Rigid wheelchair and buses

[cantwaittoseemickey]

How do they tie down a rigid (non folding) wheelchair on the Disney buses if they do not have the transport tie downs?

 

[Michigan]

Axle bar and by the front casters.

 

[jmartinez1895]

They put the tie downs on just as described above for ours. one driver tried to put them on the frame ( under the seat) and we asked that they not be put there.

 

[lanejudy]

I've read suggestions to mark the spots where you want the tie-downs attached -- use colored electrical tape or duct tape. If you are concerned the drivers may not recognize the correct locations to tie-down, you might try this.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[SueM in MN]

I've read suggestions to mark the spots where you want the tie-downs attached -- use colored electrical tape or duct tape. If you are concerned the drivers may not recognize the correct locations to tie-down, you might try this.

Enjoy your vacation!

This is a picture of my DD's wheelchair with safe tiedowns spots marked with neon green duct tape.

It's the DME bus, but the tiedowns work the same.
Here's what I tell people about choosing tiedowns spots.

Tiedowns:If you are using your own wheelchair or ecv, make sure you know where some safe tiedown points are on the front and the back. Tiedown points should be sturdy parts of the wheelchair/ecv frame (not parts like swing away footrests or armrests). If you don't know, you can ask your equipment supplier.
A good idea is to use some brightly colored tape to mark safe points. It's very easy to tell the driver, just look for the hot pink tape instead of trying to explain (when you are sitting in the chair) that the black horizontal tube above the other tube in the back of the chair is a safe point.

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

Thank you everyone. This definately helps.All points I did not think about. We are looking at a new chair and I wasn't sure if it will have tie downs. His current chair has them but it is a completely different chair.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thank you everyone. This definately helps.All points I did not think about. We are looking at a new chair and I wasn't sure if it will have tie downs. His current chair has them but it is a completely different chair.

What kind of chair is it?

 

[WheeledTraveler]

When ordering, ask whether there's a "transport kit" option. That will include specific places for tie downs.

I don't have a chair with a transport kit (it wasn't available for my chair when I bought it), but I do have a rigid manual wheelchair and have used it on buses all over the place. I use the back axle tubing and then the tubing the front casters are attached to (or the tubing that connects my footplate because I have a center-mount rigid footplate). There's also a rigid bar across the back of my chair that I've used occasionally, but I prefer not to because it's high up so too tight and it could tip me over. Absolutely do NOT let them attach them to the back wheels. I haven't had that issue as much at WDW, but other public transit drivers seem to gravitate to those because they're easier to reach than any of the solid tubing.

There are rigid manual wheelchairs where finding tie-down spots would be harder, but even looking at ones like the Icon, I can find spots that should be safe. Anything from the major manufacturers (Quickie, Invacare, TiLite, etc.) should be pretty easy to find tie-down points on.