I recently saw that someone online was wondering if they can take a mobility scooter on a bus in the UK.

If the thought is to take one on the bus as a mobility scooter is usually seen, and not folded up, also to be able to ride the scooter straight onto the bus then i doubt that there would be many bus services that could accommodate this that are running as part of public transport services.

Although many newer buses on many routes in cities and towns throughout the UK can accommodate people much better now with wider entrances, more spacious areas at the front of buses, hydraulics to lower and raise the platforms for people to step onto and off of the bus easier and the ability to push a wheelchair easier on many buses, theres still a few problems in place that would make it difficult to ride a mobility scooter onto a bus.

Most mobility scooters are too wide to be able to maneuver onto and off of a bus without problems, the only way to take a mobility scooter onto a bus is with a folding one, and preferably one that folds without any or too many parts having to be removed first.

Also the problem of being able to position the mobility scooter quickly and without problems on the bus would be difficult, unlike a wheelchair that can be turned and moved in a way that wont cause any obstruction once securely position to one side near the front of a bus.

The power that a mobility scooter has could also make it difficult to steer on and off of a bus safely, and there’s also the fact that as many bus stops have shelters and some are more narrow than others, that even if the bus can accommodate a mobility scooter easily, that the task of trying to move through the bus stop may prove to be a challenge in itself.

While public transport lends itself much better now to people with mobility needs, there are still a few challenges faced that currently prevent some mobility aids from being used on some forms of public transport.

Any area of a vehicle that houses electronic parts and controls is usually better off protected from the elements, even though a mobility scooter is designed to be used in all weathers, it’s still good to protect certain areas of the scooter from exposure if you can.

A control panel cover will mostly protect the control panel from the rain, the main area is still transparent so you can still clearly and easily see the control panel properly but any rain that does fall on this area will mostly run off and the cover will not affect the steering or anything else in the controls and handles area.

This type of cover is designed to fit most mobility scooters and is very easy to fit into place and fasten and equally can be removed as quickly and easily.

You can usually find one of these covers for around £12, a small investment to protect an important part of your mobility scooter.

While reading online and in newspapers too, it’s suprising the amount of people that have witnessed mobility scooters being operated in a less safe manner than most would expect, and even the fact that every now and then someone actually gets hit by one and in some extreme cases there have been road collisions involving a mobility scooter and other road vehicles, sadly resulting in a loss of life in some cases.

There has been some discussion regarding this in the comments of one of the articles here on mobilityright at be seen on your mobility scooter and it appears that mobility scooter users can become frustrated at times with pedestrians and road users not using common sense but equally there is an agreement and understanding for mobility scooter users themselves to operate safely while on pavements, roads and especially within very public areas like shopping parades, highstreets and indoor shopping centres.

While some mobility scooter users will have insurance, not all will be covered and it depends what a policy may actually cover them for, but prevention of an accident or incident is much better than having to deal with a difficult situation where a pedestrian is hit by a mobility scooter or a car is involved in an accident with a mobility scooter.

A good place to start with regards to safety is with the retailers themselves, and fortunately most will provide some basic guidance and training of safe an correct use of a mobility scooter, but of course the retailer from the moment of actually selling to the customer, can then only rely on the user being a responsble individual once they are out and about and within the general public.

It’s a bit like how a driving instructor can teach you the most correct way to perform each task in order to drive safely and accordingly, not just for yourself but for the safety of other road users and pedestrians, but of course once you have passed your driving test and you’re out there on the road by yourself then some of what your driving instructor told you to do will quickly become less of a habit, you will pick up a few bad habits (this is quite natural) and the driving instructor that you had can not be there with you anymore and is not responsible any longer for how you drive.

While a mobility scooter can only travel at a few miles an hour, they can still cause some damage if they were to hit a pedestrian.

If a mobility scooter is hit by a motorbike, a car or a larger vehicle, theres the unfortunate and very likely possibility that the mobility scooter and its user are going to come off worse from an accident and theres the very real risk of a fatality from an accident like that.

Also it’s worth taking into account that users wont be wearing a protective helmet so if you had an accident in which you are thrown to the ground or slammed against something then the risk of a head injury could turn into a very serious situation.

While you cant be responsible for the actions of road users and pedestrians, you can be responsible for your own safety and how you operate your mobility scooter by doing everything as correctly as you can, altering your speed when necessarry, making yourself visible with high visibility clothing or something attached to your mobility scooter that brings attention to you and helps people to see you easily.

Hopefully the majority of the time, most motorists are keeping their eyes open for you, and hopefully most people using public pavements and areas are doing the same too, but you know that it only takes that one person not looking, a person listening to music, a child running around, maybe a dog not on a lead , even a person who suddenly makes a rush across the pavement to catch a bus, all of these possibilities and more can happen at any time, quite often hard to see coming and not always avoidable.

In an ideal world, none of us would get in each others way and public pavements and roads would be safe places, but unfortunately in our very real and often dangerous world we all have a responsibility to look out for each other as well as ourselves.

You can only do so much, and some things will be unavoidable at times but at least if you do your bit for street safety, not only are you contributing to a safer public environment, but you know that should something go wrong and an accident does happen, then you can feel assured that you did everything  right.

Stay safe.