Bus service not accessible to all users

Published on 19th April 2007 in Letters

Sir - I recently read the story of the woman and kids who were refused their bus trip. I am a frequent user of this bus service and I regularly use a double pushchair as I also have two young children, one of whom is seven months the other is two years old.

Whether or not there was a misunderstanding over if the lady was refused permission to travel or not is only part of the issue as I have had to rely on this bus service as I have no car. If you have a pushchair and two young ones it's a struggle to use the service. You have to fold up your pram/pushchair, which you can appreciate is a challenge in itself with a young baby in your arms and your eyes on a toddler, especially if there's no one around. Then, once you have struggled to fold the pram you have to lift it into the luggage hold, which again is waist-high and not always empty.

If, like myself, you have a double buggy you cannot stand it next to your seat like a umbrella-style buggy. I really challenge a driver/East Yorkshire bus employee to board one of the non-kneeling buses with a large buggy and two children. Hopefully, he will realise the bus service is not designed for the everyday passengers who are mothers or fathers with young children. They have kneeling/lower-floor buses, so why can't they be used for the Howden/Goole area? I'd be quite willing to fold my pushchair up if necessary on the bus if I was allowed to wheel the pram onto the bus to enable me to safely sit my toddler down first.

It's also wheelchair-users who are unable to get to Howden or Goole because of this same reason. It's about time the East Yorkshire Bus Company woke up to reality and thought about their customers' needs. Their service might be more popular if it were more accessible. Goole is very lucky to have a kneeling bus service, which I think is fantastic - especially for those with mobility problems.

T. HOLT (Mrs)

Howden