Category: Life in Ottawa

Today, OC Transpo is issuing new guidelines on the management of the priority seating on buses. The guidelines will no doubt be both controversial and divisive, because the gist of the proposed guidelines include a new “stroller policy” that “limits the size and number of open strollers on board at at any one time, while encouraging customers to fold and stow upon boarding the bus. Customers are expected to be able to manage the stroller, the child any other items they have with them.”

(Please excuse me while I pause to snort, roll my eyes and recompose myself. Ahem, where were we?)

Oh yes, we didn’t get to the section about “Stroller Eligibility”:

An open stroller occupied by a child will be allowed on the bus if:
a) It is capable of being folded
b) It is capable of being safely stowed
c) It will not interfere with other passengers or with the safe movement of passengers within the transit vehicle:and
d) It can be wheeled, or (when folded) carried, through the aisle without contacting the seats.

And then it goes on to say that open strollers can only occupy the wheelchair spot on the bus, only one stroller may occupy one of the two wheelchair spots, regardless of whether a wheelchair is present or not; that double strollers are permitted but do not have to be folded; and that triple and larger strollers are not allowed at all.

The thing is, I get where they are coming from. I really do. Strollers are inconvenient, and they do take up a lot of room. Some people have really big strollers, and maybe they could consider using a smaller stroller when they know they have to take the bus. But what I said in my letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen back in October 2008 still applies here:

Stay off buses?
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, October 09, 2008

Re: Strollers are headache for drivers, passengers, Oct. 8.

I read with interest Doloros Swallow’s letter and union leader André Cornellier’s comments in Kelly Egan’s column (”Try sitting in the bus driver’s seat”) about strollers on OC Transpo buses.

As a mother of three boys under seven and a regular user of OC Transpo, I’d like to ask these people: what else should mothers of babies do? Do you recommend they leave the strollers at home and carry their babies and toddlers everywhere? That’s not so easy with a 30-pound napping toddler.

Perhaps they should stay off the buses altogether? Isn’t one of the main tenets of public transportation supposed to be that it should be accessible to those who don’t have other means of transportation?

You might argue that there are smaller strollers available on the market. Even if you overlook the fact that umbrella-type folding strollers are not appropriate for very young babies, you should try pushing one through even the thinnest sheen of slush on Ottawa’s winter sidewalks, let alone in more than a couple of centimetres of fresh snow. I’m lucky enough to be able to afford more than one stroller — one for foul weather and one for small spaces. Many other parents are not so fortunate.

Yes, it’s difficult to manoeuvre around one or more strollers at the front of an OC Transpo bus. Yes, mothers (and other caregivers) should do what they can to take up as small a space as possible.

But I think we all have enough things to worry about right now without castigating people who are simply trying to do the very same thing you are — to get from one place to another with as little hassle and inconvenience as possible.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

I think it’s ridiculous that OC Transpo is making an actual policy out of this. How are they going to enforce it, when they don’t enforce the current priority seating? (Trust me, I’ve spent many many hours standing on buses in an extremely pregnant state, wishing the driver would suggest that someone give up a seat for me but too bashful to demand one myself.) Oh sure, I know, you can wear your baby in a backpack or a sling — but despite my own favour for it, not everybody is comfortable with babywearing. There really is a place for strollers.

And seriously, can you picture it? You’re on the bus with your baby and you’re likely carrying at least a diaper bag. Perhaps you’ve even had the temerity to buy something, and you have some packages to balance as well. You’re supposed to get on the bus, remove your baby from the stroller, fold it up, hopefully get your ass in a seat before the bus lurches away from the curb, and you’ve got to balance the folded-up stroller, the baby, and whatever other “items” you might have with you. Better hope it’s not nap time! We all know how much sleeping babies love to be woken up. God forbid you have another child, perhaps a little older than the baby but someone who still needs help to sit still or to keep from falling off the seat as the bus lurches and lunges across town. And then you’re either supposed to open the stroller, with the baby (and maybe some packages, perhaps an umbrella or a diaper bag) still in your arms no less, and put the baby back in the stroller in time for your stop. Or perhaps you’re supposed to carry the whole kit and caboodle off the bus and THEN reassemble everything?

