Here's why I'm so aerated about this.
People are pissed off that there are too many strollers on buses. They take up space. You have to maneuver around them. You have to make room for them. You have to slow down and take your time to get past them safely. You look at the stroller and resent it, resent the room it takes up. Lady, your stroller is a pain in the ass. And you, by extension, are a pain in the ass too. You're slow, and you're bulky, and you inconvenience me. Having to walk around you makes me annoyed. Having to hear your child squawk makes me irritated. If you are in my way, you shouldn't be allowed.
And now, our city is about to let the irritated, the inconvenienced, the annoyed, get their way by recommending that people (and who are we kidding here, it's 90% women) who take their children in strollers on the bus be forced to take the child out and stow the stroller.
Great for those who are irritated. Unbelievably difficult for the mother, and dangerous for both the mother and the child. But more than that: unreasonably punitive to one group of people, when the reality is everyone who rides the bus is the problem. Everyone who refuses to give up their spot. Everyone who refuses to move down the aisle. Everyone who sees everyone else on the bus as their enemy.
But let's back up a bit, shall we?
Mobility is a basic service of our city. The taxpayers of Ottawa - including moms - provide a great deal of funding to OC Transpo.
Strollers are a reality. Yes, children are inconvenient, and you have to use a lot of crap when you have them like strollers and high chairs and car seats and who knows what. They're messy and loud and they screw up people's orderly worlds, just like you screwed up someone's orderly world back in the day. Children and parents are never going away. Families are as much part of this society as anyone else, and to say that they we not able to take the bus unless we adhere to specific rules isn't living in reality.
It's one thing if conditions are unsafe: If the bus is so crowded that the stroller cannot safely fit, then the mother - or anyone carrying anything with them that does not safely fit on board the bus, such as large bags, musical instruments, whatever - should of course be given the option to either board the bus and fold up her stroller and stow it safely (which - will the bus wait while the passenger removes her child and stows her stroller or will she be forced to bus surf with a baby in her hands?) or wait for the next bus. But if there is adequate room, then why enforce a punitive policy that forces a passenger and child into an uncomfortable and dangerous position?
I fully agree that stroller-users have a responsibility to be considerate and cognizant of the fact that they're taking public transit. It only makes sense to take a small, easily maneuverable, easily collapsible stroller. It only makes sense to not burden yourself with so many carry-ons that you are unable to maneuver the child if necessary. Of course.
But let's look at another angle: If there are so many strollers on OC Transpo buses that they're causing a problem, it shows that the bus is in demand for this group of users. Why are they choosing to pit other passengers, particularly those who use wheelchairs and walkers, against those who have strollers? Why are they making this a Mom issue instead of making it what it is: A limitation of our transport system to not be able to accommodate all of its users?
Instead of alienating or banning those who have strollers, why not work *with* them? Why not a public information campaign advising people with strollers of the best hours to ride the bus for maximum comfort, or what to look for in a bus-friendly stroller? Why not work with the public instead of beating them down with a stick? Why not a stroller parking spot on the bus? Why not encouraging others on the bus to help accommodate their fellow riders instead of just bitching about them?
Instead, OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa wants to just ban strollers entirely. Those mothers, they're just so bothersome. Why do they want to leave the house anyway?
In the end, if this recommendation makes it to law, then I will insist that it also become law that everyone else on the bus should be held to the same levels of consideration as the mother with the stroller. You! You're in my way! Don't stand in the aisle. Move to the back. Make room for the next person. Pick your bag up off the floor. Give your seat up to the elderly, the infirm, the pregnant. And if you don't, then you aren't allowed to board the bus, full stop. Just like that mom and her stroller.
3 things to say:
And have you seen the new "cooperative seating" stickers? A stroller doesn't even garner a pictograph. And the one image one the secondary graphic strip only shows a pregnant mom with a stroller. So, you only get a stroller spot if you are preggo? Sorry stroller dads. Grow some boobs.
Wasn't this killed already? Wow. I remember taking the bus with my infant and it would have been /impossible/ to take him out, carry the diaper bag and fold the stroller. Stupid city of Ottawa.
I travelled the buses back in the early 1980's with a baby in a stroller. I still have this stroller by Perego a deluxe version of the Bye Bye stroller. Best investment of $175 back then. It was an expense that I carefully thought about. Not everyone could afford that price for a stroller. This stroller was great for on the buses. Folded up like an umbrella stroller when not in use but also had great back support for the baby and also reclined, even the foot rest culd be raised to support the legs of a sleeping baby. I used it year round in all types of weather. I used common sense as to where I sat on the bus while my child was in the stroller. I thank OC Transit for that convinence, it made it easy for me to get out and about. I moved back home after a few years and had to travel the buses with my second baby by removing the baby from the stroller and folding it up. It was a pain in the ass especially during the winter months. The bus service sucked and if your child was able to walk you had to pay. Had a few arguements about my child being 12 months and not walking. My child didn't walk with out assistance until 13 months old. Even though my child couldn't go up or down the steps of the bus without being carried, I still had to pay. Enough was enough and the city transit lost another customer. I do agree that strollers can be a pain on the buses whether a child is in them or folded up. I think that if the transit system sat down and looked at the different strollers that are out there as well as the price of them and said that only a stoller within these guidelines for size can be used on the bus with a child still sitting in it, than it would make things easier for the transit users all around. Bulky strollers do not belong on buses. There are so many types of slim-line strollers out there that will go thru snow and slush during the winter months. If you take care of the stroller it will last. There are alot of slim-line expensive strollers that can be bought secondhand that have many years of usage left in them. Compact strollers in lower price range are geting better and better in construction as the years go bye.
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