OC Transpo is sticking to “pretty much the status quo” for strollers on city buses.
A proposed new policy for managing the priority areas of buses would have a limited the number of open strollers on a bus at anytime, but Wednesday the transit committee voted to relax those restrictions.
“It’s unrealistic to expect people to automatically stow and fold. It’s going to be more of a problem than anything else,” said Rideau-Vanier Coun. George Bedard. “If there is room on the bus for them to access the aisle and it doesn’t impede the other passengers, then we should allow them to move onto the bus.”
The relaxed policy still requires parents to park strollers in vacant wheelchair positions. If those positions are not available or are needed later in the trip, the strollers could move to the aisles, but only if they do not interfere with other passengers. If that is not possible, bus operators will ask the parent to fold the stroller and stow it.
Vicky Kyriaco, the manager of transit marketing and customer service said the policy was intended to clarify what to do with high demand space at the front of the bus.
