Bus Driver Refuses to Lower Ramp to Exit for Stroller=Wheelchair

[CindyCat]

We just returned from our first trip to WDW. We had a GAC card as well as a tag on our stroller, denoting it as "stroller=wheelchair." Most drivers were great. They readily lowered the ramp or the lift to get our stroller on or off hte bus.

One driver returning to POP readily permitted us to use the ramp to get our stroller=wheelchair on the bus. He parked nearly a foot from the curb when he arrived at POP. He helped unhook the cables securing our stroller, then smiled and said okay. I pointed out that we had a foot gap between the bus and the curb. He just replied, "Oh, are you needing help getting off?" He just stood there. I was speechless. EVen after pointing out that we were a foot from the curb and the ramp was NOT lowered, he didn't lower the ramp.

My 60+ year-old mother with a bad back lifted the front of this double stroller, while I lifted the back and we lifted our double stroller off hte bus. My 3 year-old twins sat in our stroller. It was quite heavy, to say the east.

It was so dangerous and so mind-boggling that the bus driver simply refused to lower the ramp and let us with no option except to lift off a double-stroller. I complained. The manager didn't even apologize and just told me to write a witness statement. The witness statement form said it was for "litigation."

I'm perplexed to say the least at the response to this. We didn't even get an apology or nicety to compensate for that horrible treatment by the bus driver. Any insight? I had heard that if something really goes bad at WDW, you simply get silence. Is that true?

 

[Selket]

Were the kids in the stroller during the bus ride? I thought that strollers weren't considered safe for kids to sit in while the bus was moving so they expected you to fold them up and carry the children onto/off the bus, and the children would sit with you, etc.

We had that issue when my one of my kids was younger (stroller as wheelchair) - he couldn't stand/walk due to hypotonia. We always folded up his stroller on the bus though.

 

[CindyCat]

My son has significant hypotonia. I received a GAC for him. The GAC provided that he could use his stroller as a wheelchair. We also received a tag for the stroller that denotes that the "stroller equals a wheelchair." I have twins, so the stroller is a double one.

I had started out folding the double stroller and carrying my son in boarding buses. Coming back from MK, I talked to the manager at the bus transportation center. He told me that as long as that stroller had the tag, we could board as a wheelchair. He even directed the bus driver who questioned lowering the ramp for the stroller=wheelchair that the stroller was tagged as a wheelchair and to be treated as such. They lowered the ramp, secured the stroller/wheelchair with cables and we double-belted the children with our stroller seatbelts and the bus's seatbelts.

The children were in the double-stroller as we exited.

Most every single bus driver except one readily boarded the stroller as a wheelchair, lowering the ramp and securing the cables when I approached them and told them we had a tag for a "stroller=wheelchair." I only had static from one driver. He sort of sneered and told me, "that's not a wheelchair. Fold it up. You can fold it." I found his sneering quite offensive as well as the way he communicated with him. I told him to get a manager because the stroller was tagged as a wheelchair and had been loaded as such for hte last 6 days. This same driver then told me he wasn't going to put cables on the stroller "because it would break," evidently preferring to let the stroller roll all over the bus. I told him to secure the cables or get a manager. He secured the cables. He couldn't get the ramp up and told me "I had broken the ramp and now it wouldn't close." Yeah, right. He called a manager and suddenly teh ramp worked fine. When it came time to exit, this driver told me he wasn't going to lower the ramp because then he wouldn't be able to get it to close. I glared at him and told him to lower the ramp for the stroller. I didn't even bother to complain at that point. We had so many issues that apparently weren't of interest when we did complain. I was feeling like we were just wasting our time.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Sue is the expert on this, but from what I gather it was either illegal or extremely dangerous for them to allow your sons to ride in the stroller. NOt even every wheelchair is approved for that kind of use because it has to be reinforced at the tie down spots which strollers definitely are not. In the even of an accident the stroller could collapse due to the forces exerted on it by the tie down severely injuring your sons. The tag that stroller=wheelchair is for the parks and attractions only. Hopefully Sue can clarify or correct me if I'm wrong.

That being said, he should have lowered the ramp. Take it to guest relations, don't bother with the bus managers. Hopefully they will have a much more satisfactory response.

 

[Selket]

Sue has this in the FAQ:

If you are using a regular stroller as a mobility device, the bus driver may take your word for it and allow it to be fastened down. But, unless your stroller is designed for transport, your child should still get out of it on the bus for safety and the stroller should not be tied down with the wheelchair tiedown straps.

I'm guessing your stroller is a regular one and not a medical one. It sounds like the bus driver manager gave you the wrong info then or perhaps didn't mean for the kids to ride in it while on the bus.

 

[dclfun]

GAC's for "stroller as wheelchair" are only good for the parks as they are intended to let someone bring a stroller into a queue line where they aren't normally allowed. GAC's of any type don't work for/on the busses, so the drivers that lowered the ramps truly did not have to do so. Just an FYI. Needless to say though, the driver should have explained that, and that safety reasons prevent them from tying down a stroller unless it is a medical/sn stroller- you didn't deserve the attitude you were given.---Kathy

 

[KPeveler]

Unless your stroller is a special needs stroller specifically designed for bus travel (which not all are), they should never have been allowed to remain in the stroller in the first place. the GAC does not apply to buses, and it is simply unsafe, no matter your child's illness/disability/need. I have never heard of a double stroller as a special needs stroller, and I doubt that it would be cleared for bus-travel.

what the driver should have done is require teh stroller to be folded, or if it can't fold, at least require the children to be taken out of it and held. Obviously, if it is a stroller with special tie-down spots and restraints, then they could stay in it...

it surprises me that he allowed you to even get on the bus with the kids in the stroller in hte first place!

