'People don't move': Strollers vs. wheelchairs on Winnipeg Transit

People living with disabilities are calling on the City of Winnipeg to make sure they can catch a seat on the bus hassle-free. 

Advocates say overcrowded buses and parents with strollers are leaving wheelchair users on the curb. 

The Independent Living Resource Centre said parents with strollers are taking up accessibility spots on buses on a daily basis.  

Allen Mankewich, a wheelchair user and consultant with the Independent Living Resource Centre, said it's an issue he deals with regularly. 

"I had an issue myself the other day. There was myself on the bus, one of my colleagues [and an] oversized stroller with three wheels on the bus," Mankewich said.

"We basically had to play Tetris to get ourselves in and out of the bus."

Libby Zdriluk, 30, uses a power wheelchair to get around and said she's had to wait in frigid temperatures during the winter because strollers have taken the only space available for wheelchairs. 

She wants Winnipeg Transit drivers to make sure wheelchair users get on the bus hassle- and confrontation-free. 

Currently people with disabilities are being left to fend for themselves, she said. 

"I just wish the drivers would automatically say 'move over' or 'get off the bus for a minute,' but they just don't seem to do that," she said.  

The City of Winnipeg said it has decals on all of its low-floor buses to indicate designated areas for wheelchairs and strollers. 

Spokeswoman Alissa Clark said drivers are trained to help passengers with wheelchairs or strollers and are supposed to ask riders without mobility issues to move if a seat is needed. 

But Eva Beaudoin, 58, said it's always a struggle finding room on the bus when there's a stroller. She said she finds it awkward asking people to move so she can ride the bus. 

"I have to practically ask for a seat and then I get a dirty look," Beaudoin said.  

"People don't move."  

But not everyone in the disability community feels wheelchairs should be given priority over strollers.

Winnipeg disability advocate Jim Derksen said he wants the City of Winnipeg to add more flexible seating on its buses, so both wheelchairs and strollers have more room.  

"I believe in universal design and don't think our needs are any more important than parents with children," Derksen said.

John Callahan, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, which represents Winnipeg bus drivers, said the union wants more buses put on the street to help deal with the issue.  

He said drivers have raised concerns about strollers taking accessibility spots on the bus and the absence of a policy instructing drivers what to do about it.

"It's something that's been around for a long time, but there's been no official stand on how to approach it," Callahan said.

"I think they need to look real seriously at it."

U.K. Supreme Court case

In the U.K., the battle between a wheelchair user and a bus firm has gone to the country's Supreme Court.

Disability activist Doug Paulley took his case to a lower court in 2012 after being told he could not get on a bus when a mother with a stroller refused to move.

The Supreme Court held a hearing into the case in June and Paulley said he hopes to receive a ruling from the court in the coming months.

He said he is optimistic about the case and hopes it will end with better enforcement of the rights of people with disabilities.

"Public transport should be available for everybody," Paulley, 38, told CBC News via Skype from Wetherby, England.