
Read the language, people — these aren’t “rules,” it’s MT “asking nicely” for parents to respect the guidelines.
The ONLY part of this that is any real action on MT’s part is how the drivers can refuse entry. WILL they ever do it? doubt it.
Also: the kid is safer in the stroller than in a lap. And analyst’s right — in other cities people put the handicapped seats up and park the stroller there. It gets them out of the way and usually the parent will stand up with the stroller.
First bus driver who refuses entry to a mother, baby, and stroller will be media fodder for the Metro and Chronicle Herald as another mean, horrible, crazy bus driver who needs to be immediately suspended and/or fired by Metro Transit. Not a chance any bus driver would speak up to the parents bringing SUV strollers onto the bus. I’ll still have to climb over the bloody things with their dirty looks.
I used to live in South Korea for a couple of years (good old teaching English overseas thing) and almost no one there used strollers. They all carried their babies and toddlers in a blanket/wrap thing over their shoulders and wrapped around their waists.
something tells me voice of reason drive a bus haha . No matter who – where – if people either side just use commen courtesy and reason – it should never be an issue . There will always be mom’s and dad’s on public transit with stollers and most are courtious and figure a way to keep themselves out of peoples way – maybe on an half empty bus able persons on the handicap seats that fold should move back one and let that seat be available to flip up might make it easyier then sitting on a half empty bus and bitch about it . Well one bitch i quess thats valid on MT is the people with the freaking 6 car wide massive 8000 dollar size of a honda with air and dash board strollers . now thats outragous: if you can afford a stroller that size – you can afford a smaller one you can use when you decide to use transit .
I believe that Metro Transit should install special devices, similar to the bike-racks, on their busses for parents to place their strollers and babies either on the top, front, or side of the bus. This would solve several problems: no more monster strollers on busses and no more monster whining little kids bothering other passengers. Mom and/or Dad could easily keep an eye on junior from the window. Besides, aren’t we always saying that kids need more fresh air?
I seen this somewhat enforced yesterday. I was shocked when the busdriver turned around and told the mother she had to move her stroller. She was blocking the flow. A mother and stroller that was on the bus already stated that she was getting off in 2 stops so it won’t be in the way long.
Dansmomma, that was the normal way of doing things when mine were little too. You get use to it.
Lorilou it is my understanding that when busses became wheelchair accessable a parent fought in court for her childs rights to stay in the stroller (basically the childs wheelchair) and won.
PK i’ve seen strollers with kids in them go rolling in the aisle or tip backwards (loaded with bags) cause the parents are stupid and don’t watch them.
I’m glad MT put that out there. I took on a stroller Sunday on a high-floor bus that was meant for jogging, and the mother had quite the time with it. I told her it’d probably fit, but it’d be a bit cramped. I was right, but the run wasn’t too busy so I didn’t mind.
As for lifting the seats, I’d run it by the driver first, unless the bus is crowded or could be crowded (read: never ask this on the 1) which means not a chance. As long as I’m not crowded and you ask first, I’m OK with it, but some aren’t.
Like many things, common sense should be your guide in matters such as these.
“childs rights to stay in the stroller (basically the childs wheelchair)”???
I’m not one to claim to be offended on behalf of someone else, but damn…that’s just not right. For places to be wheelchair-accessible etc. is for there not to be unnecessary barriers to physically handicapped people, and to give them more autonomy.
A) Autonomy is not possible for a baby anyway — they need constant supervision.
B) Given that they always have someone with them (and that they only weigh as much as a bag of groceries), there will always be someone right beside them to carry them wherever—hence no barriers.
C) They’re fucking BABIES. They don’t care about whatever rights that parent was twistedly trying to argue about in order to help his/her lazy ass.
It’s TINY. LIFT it! …echo the comments on Singapore Slings. 😉
Dammit…South Korea, not Singapore.
My bad.