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue is the expert on this, but from what I gather it was either illegal or extremely dangerous for them to allow your sons to ride in the stroller. NOt even every wheelchair is approved for that kind of use because it has to be reinforced at the tie down spots which strollers definitely are not. In the even of an accident the stroller could collapse due to the forces exerted on it by the tie down severely injuring your sons. The tag that stroller=wheelchair is for the parks and attractions only. Hopefully Sue can clarify or correct me if I'm wrong.

Sue has this in the FAQ:

If you are using a regular stroller as a mobility device, the bus driver may take your word for it and allow it to be fastened down. But, unless your stroller is designed for transport, your child should still get out of it on the bus for safety and the stroller should not be tied down with the wheelchair tiedown straps.

I'm guessing your stroller is a regular one and not a medical one. It sounds like the bus driver manager gave you the wrong info then or perhaps didn't mean for the kids to ride in it while on the bus.

GAC's for "stroller as wheelchair" are only good for the parks as they are intended to let someone bring a stroller into a queue line where they aren't normally allowed. GAC's of any type don't work for/on the busses, so the drivers that lowered the ramps truly did not have to do so. Just an FYI. Needless to say though, the driver should have explained that, and that safety reasons prevent them from tying down a stroller unless it is a medical/sn stroller- you didn't deserve the attitude you were given.---Kathy

Unless your stroller is a special needs stroller specifically designed for bus travel (which not all are), they should never have been allowed to remain in the stroller in the first place. the GAC does not apply to buses, and it is simply unsafe, no matter your child's illness/disability/need. I have never heard of a double stroller as a special needs stroller, and I doubt that it would be cleared for bus-travel.

what the driver should have done is require teh stroller to be folded, or if it can't fold, at least require the children to be taken out of it and held. Obviously, if it is a stroller with special tie-down spots and restraints, then they could stay in it...

it surprises me that he allowed you to even get on the bus with the kids in the stroller in hte first place!

All of the above posters are correct.
GACs are for use at attractions at the Theme Parks. The Theme Park GAC is not even used at the water parks and is not used for the buses.

Some drivers will allow anyone with a double stroller to use the back door to get into the bus, but that is for convenience and is up to the driver.

A special needs stroller that is made for transport and has special spots for tiedown would be tied down the same as a wheelchair.[/b] That is safe to do because that type of stroller has been manufactured and tested to be safe for transport.
A regular stroller is not safe to be tied down with the wheelchair tiedowns even if there are no children sitting in it. Regular strollers are not made for the stress on the frame of being tied down and can be damaged just by having the wheelchair straps fastened. There have been posts where people reported the frame of their regular stroller bent from being fastened down.
It is also not safe It is also not safe (or from what I have been told, legal) for children to be riding in a stroller while the bus was in motion unless the stroller has been designed for that. If there had been an accident, the stroller frame would not have been able to stand the strain and would have broken, folded or fallen apart. The children would have probably been injured.

I have been told having a regular stroller with children riding with it on a bus is against the law because it is not safe. Because it is not safe and is apparently specifically against the law to allow a child to ride in a stroller, it would not be a violation of the ADA for the drivers to refuse to allow it.

My 60+ year-old mother with a bad back lifted the front of this double stroller, while I lifted the back and we lifted our double stroller off hte bus. My 3 year-old twins sat in our stroller. It was quite heavy, to say the east.

It was so dangerous and so mind-boggling that the bus driver simply refused to lower the ramp and let us with no option except to lift off a double-stroller. I complained. The manager didn't even apologize and just told me to write a witness statement. The witness statement form said it was for "litigation."

There was a better option if the ramp was not being put down.
The children should have gotten out of the stroller and stood outside the bus with one of the adults while the other adult lifted the empty stroller off the bus.

I'm perplexed to say the least at the response to this. We didn't even get an apology or nicety to compensate for that horrible treatment by the bus driver. Any insight? I had heard that if something really goes bad at WDW, you simply get silence. Is that true?

As the other poster already explained, the GAC and stroller as a wheelchair are not meant for the bus. I can't speak officially for WDW (I don't even work for Disney), but that has been posted multiple times by both Guest Services CMs and by bus drivers.
I am not sure why a driver who had put the bus ramp down to let you on did not lower it to let you off, but he was under no obligation to do so.

If he had been stopped by the police for any reason with your children sitting in the unfolded stroller, he could/would have gotten a ticket. I don't know what the consequences of that could be - could he have lost his job or been on probation?
I don't know, but it's possible that had something to do with the action and attitudes of the drivers you thought were treating you "horribly". They just did not want to endanger your children or their jobs by allowing the children to stay in the stroller.

I am closing this thread at this point because the WDW policies have been explained.