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The annoyance of wheelchair boarding at busses


EphraimB

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The only thing I will say is that some B/Os are not trained to take wheelchair passengers.  They don't know how to use the lifts on the express buses and the delay can be 20+ minutes each time (I experienced this once on a BxM10 going back to Manhattan), but I wouldn't fault the passenger for that. They have a right to board. I've been on express buses (the BxM2 in particular) with two wheelchairs (we have a lot of elderly and disabled people in Riverdale especially), which delayed the bus a good 30 minutes.

 I remember a few years ago, I was on a BxM4.  A lady at 99th street was trying to get to Woodlawn after having been at Mount Sinai.  She said one bus refused to take her.  The next bus broke down (I was on it) and then the one after that which I got on... For some reason the driver couldn't take her either.  That's almost 4 hours trying to get on a bus.  I felt awful for her because I was already annoyed having my commute delayed by an hour because of the broken down bus (I was late to a session and had to push back all of my other sessions), but I can't imagine waiting that long trying to get home.  She said she was filing a complaint, and I didn't blame her one bit.  The driver claimed he couldn't get the lift to work.  She didn't buy it and neither did I, but we sat there for God knows how long with him calling himself trying to make it work.  

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25 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The only thing I will say is that some B/Os are not trained to take wheelchair passengers.  They don't know how to use the lifts on the express buses and the delay can be 20+ minutes each time (I experienced this once on a BxM10 going back to Manhattan), but I wouldn't fault the passenger for that. They have a right to board. I've been on express buses (the BxM2 in particular) with two wheelchairs (we have a lot of elderly and disabled people in Riverdale especially), which delayed the bus a good 30 minutes.

 I remember a few years ago, I was on a BxM4.  A lady at 99th street was trying to get to Woodlawn after having been at Mount Sinai.  She said one bus refused to take her.  The next bus broke down (I was on it) and then the one after that which I got on... For some reason the driver couldn't take her either.  That's almost 4 hours trying to get on a bus.  I felt awful for her because I was already annoyed having my commute delayed by an hour because of the broken down bus (I was late to a session and had to push back all of my other sessions), but I can't imagine waiting that long trying to get home.  She said she was filing a complaint, and I didn't blame her one bit.  The driver claimed he couldn't get the lift to work.  She didn't buy it and neither did I, but we sat there for God knows how long with him calling himself trying to make it work.  

I remember being a kid in LA in the ‘80s watching RTD operators fiddle with the lifts on the RTS’s and Flxibles and leaving wheelchair riders on the street because the lifts wouldn’t work. (This was when RTD was retiring the GM and Flxible New Looks and the AM Generals.) They were terrible.

Then when I was at Sac State in the ‘00s, I remember taking the bus to school and this guy in one of those mobility scooters got stuck on the lift of one of Sac RT’s Orion V CNGs. Damn thing couldn’t negotiate the turn from the front door past the chairs. Took 20 minutes at the second El Camino/Watt bus stop before he got into the wheelchair space headfirst - blocking the aisle. Then the seatbelt used to secure wheelchairs in those seats wasn’t long enough. So we couldn’t move until this guy could line it so his scooter’s back wheels were against the wall.

And because the driver opened the front door only, I and other Sac State students on the bus couldn’t get off to catch the other bus that’d take us to school (which normally left Watt/El Camino 5 minutes before our bus got to El Camino/Watt).

We missed our midterms, and RT didn’t do tardy verifications.

Then there was that time I (made a stupid choice and) took Bx1 from 170th St to Fordham since (D) had just left and it took 30 minutes because of traffic and two wheelchairs and two walkers...

So I can understand OP’s gripe on one hand, honestly, but given that a) unless on a coach or an old New Flyer bendy bus, the low floor buses load chairs faster since it’s using a ramp instead of a lift and b) the aisle is wide enough for even scooters to get in, this is really a baseless gripe based on prejudice.

