Asking for what you need....

[MommytoMJM]

As an aside....When we parkhop (most of the time and most every weekend) we have a unique system....

Andrew seperates our chairs and loads me and MJ onto a bus and runs around and takes the car to wherever we are headed and meets us at the bus stop. Because of MJ's specific issues (seizures and swallowing disorders) the chairs have to be facing each other so I can see her in case something happens. The drivers usually accomodate us, but not without a lot of back and forth and stuff. So yesterday we went to the transportation manager and aksed if htere was anyway we could get a letter explaining our situation to showto the bus drivers so we don't have to go over this everytime and hold up the bus. Long story short, he is going to write something us and mail it to us so that we can be accomodated. I was very pleased at how seriously he took it and how it was handled......

 

[SueM in MN]

That's nice to hear.
Actually, for buses in general, facing forward or backward are both acceptable. I'm sure most bus drivers have never had anyone ask to sit facing backwards though.
The only way that is not OK is to face sideways, so they should be able to accomidate the way you want.
I don't know if this would work or not, but you could try having a picture taken of you when you are both in place the way you want to be. I'm sure it's difficult for some of the bus drivers to imagine what you are asking for and, as the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words.

 

[dclfun]

I have also been accomodated by a bus manager- for those who haven't seen my chair it's very long with medical equipment on the back. I cannot follow the recommended procedure of "backing in" on the lift. f I were to do this, my vent hoses could potentially be caught under the lift. I also cannot use a seat belt as it would then press against my PEG tube and be really painful. Every time I needed to board a bus, a lengthy "discussion" would ensue with them having to radio a manager before allowing me to board, and while I had to endure the stares of everyone in the queue or on the bus as I sat there. Finally a bus manager intervened and had them put my name in their log book and distributed communication- now in the past year since that has been done I've never had a problem. Now I have to deal with boarding solo with a service dog. Yikes! Kathy