We've already got ONE on

Buspass

While the weather has been good, I've been getting the bus back from Headway the two times a week I attend. As the weather gets colder and wetter I'm less and less enthusiastic about standing under a bus shelter. But while the sun is out I'll give my disabled bus pass an airing.

Things have changed since I last took the bus. I would say it was about 2002. I think the buss route was called "University Hospital". We had a Queen, Will Young had recently pipped Gareth Gates to the Pop Idol crown. David Beckham's foot was front page news as there were fears we couldn't win the World Cup without him and Arsenal were the current Premier League champions. It was an Arriva bus, there were 2 busses running simultaneously - in opposite directions - so they would pass each other and would arrive every ten minutes. 

America still had a buffoon in charge though so there is some symmetry.

Leather/plastic seats

Select Bus Services now control this route and the bus comes every twenty minutes, but apart from that, everything else is much the same. Apart from the bus is red...or white...or red again but with leather or plastic seats, but apart from that, everything else is much the same. Oh yea the route is different and it's now labelled "Highfields" instead of "University Hospital". 

Why do things have to change? Yet another thing that was better when I was younger. I was at the hospital recently and just assumed I could get the bus  back, I asked reception where I could catch the number 9 bus from and I was told it doesn't go the hospital.

The drivers are very pleasent, there's a real close community vibe, some of the passengers know the driver and vice versa. It's like something out of Gavin & Stacey;

"Alright Jean? Just been down the shops?" Says the bus driver.
"Yea, back home now for a cuppa."

People are chatting to the driver from there seats. Again something that has changed from when I was younger, I don't think I ever saw the driver conversing with anyone. Maybe not EVERYTHING was better whenI was younger.

In general there drivers are nice and friendly, but inevitably there are times when the bus I'm waiting for already has a wheelchair user on and I have to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus and hope I'm not made to wait again. The first time this happened there were several of us waiting at the bus stop. A lad kindly told me to go in front of him but I said he should go first because they'll have to get the ramp out. He got on the bus and I heard the driver say to him

”We've already got ONE on."

The driver didn't move from his seat. He didn't even tell me, he told the person who briefly spoke to me when the bus arrived. The passenger looked back at me and I gave him a smile and a thumbs up to acknowlege I'd heard. The driver let the rest on, shut the doors and left. I was fuming. I've never been referred to as a collective. 

This happened again some weeks later as there is only room for one wheelchair passenger. On this occasion I was the only person at the bus stop, so when the doors opened the driver said "I'm sorry but there's already one wheelchair on board and there's only room for one. I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the next bus, but it shouldn't be too long." Fine I thought. I'm well aware there's limited room and at least the driver acknowleged me and apologised for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately as I said in a previous post - https://www.wheelchairworries.com/2021/08/wheelchair-seats-sure-theyre-right-at.html - wheelchair access is often an after thought, and is nothing more than a box they need to tick. There is no consideration for practicallity and usability. All of the busses I have got on are incredibly narrow and there is barely enough room to manouvre the wheelchair. There is always an area at the front of the bus to store thangs like push chairs, which is of course a necessity, but does it have to be so wide. Couldn't some of that space be used as floor space? Whatever is stored in there is folded up and rattles around as the bus moves, so it is already too big for what it's storing. 

@fatpigeonsbook

@fatpigeonsbook