If OP was on a coach like you - having experienced the issue riding the Shortline to/from Ramsey NJ, I could be more sympathetic since that lift system is cumbersome. But even still, like you, disabled people have as much right to ride and expect good service as the rest of us.

And despite how bad (MTA) bus service is, I just don’t see how a 2-hour transfer window gets eaten up by wheelchairs unless going from Wakefield to Far Rockaway.

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2 minutes ago, Deucey said:

I remember being a kid in LA in the ‘80s watching RTD operators fiddle with the lifts on the RTS’s and Flxibles and leaving wheelchair riders on the street because the lifts wouldn’t work. (This was when RTD was retiring the GM and Flxible New Looks and the AM Generals.) They were terrible.

Then when I was at Sac State in the ‘00s, I remember taking the bus to school and this guy in one of those mobility scooters got stuck on the lift of one of Sac RT’s Orion V CNGs. Damn thing couldn’t negotiate the turn from the front door past the chairs. Took 20 minutes at the second El Camino/Watt bus stop before he got into the wheelchair space headfirst - blocking the aisle. Then the seatbelt used to secure wheelchairs in those seats wasn’t long enough. So we couldn’t move until this guy could line it so his scooter’s back wheels were against the wall.

And because the driver opened the front door only, I and other Sac State students on the bus couldn’t get off to catch the other bus that’d take us to school (which normally left Watt/El Camino 5 minutes before our bus got to El Camino/Watt).

We missed our midterms, and RT didn’t do tardy verifications.

Then there was that time I (made a stupid choice and) took Bx1 from 170th St to Fordham since (D) had just left and it took 30 minutes because of traffic and two wheelchairs and two walkers...

So I can understand OP’s gripe on one hand, honestly, but given that a) unless on a coach or an old New Flyer bendy bus, the low floor buses load chairs faster since it’s using a ramp instead of a lift and b) the aisle is wide enough for even scooters to get in, this is really a baseless gripe based on prejudice.

If OP was on a coach like you - having experienced the issue riding the Shortline to/from Ramsey NJ, I could be more sympathetic since that lift system is cumbersome. But even still, like you, disabled people have as much right to ride and expect good service as the rest of us.

And despite how bad (MTA) bus service is, I just don’t see how a 2-hour transfer window gets eaten up by wheelchairs unless going from Wakefield to Far Rockaway.

My only gripe with wheelchairs is they should be confined to the wheelchair spaces provided, which is more than enough.  I remember one Saturday on the BxM2, everyone is getting on the bus with their bags from shopping in the city and this lady and her husband or whoever he was... I don't even want to call it a wheelchair. It was like she was laid out in a bed or something.  She took up so much space that she was basically blocking the entire aisle because what she was using blocked the left AND the right side of the wheelchair area, so you had a small little space to squeeze through with your bags and everything else.  People were livid and giving it to the B/O.  Some even got off early because during the drop-off segment, the driver had an extreme difficultly getting the wheelchair mechanism to work, so we sat at 230th and Broadway for at least 20 - 30 minutes, not to mention that we were already delayed with him getting her on the bus at 35th and 6th. The lady in the wheelchair was rude and demanding and seemed to think that those of us who paid weren't entitled to get past her and actually get a seat while paying $6.50 to ride (wheelchair riders can use the express bus for free).  Aside from her, I haven't had any issues with wheelchair riders, and as I said, I've been on quite a few BxM2 express buses where both wheelchair spots were used.  

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Look @EphraimB, passengers with disabilities whom require the use of a wheelchair or other mobility device are already discriminated against enough from the public and there is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO FURTHER CRITICIZE THEM. The very same rights you have are the rights they have. Local and express buses are NOT reserved to egotistical and judgmental patrons who happen to dislike disabled passengers boarding the bus that they're on. Don't want to deal with a disabled passenger in a wheelchair delaying the bus you're on? FIND ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE. Someone like you wouldn't last a day having to rely on surface transit in The Bronx. For those of you who have taken the Bx19, you know this guy wouldn't survive out there. I haven't heard from Lance in a few days, but he should definitively consider locking this thread.

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