This is so unbelievable ridiculous only a committee could have come up with it. Of all my rants against OC Transpo — and oh, how I could go on! — this one policy takes the cake. If we’re going to be regulating strollers on buses, can we do something about the size of backpacks? Because I’ve taken a few of those to the face. And what about the sound blasting out of the headphones of the guy beside me? Or the woman who douses herself in Eau de Fifi before she goes to work? Or the dude who smells like he hasn’t bathed since the Grunge era?

Shame on OC Transpo and shame on the City of Ottawa for considering this divisive, controversial and ultimately boneheaded policy.

Edited to add: Well, well, well, I have to say that I retract my last comment. Thanks to Lana for letting us know that today the city decided against the new stroller policy. Oh well, it was a good rant, and I worked myself into quite the froth writing it, so it seems a shame to take it down. Props to the City of Ottawa for making the right call on this one!

Dear nurses, paramedics, city staff and others who were staffing the Walter Baker H1N1 vaccination clinic yesterday:

Thank you.

I tried, as I was moving through the various stations and lines yesterday to say thank you personally to as many people as I encountered, but from what I’ve seen, each and every one of you should be applauded.

We had intended to show up around 1:15 pm to line up for the clinic that was scheduled to open at the Walter Baker Centre in Barrhaven at 2:30 pm, but I noticed on Twitter around 11:30 that someone said they had already received their numbered bracelet, so I hustled my 20-month-old and five-year-old sons out the door by a little after noon, making arrangements for my mother to pick up my seven-year-old from his school at 1:15 as I’d originally planned.

We waited in the first line up at Walter Baker to get our numbered bracelets for maybe 30 minutes, maybe a little bit longer. My only suggestion would be that you put someone near the end of that line to explain to newcomers what to do and what to expect. When I asked the person handing out the bracelets for one for my seven-year-old son, whom I understand is outside the priority age group but whom I really wanted to have vaccinated to save me a third and fourth trip to the vaccine clinics, he said no but when I asked to speak to a higher authority (politely, and stepping out of the line to do so, so that I wouldn’t keep others waiting unneccesarily) the public health nurse flagged us through before I even finished my request.

We were given our bracelets and told to return at 4:30 pm. I can’t tell you how impressed I am by your system and its relative efficiency, and how grateful I was to spend the waiting period with the baby napping in his own crib and both boys in school where they belonged, rather than trying to engage them for hours on the community centre floor. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When we returned at exactly 4:30, they were already calling our numbers into the queue for registration. There was some confusion as to where we should stand and how we could obtain the necessary paperwork, but it was fairly easy to resolve. Despite the fact that they must have been exhausted from dealing with frustrated, stressed and not always pleasant people all day long, everyone who directed us was unfailingly pleasant and obviously trying to make the best of the situation.

We waited nearly an hour in the registration queue, a good portion of which was taken up by me completing all five forms. Once our paperwork was checked, we didn’t even have to queue in the secondary waiting area for our shots — we were brought directly to an available station.

The majority of the stations seemed to be staffed by paramedics when we were there, although we saw a public health nurse. She was pleasant and efficient, although even then it probably took her at least 15 minutes to work her way through all of our injections. While they were waiting, the big boys entertained each other by finding the children at other stations who were making the biggest fuss. When it was their turn, my seven-year-old didn’t even flinch, the five-year-old fought back tears, and the baby howled blue murder for about a minute. And we were done.

In all, we waited half an hour for our bracelets in the morning and were in and out of the clinic in 90 minutes in the afternoon. I know many, many people will complain about how poorly run things were, how inconvenient it was, and a litany of other complaints. In fact, one woman tried to get a bracelet when I was getting mine by jumping the queue, saying she was diabetic and needed one but needed to get back to work. She was told to wait in the queue, and she refused. We ended up riding the elevator down together, and she looked at me and shook her head and said, “Isn’t this ridiculous? What a mess!” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Actually, I think they’re doing a pretty good job.” She looked at my kids, my stroller and the bag full of activities I’d packed expecting an all-day wait and said, “Well, some of us WORK for a living.” I grinned my least pleasant grin and told her that I too work for a living — I’d just prioritized this and planned ahead. She stalked away without another word.

All that to say, I have no doubt that you will hear numerous complaints, both legitimate and otherwise, about how the city of Ottawa is running its H1N1 vaccine clinics, but my family would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who contributed to the clinic at Walter Baker Centre yesterday. You did a great job.

Sincerely,
DaniGirl

P.S. I have less than pleasant things to say about OC Transpo, but I’ll save those for another day…