Change in rules? Confused bus driver? Confused me?

[SirDuff]

There is a thread on the Transportation board where someone used a "stroller as a wheelchair" tag on the bus ask was allowed to leave the stroller open (with the child sitting in it). I thought that the tag could only be used on the parks and that only equipment with tie-downs could be tied down on a bus.

Is my understanding wrong? Has the rule changed? Is the bus driver confused? Something else?

http://disboards.com/threads/strollers-in-buses.3413462/

k....I saw the most interesting thing last week. We were at MK, waiting for our bus back to our resort. I watched as a woman pushed a stroller, child in it, off the bus. I forget how we started chatting about it, but the driver told me that you can request a 'red tag' for the stroller that says it is being used as a wheelchair. Then, the child can stay in it on the bus. The driver wasn't happy about it.....said its really hard to secure a stroller safely, but Disney allows it. She really hopes that Disney changes that ruling. She said it makes for very unsafe rides for everyone.
I was really surprised. I had never seen that before. Thus was a regular stroller, nothing special about it, other than it being fairly large. I've seen many if the act same model in the parks.
Now, perhaps the youngster had some issue. It wasn't easily apparent, but that doesn't mean much. Child looked pretty healthy to us.
Have any of you seen this before?

 

[lanejudy]

I would think either the bus driver was confused, or the person reporting this was confused as it sounds like a 3rd hand account (didn't witness the actual request to tie-down the stroller). Most strollers, and definitely the average baby stroller, are not designed to be tied down and used as a seat on moving transportation. The frame is not strong enough and could become damaged -- potentially injuring the person riding in it. Only certain special-needs strollers are built to be tied down.

I have heard uninformed guests argue with drivers because they thought since their stroller was a "wheelchair" that it should be allowed as such on a bus. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a similar situation and unfortunately the driver allowed it. Hopefully there was no damage to the stroller.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Wendydagny]

We had a medical stroller with tie downs when dd was younger. We still had to get the red tag because CM's would be confused even though it was technically a wheelchair. Perhaps this was really what was happening? We had several people complaining that we were allowed to use her "stroller" on the bus.

 

[lanejudy]

Correct, there are some special needs models properly designed for bus transport. Convaid (some models) and Ottobock immediately come to mind, there might be others.

 

[SueM in MN]

The rules did not change.
In fact, I emailed Disney Special Needs asking about just this subject 2 weeks ago because someone posted that she used her regular stroller on the bus (!tied down with the tie down straps!). She said she had a red 'stroller as wheelchair' tag and was encouraging anyone with one to have their regular stroller tied down.

The response I got from Disney is that:
- the stroller as wheelchair tag is for theme park attractions only, not restaurants or any transportation
- strollers are not allowed to be unfolded on the bus (that is Federal law)
- strollers are not allowed to be tied down unless they are special needs strollers designed for transport
- bus drivers sometimes do get pressured by guests' demands into doing inappropriate things (like allowing an unfolded stroller on the bus)

We also were just at WDW and were on several buses with trainers orienting new drivers to the wheelchair tiedowns.
I found out that drivers caught doing things inappropriately would be re-educated and could be disciplined of found repeatedly doing inappropriate things. In an accident, a driver could loose their license.

This was what I posted in the place where the person posted her report and a picture of her regular stroller tied down on the bus:
If it's a regular stroller, it is not safe to tie it down on the buses. The regular stroller is not designed for that. They are designed to be light weight and fold easily. In an accident, the frame will not be strong enough to stand the forces of an accident. Wheelchair (other than stroller type wheelchairs) are different; even if they don't have a transport option, they have frames that are welded together, not just attached together like regular strollers.
Having the red 'stroller as wheelchair' sticker does not make it safe.

Although the tag is really only meant for theme parks, a better option would be to show the sticker to use the back door to get onto the bus, then fold the stroller and sit with the child on your lap or next to you.
Most bus drivers will let you board at the back door with the red tag, but the tag is officially only for the theme parks.

 

[SueM in MN]

This video shows a special needs stroller that is not designed for being tied down on a vehicle and one that is (Convaid Cruiser ac 19 compliant). The end after the 1:09 point shows the seat of the one designed for transport, which came through in good shape, compared to the one that was not designed for transport. The setback on that one was quite crushed.

I can't find it any more, but at one time I had a link to a crash test of a regular stroller with a child crash dummy. The stroller basically had the front pulled apart and dumped the 'child' on the floor in a tangle of stroller pieces or hurled the child through the vehicle in each crash

 

[disney david]

Never mind