Baby Ban on Buses

The motion

That the Parliament notes with concern reports that Lothian Buses has introduced what appears to be a ban on prams on its buses; considers the bus company’s apparent decision to ensure that the dedicated space provided on its newer vehicles should not be used for prams but should be left vacant for wheelchair users, even where no one requires it, to be discriminatory towards young families and infants; recognises the vital importance of making public transport more accessible to disabled users, but feels strongly that it would be inappropriate for a service provider to exclude other service users when the space is available; suggests that it is not acceptable that a large number of parents, the vast majority of whom are women, may be deprived of the ability to use their local bus service because Lothian Buses does not seem to be taking a common-sense approach to the use of space on its buses; notes that any exclusion of prams from Lothian Buses’ services is likely to impact worst on poor families and single parents with no access to other forms of transport, resulting in the further exclusion of an already severely marginalised group, and, therefore, urges the Scottish Government to ensure that Lothian Buses, or any other bus service provider, is required to revisit any decision to implement unnecessary and potentially discriminatory access restrictions on its services.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

Lab 6 SNP 4 LD 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S3M-02389 by reference.