Margarita Coppard waits to board an OC Transpo bus with her stroller.
City council’s decision to not revise rules regulating strollers on OC Transpo will cause problems in the future, says the chair of the city’s transit committee.
“In my view, the transit committee didn’t have the stomach for the changes that were needed on this issue,” says Bay Ward Coun. Alex Cullen. “I think this will be an ongoing problem that will come back in the future to trouble us.”
Instead of changing the rules, council opted to maintain the staus quo, continuing to rely on common sense and co-operation when buses become crowded.
The city’s seniors and accessibility advisory committees presented several suggestions to the transit committee, such as giving priority to people using wheelchairs and limiting the number of strollers, but the committee rejected the suggestions last month.
The city will continue to allow passengers with strollers to use wheelchair bays at the front of the bus, but will ask them to move if someone with a wheelchair needs the space.
Cullen supported changes to the city’s policy and worries about lack of progress on the issue.
He says relying on the courtesy of transit users may work when there’s space on the bus, but when things get crowded, common sense and politeness haven’t always prevailed.
The transit committee canvassed policies from a number of transit systems across North America to come up with ideas. Cullen says he’s not convinced that relying on bus drivers to enforce policies is the best idea, especially if they’re trying to keep to a schedule while resolving conflicts.
Vicky Kyriaco-Wilson, manager for transit marketing and customer service at OC Transpo, is satisfied that city council has clarified expectations for drivers and riders, adding that OC Transpo is in the midst of launching two communications campaigns to deal with the stroller issue.
OC Transpo’s co-operative seating campaign is using stickers in all city buses to identify priority seating for people using wheelchairs, people with strollers and seniors.
The second phase of OC Transpo’s communications campaign will be rolled out soon and will include brochures with information on how to keep young children entertained on bus trips and alternatives to bulky strollers.
The brochures will be available on buses, online, at the city’s information centres and will be handed out at daycares and on bus routes with a high number of passengers with strollers.
“We want to let parents know that there are many alternatives to traditional strollers, include light-weight, collapsible models and front and back carriers, where the infant actually rests on the parent,” says Kyriaco-Wilson.
Tim Rose, co-ordinator of the Carleton University Disability Awareness Centre, says it would have been helpful for the city to adopt a formal policy on strollers on buses.
“I use a custom-made, 350-pound wheelchair and I’ve been on crowded buses with strollers and the elderly, and sometimes you don’t have room to turn or to get off the bus,” says Rose.
In the end, he says, it’s the responsibility of every rider to accommodate other passengers.
“There’s a level of compassion that everyone needs to have on the bus.”
Mary Salegio, executive director of Ottawa’s Parent Resource Centre, says the city hasn’t gone far enough and isn’t convinced that OC Transpo’s alternatives to strollers will actually work.
A mother of two, Salegio has received many complaints from parents who say they’ve been ignored by bus drivers who, although their buses are not full, will not stop when they see someone with a stroller.
Salegio says the most dramatic example she’s heard of involved a family waiting for a bus to take them to a medical appointment at CHEO, which they missed when their bus went by without stopping.
“Each driver has a different perception of things, so I’m not sure that relying on them is the right solution,” says Salegio.
“I think there are safety issues with putting your child in a baby carrier. I personally feel safer having my child strapped into a stroller. I can’t count the number of times a driver has slammed on the brakes or accelerated quickly and people have had to hold on tight to their children. This is one side of the issue that has been ignored.”