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Posy Parsons with daughter Eliza and buggie on a rush hour bus |
It’s a rough ride for a mum with a buggy and a baby on buses
As passengers argue over 4x4 pushchairs the New Journal finds...
NEVER mind roadworks and marauding teenage gangs, it seems the sight that strikes fear into the hearts of Camden’s bus users is the mother at the side of the road with a large pushchair.
The debate over whether mums and their buggies should be welcomed on the capital’s buses or left by the wayside has been raging in the New Journal’s letters pages.
With the missives for and against still flooding in, we decided to take a ride on the child side with a Camden mother, her toddler, and the dreaded buggy.
Posy Parsons, 31, a former sales analyst from Hilltop Road, West Hampstead, travels by public transport with her two-year-old daughter Eliza every day.
“I’ve stopped using the bus at certain times because it’s a gamble whether or not they let you on,” says Posy. “You always feel bad taking up so much space, but often, if you didn’t use the bus, you wouldn’t be able to go out.”
When the C11 bus pulls up to the stop at Swiss Cottage in the rush hour it’s already groaning with the weight of passengers. Under Transport for London (TfL) guidelines, drivers can refuse to let a buggy on if there are already two buggies on the bus or it is overcrowded.
“If the bus is crowded you just have to pray that the bus has space for you or you’re left on the pavement for hours,” says Posy.
Eliza’s buggy is too wide to fit through the aisle at the front of the bus so Posy must squeeze it on at the back.
Critics say the size of buggies and prams are larger than they used to be – some of the bigger ones are dubbed “buggy 4x4s”.
During our trip, an elderly lady pointedly glares at Posy as she parks Eliza in the wheelchair section next to a group of schoolgirls and tries to pay. This involves leaving her daughter alone in the centre of the bus and moving up the packed bus to the driver.
Her progress is stopped by a woman who refuses to budge.
“It’s not the warmest environment,” says Posy, returning to her toddler. “I’d hope people could be more understanding. It’s difficult being a mother with a child in the city. I know we’re in the way a lot, but it would be nice if people tried to help sometimes.”
The bus starts suddenly and Posy nearly falls onto Eliza. Once, she says, the bus driver’s handling was so erratic the buggy flipped over, banging Eliza’s head.
When Posy gets off the bus, nobody helps her.
A TfL spokeswoman said yesterday (Wednesday) that London buses are “more accessible than they have ever been” and mothers with children have “a right to travel”.
The spokeswoman added: “There is limited space onboard our buses, and sometimes buggy users will be asked to fold their buggies before boarding if the wheelchair space is already occupied.
“Rigid prams are also only able to travel safely in the allocated space.”
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