Aconflict on RTD’s newstroller rules?
“Ride divide; Bus rules to aid disabled irk some parents with kids,” March 30 news story.
The situation with RTD and some of its riders is troubling.
Two recent feature stories in The Denver Post have involved RTD. One told of the vision-impaired mother and her five children, two of whom are toddlers in a stroller, who use RTD as their primary mode of transportation (“All they see is love,” March 27). The second story tells of a lady in a motorized wheelchair who also uses RTD as her mode of transportation.
RTD has decided the lack of sufficient space for both is resolvable by removing all children from strollers and then folding the strollers up.
To find an answer to this problem at the expense of either party is wrong. RTD needs to show compassion, common sense and leadership to rethink this decision and find a better solution.
As a parent of four, I applaud RTD’s policy on strollers and other items. My kids were stroller age in the ’90s. My wife and I (single parents at the time), usually by ourselves and usually with more than one small child at a time, rode the bus regularly. What did we do? We folded the strollers after instructing the older child to sit down. It never occurred to any of us back then that the “accessible” seats in the front were for us, just because we had small children.
Get over it, parents. Having small kids is not a protected status that deserves preferen- tial treatment. Fold the strollers, like parents had been doing for years up until recently.
Denver
The new restriction on RTD buses regarding strollers is understandable from a disabled person’s point of view, but has an unintended consequence.
About a month ago, I taught a young mother who is learning English, and who also suffers from a hearing loss, how to use the bus in her neighborhood. On the day she and I took the bus for the first time, she tried boarding the bus two ways: with the stroller collapsed, and with her 22-month-old in the stroller. By far she found the baby was safer remaining in the stroller. So, when traveling by herself on the bus, she entered and departed the bus with the baby safely in the stroller. However, because she wants her child to be safe, she will no longer ride the bus as a result of the new restriction. She will be homebound again as alternative transportation is not readily available. This is one example of an unintended consequence of requiring RTD to enforce the lawsuit regarding disabled riders.
Littleton
The ruling in this case has created a privileged class of bus riders— those in wheelchairs— who, in effect, have priority over another class, the working poor families that must rely on public transportation. This is patently unfair. All people, regardless of ability or disability, should have equal access to public transportation.
Unfortunately, equal access does not mean there is a guaranteed spot on the bus for everyone. On the busiest routes, buses are often so full that there is no room for additional passengers, regard- less of ability. The problem is not that strollers use space meant for wheelchairs. The problem is that buses are overcrowded, and the resulting conflict between riders is merely a symptom of the problem. The solution is to add more buses to the system.
Until RTD provides bus service at a level that meets the demand, we will continue to see the results of overcrowded buses, and the competition for space between strollers and wheelchairs will continue.
I had this thought awhile ago, half in jest, but now it seems like an idea whose time has come. As a veteran bus traveler, I have long noticed the abundance of passengers using wheelchairs, scooters and walkers, as well as others hauling kids in strollers, groceries in little wheeled carts, rolling suitcases, etc.
Why doesn’t RTD retrofit some buses on the more heavily traveled routes, like the 0 on Broadway, the 15 and 16 on Colfax, the 30 on Federal, with bays instead of seats to accommodate wheelchairs, strollers and other wheeled conveyances, and dedicate these buses to this category of riders? These routes would run similarly to the limited buses, only instead of the 15L, it would be the 15RS, for rollers and strollers.
These routes could be reserved for passengers using wheeled devices and those accompanying them. This would facilitate travel for these passengers and minimize conflict with the rest of RTD’s riders.