Just got back and wanted to share.

[jmartinez1895]

We just got back fromt the world with our 5 year old son taht has several health issues including epilepsy. When we check into POP they were very kind and helped us out with getting a fridge in our room ASAP for his meds. We used a jogger style special needs stroller and had a worry that it may be to long to fit on the lifts on the busses ,but we had no trouble at all and all of the drives took special care of him. We did have one bad bus drive however. She was driving a bus with a ramp and when she pulled up ( we were in the wheel chair lane at the bus stop) she either did not see us or chose not to see us. I walked over to the front door that she opend and told her that we had a special needs child that nneded to be loaded. She huffed and then closed the front door and came to the back. She then opened the back doors and then crossed her arms and looked at us. We asked if she was going to put the ramp out and she said " No, it's a stroller and it has to be folded" we then showed her our card, explined that we have been on 5 different busses with no trouble and that it is made for bus travel. She still would not even put the ramp down so my husband had to lift our son out and carry him up the strais of the bus while I was left to fight with the huge stroller ( a man in the line came over the chian and helped me) all while the drive just stood and watched us. I wish that I had asked for her suppervisor on the spot, but I was so tired. I did call when we got home ans was told that she would be retrained in the areas of ADA conpliance and the report would go in her file. I hope that she learns and does not do this to anyone else. Other than that we had a great trip and cant wait to go back again. This was our sons first time to be tall enough to ride Splash mountain this year and he loved it so much we had to ride it 3 times.

 

[mechurchlady]

Glad to see everything worked out well. As for the bad bus driver you should have asked for a supervisor. At disAbilities we tell people to know their rights and I am so proud of you for knowing that you were correct. Sue always says to handle the problem when it happens.

Yeah for Splash Mountain you are so lucky to stop at three times or you might end up with duck feet, lol. I hae heard of kids wanting to ride 20 times a favourite ride. So glad to hear you were so well treated.

hugs
Laurie

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Out of curiosity: was your son staying in his stroller on the other busses? If so, the drivers were violating safety standards. Strollers are not reinforced like wheelchairs are and in the event of an accident the forces involved could cause it to buckle. She still should have let you up on the lift (and been 10 million times more pleasant about it), but she is right that your son could not stay in the stroller while on the bus.

 

[mechurchlady]

Out of curiosity: was your son staying in his stroller on the other busses? If so, the drivers were violating safety standards. Strollers are not reinforced like wheelchairs are and in the event of an accident the forces involved could cause it to buckle. She still should have let you up on the lift (and been 10 million times more pleasant about it), but she is right that your son could not stay in the stroller while on the bus.

Actually there are strollers and pushchairs for special needs children that do meet federal guidelines and are thus exempt from the rule about strollers having to be folded.

http://www.adaptivemall.com/bustranstrol.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/clstpu.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/ealexst.html

The Thomashilfen EASyS JAZZ Strollers are crash-tested push-chair systems that meet ANSI/RESNA WC/19. The Thomashilfen EASyS JAZZ Seats fit into a several optional bases to provide versatility for your family:

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Actually there are strollers and pushchairs for special needs children that do meet federal guidelines and are thus exempt from the rule about strollers having to be folded.

http://www.adaptivemall.com/bustranstrol.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/clstpu.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/ealexst.html

Well, yes. I didn't mention it because at the time I read the post I missed the "special needs" part of the stroller description. It is still good to make sure that the stroller in question does meet guidelines as not all special needs strollers do. Plus, you would need to communicate that to the driver when they ask you to fold it so that they know it is safe for hte child to stay in the stroller.

 

[nevadadis]

Sorry to hear of your one bad experience. My son has an ottobock lisa stroller that we use as a wheelchair. It meets all crash tests and has tie down places both in the front and back of the chair. He is nine so his chair is large and his stroller is more easily recongnized for a special needs stroller. I will be going alone with him for 8 days in June to disneyworld so there is no way I could have solved a situation like yours by myself- his stroller is very heavy. I will take the advise here and be sure to ask for a supervisor if a driver ever ignores our stroller and a wheelchair GAC. Thanks!

 

[SueM in MN]

It is a very good idea to check your special needs stroller instructions to make sure it is OK for being tied down. The wording they usually use is "Transport Ready" or "Crash Tested" and they will have some documentation that talks about that.
Some companies make both a transport ready and a non-transport model, so just knowing the model may not be helpful.

