Okay I'm trying to buy a bus ticket home (my parents drove me here, but I need to get home before they're available to drive me back).
I called customer service and said "I have a knee scooter that needs to stay with me". And they said "oh do you have a wheel chair?" and I said "no, a knee scooter". And online they have "mobility device", but I'm getting the STRONG impression that they mean "wheelchair" by that.
But I don't have a wheelchair.
I do not know how to negotiate this and I'm terrified.
@Maenad you could try to ask them by calling them?
@DarckCrystale I did. The woman on the phone couldn't comprehend a mobility situation between "cane" and "wheelchair".
@Maenad I was talking about your two fears :/
@DarckCrystale yeah, but that's where it gets rough. If I had a cane, I could climb the stairs, so it wouldn't matter. If I had a wheelchair, I could sit in it in one of the designated wheelchair spots. Since I am intermediate, I can either climb nor sit on my mobility device.
@Maenad so they need to have someone to help you walk through the stairs?
@DarckCrystale help wouldn't be okay. I cannot climb stairs at all, even with assistance (at least, not at a reasonable pace - I have to go up basically pushing myself up on my butt, which requires me putting my hands on every step (gross) - and not narrows stairs at all - if I don't have room to sit and manouver I cannot push myself up). I need to be seated downstairs, but need a proper seat (not a gap in seating where a wheelchair would go), with nearby storage for my knee scooter (or someone to take my scooter and store it elsewhere and bring it when the bus stops).
(this is the type of device I have https://www.vivehealth.com/products/knee-walker-scooter?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=6379142852&gclid=Cj0KCQiAg4jSBRCsARIsAB9ooatk2yv9H2OMYBynV398CNjAFHhfZjsDqCjIKSZRsuPVwcaxpYTLgkAaAu6SEALw_wcB)
@DarckCrystale the buses kneel, so I can get onto the bus with difficulty, but I cannot climb the stairs, at all
@Maenad ok, that's sound just so difficult D:
Could you ask for a seat downstair?
@DarckCrystale sure, I CAN, but that means asking the driver when I get there. Calling won't help with that.
@Maenad ok, I understand why you're stressed * pat pat *
@Maenad it can't be uncommon for there to be people who walk with a cane or the like and thus require level access but only level access. Doesn't the online booking let you choose a seat? If it's possible to book with a human being I'd do that and just explain your concerns the very way you just did here
@gracie reserving a seat costs extra $$$
@amphetamine @Maenad that's true. Tho the stress of negotiating the booking procedures is a cost. I dated someone with avn, this kind of thing coloured their every day. For what it's worth it tended to come out fine if only for the kindness of strangers
@gracie @amphetamine the only downstairs seats available to reserve actually have less legroom than other seats (they're the "table" seats, so they face each other and you have to share minimal leg space with someone else).
I'm going to hope the driver is reasonable and chases people out of the downstairs seats as he should.
@Maenad @amphetamine you'd hope at least one of them would volunteer
@gracie @amphetamine weeeellll... so far ~30% of people I encounter seem to think this is a purely optional thing despite the totally fucking obvious cast on my leg. I get a lot of "oh I need one of those" from perfectly able bodied people, and past bus experiences have shown me that a lot of people are more irritated that I'm in their way than sympathetic.
@Maenad @amphetamine you only need there to be one decent person among them
@Maenad can you afford it? you don't deserve to have to rough it or to be fretting meantime
@Maenad oh no 🙁
I don’t have any advice to give, but good luck & stay safe
My main fears are 1) they won't reserve a seat for me on a level where I can get to it (double decker megabus - the other bus company that serves my area isn't running this week since students aren't taking the bus this week) or 2) they will assume I can sit on my scooter for 5 hours (I cannot, and doing so would not be safe).