Priority Seats on Buses

Years ago there were no such things as 'priority seats' on buses.  If you were disabled, or in a wheelchair or had a child in a buggy you didn't get any 'special' treatment.  In fact if you were in a wheelchair I don't even think that you could go on a bus.  As far as I remember there was absolutely no way that one would be able to get a wheelchair onto a bus.  And for the poor mothers who were struggling with kids in buggies and shopping etc, going on a bus was almost impossible.  They had to take their kids out of the buggy, fold up the buggy, struggle onto the bus holding the buggy, the child, the shopping and usually another young child as well.

These days, buses have wheelchair spaces, buggy spaces, priority seating and apparently one can also get a card to show to the driver that indicates that one has 'special needs' and needs extra time to get on the bus and find somewhere to sit.

Now, whilst I think that all this has got to be a good thing..........................  What I object to is people who abuse this system.

Take yesterday for example.  I got on the bus with my dog and sat in the wheelchair space.  If I am on the bus with my dog I like to sit in either the wheelchair space or the buggy space because there is room for my dog to lie down and she is out of the way of everyone else.  Obviously if I see a wheelchair user or buggy get onto the bus I move.

So there I am, sitting in the wheelchair space when the bus approaches a bus stop and I see an old man leaping around, waving his walking stick at the bus to signal for it to stop.  Actually I don't think that the old man was any older than me but that's beside the point.  I glanced around and noted that the buggy space was still free as were three of the priority seats.  Whoopee dooo I thought - I can stay where I am.

................Except when the old man (who I don't think was that old) got on the bus, he looked directly at me and said, 'Who's going to let me sit down?'  Other people on the bus pointed to the free four priority seats but old man (who I don't think was that old) said, 'I'm better in that seat'.

So then I felt obliged to move.  Not being one for confrontation I didn't even ask him why.  I just gave up my seat and moved.  And then after I'd done that I thought to myself; why have I done that?  He's not in a wheelchair, he's just a bit frail and there are four other priority seats available.  And what made it even worse was - the minute he sat down he proceeded to take out some sort of stinky crisp bread rivitta thing, covered in goodness only knows what, and was sitting munching away with the crumbs dripping down onto his horrible stinky anorak.

..................And then....................... when he got off the bus...................... he made a huge palaver about not getting up out of his seat until the bus had actually stopped.  He hobbled off the bus, using his stick and the bus drove off.

BUT..................  I looked back and actually saw him walking along the road without his stick.

Seriously not happy that people are abusing the priority seating on buses in this way???!!!