The jogging type strollers for rent from some of the off-site rental companies are not transport ready. I am personally not aware of any jogging type strollers that are transport ready; that doesn't mean there are not any, just that I am not aware of any special needs jogging strollers that are. That might have been the reason that the bus driver may have not wanted to tie it down, but would be NO reason for rudeness or for not loading it thru the back door.

If you have one that is not, you should still be able to use the lift to get it onto the bus. Then transfer the child to a bus seat and fold the stroller (a non-transport ready one should not be tied down in the wheelchair space because the tiedowns can bend the frame). Even if you are doing that and not using the wheelchair spots, CMs who are bus drivers have written that the drivers are instructed that they are to allow that for special needs strollers.


And, I think we may have had the same driver on our last trip. We had one female driver who I'm sure saw us when she came to our hotel stop. She made no effort to open the back door and opened the front door to let passengers on, so I came up to the front door to let her know she had a wheelchair to load (an actual wheelchair, so there was no way she could think it might be a stroller). Other passengers were trying to tell her the same thing.
The driver got out of her seat and looked out the door (like she thought I was lying about the wheelchair or something) and then did the same sort of crossed arms-you-inconveniencing-me type of attitude during the whole putting the wheelchair on. She sat back down, closed the front door pretty much in my face, opened the back door and as she was getting slowly up and walking to the back, I got in the back door. If looks could kill, she would have struck me dead right there. She gave no instructions to DH who was getting DD onto the lift (or, I should say, not nice instructions). DH was facing the lift so he could see when it was down and opened before backing DD's wheelchair on - the driver sort of barked at him "Turn around!! Back on!!". I was concerned with her attitude that she would not do a good job of tying the wheelchair on, but she actually did a very good job. She was just incredibly rude.
Rude enough that other passengers were apologizing to us. They said she basically had done the same thing to all passengers at each stop, so it was not just the wheelchair that was a "problem" to her, every guest was an inconvenience.
Anyway, if you do feel a need to report a bus driver, there are some suggestions on how to do it in the bus information post in the disABILITIES FAQs thread.

 

[merryweather20]

Well, yes. I didn't mention it because at the time I read the post I missed the "special needs" part of the stroller description. It is still good to make sure that the stroller in question does meet guidelines as not all special needs strollers do. Plus, you would need to communicate that to the driver when they ask you to fold it so that they know it is safe for hte child to stay in the stroller.

The poster did communicate this to the bus driver:

"we then showed her our card, explined that we have been on 5 different busses with no trouble and that it is made for bus travel."

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

The poster did communicate this to the bus driver:

"we then showed her our card, explined that we have been on 5 different busses with no trouble and that it is made for bus travel."

That does not mean the stroller is safe for tie down. The GAC is not designed to be used on the busses, only in the parks. The fact that five other drivers allowed them to tie down the stroller does not mean that it was safe. There have been several posts on here indicating that many drivers do not follow the safety protocol on this or are even aware there is a difference. I just hate for somebody's stroller to buckle and injure the child because they kept the child in it when it wasn't rated for that.

 

[merryweather20]

That does not mean the stroller is safe for tie down. The GAC is not designed to be used on the busses, only in the parks. The fact that five other drivers allowed them to tie down the stroller does not mean that it was safe. There have been several posts on here indicating that many drivers do not follow the safety protocol on this or are even aware there is a difference. I just hate for somebody's stroller to buckle and injure the child because they kept the child in it when it wasn't rated for that.

I'm having trouble understanding what part of "we explained that it is made for bus travel" you are having trouble understanding.

You seem to be stuck on some of the other parts of the sentence (GAC, other drivers). Hopefully I've narrowed it down so that you can see they did exactly as you suggested, "communicate that to the driver"... already.

 

[SueM in MN]

ENOUGH about the stroller.
No more arguing about it or there will be points given out

 

[jmartinez1895]

Just to clarify, the stroller is approved for transportation. I even tried to show the driver the label on the back, but she would not look. Also at the bottom near the wheels it has 2 bright red arrows pointing to holes that are are marked " transport latch hear". The other drivers loved this and said it made life so much easier when everything is marked. I was told by the transprotation suppervisor that if a person claims to have a special needs stroller, then it is a special needs stroller to them and they are at no time to question it. If it gets damaged or someone gets hurts then its your issue to deal with, but they are trained to never deny anyone requested assistance if it is within reasonable means. If anyone else has any issues while using the busses please call and speak with transportion supervisor so that the person can be "retrained". The only way upper managment can fix aproblem is if they know about it. Thanks for all of your help and input.