What's with bus drivers lately?
You know those bus seats near the front? The ones that seniors (like me) and disabled people are supposed to have first dibs on?
No, I'm not complaining about the apparently able-bodied youths that studiously avoid noticing us old geezers standing in obvious discomfort or pain. I have often enough been offered a seat to offset that.
It's something I've mostly noticed just lately: one or more of these seats being left in the upright position, presumably after a wheelchair passenger has left the bus. Is it not part of the driver's job to restore them to the seating position when the wheelchair passenger exits?
Today I had the pleasure of riding a bus on which three out of the four hinged seat pairs had been left folded up. Fortunately, the bus was not crowded (and how did that happen?!), so in this case it was not a problem. Of course, the bus could easily have filled up at almost any random stop along the route. I actually tried to lower the front-facing seat that was up, but couldn't figure out how the release worked (or wasn't strong enough to budge it). The releases on the side-facing seats are difficult for an old guy to reach, especially on a moving bus.
Shouldn't the bus drivers be responsible for putting the seats back?
Comments
Did you ask?
Did you ask them to put it down for you either?
I mean, there's expecting someone to do something "because it's their job"...and then there's communication.
It's an idea. My point was
It's an idea.
My point was that it should have been done at the time the wheelchair restraints were released.
Sure
But the world of "should have" can only be taken care of by the MBTA. Have you contacted them to ask the drivers be reminded of resetting these seats after they're done needing them up?
The best feedback we're going to give you here in this forum is what you "could have" done.
No.
Is it not part of the driver's job to restore them to the seating position when the wheelchair passenger exits?
No, because as a "Sexagenarian Boy Genius", you should know that all you have to do is pull the hook marked "RELEASE" on the forward-facing seats, or the black knob on the side seats. The seat then lowers down with a light pull/push.
Tried the "release" hook. No
Tried the "release" hook. No indication which direction to pull it, so tried all. I am evidently not strong enough to budge it (as I noted in my post).
Bending over to reach the black knob is very difficult for an old codger like me; doubly so on a moving bus (as I noted in my post).
It's a problem
Yes, this has become a common problem, but it's not always because of drivers failing to put the seat back after offloading a wheelchair passenger, though I have seen them not bother with that step in the process. The bigger problem is that the seats also get raised frequently - possibly even more frequently than for wheelchair passengers - to accommodate baby carriages, and in that case the mom usually does it herself and then doesn't bother to put it back down when she gets off. Sometimes I suspect the driver doesn't even know that there are seats up, when they're the ones on the left-hand side of the bus.
(And to Brett - it's not as easy as you seem to think to release those latches - there are a variety of types, and sometimes I've been successful putting a seat back down and sometimes I've been quite unable, especially when trying to keep my balance on a moving bus.)
I rather like it when those
I rather like it when those with strollers take the initiative to put up those seats and park the strollers there. Otherwise the strollers either block the aisle of the bus, or they are parked in the back door(s) which prevents people from getting off the bus. Perhaps the buses should have their seating reconfigured to take the needs of the geezers and disabled and those traveling with baby strollers. Or they could take New York City's attitude and refuse to allow strollers on buses.
Or perhaps parents should buy
Or perhaps parents should buy strollers that aren't as big as an adult wheelchair (I love the term "Baby SUV"). An official size restriction on strollers allowed on buses would also be helpful as well, and should be seriously looked in to.
There is no excuse for taking up the space that three or four able-bodied adults could be utilizing because you refuse to fold up your gargantuan carriage or use a smaller one. My special favorite are the mothers who block the rear door so it cant be used, forcing passengers to squeeze through an already packed bus to get off at the front.
I couldn't believe my eyes
I couldn't believe my eyes while riding the Orange Line a few days ago. A woman was sitting there, talking to her friend across the aisle, with the most monstrous stroller I have ever seen in my life. A veritable behemoth of strollers (that, in fact, was exactly the thought that came to mind. It was large to begin with, and with what appeared to be a warhead mounted on the front end (at about average crotch height, I may add), it blocked no fewer than four seats. Unbelievable.
I know how easy it is
"(And to Brett - it's not as easy as you seem to think to release those latches - there are a variety of types, and sometimes I've been successful putting a seat back down and sometimes I've been quite unable, especially when trying to keep my balance on a moving bus.)"
I know how easy it is, because I've done it, several times- for myself or others.
There are TWO types. Count them, two. One of them is round finger-pull marked with a giant sticker that says "RELEASE". The other is a black knob, sometimes marked, sometimes not, but obvious in function. In both cases, they work exactly the same- you pull them straight out while optionally pushing the seat back a little to take tension off the mechanism. The whole thing then comes down very easily, and can be done one-handed while you hang on to something if the bus is moving. If you're unable to stand and do it, wait until the bus gets to traffic, a stop light, or (gasp) the next stop.
ROCKET SCIENCE.
Check your privilege.
Brett: Check your privilege, please. What you consider ridiculously easy may present much more of a challenge to a senior and/or a person with a disability--exactly the population for whom that seating is reserved.
Precisely the point I was
Precisely the point I was making all along.
Hey Brett
"There are TWO types. Count them, two. One of them is round finger-pull marked with a giant sticker that says "RELEASE". The other is a black knob, sometimes marked, sometimes not, but obvious in function."
So which of the TWO types is the yellow knob that doesn't pull out at all? I spent several minutes wrestling with one of those this morning. It could not be pulled straight out, although it could be pushed in a little bit, and also turned - unfortunately, with no result. Pushing back on the seat to break tension didn't help any.
Stop Requested
The yellow button is like the yellow tape above the seats -- to signal a stop request. Unfortunately, it's positioned such that some strollers parked there can activate it unintentionally with a bump, and the absence of a label leads riders to assume it's a seat release. Wouldn't surprise me if the one you encountered had been disabled.
Uh-oh
Uh-oh - my bad. In that case where the heck was the seat release? There wasn't anything else in sight.
I do it sometimes
Flip the seat back down. Just for the hell of it.