Today, we are happy to announce that we’ve made Busbud.com a friendlier place for people travelling in wheelchairs. It’s now easier to find buses that have dedicated room on the bus for your wheelchair.
You’ll find the option to mark passengers as traveling in a wheelchair in the passenger selection panel, which is shown above for Desktop version of the Busbud website, and below for mobile web.
Our Android and iOS apps will be released with the update shortly as well.
Working with our partners to make the world more accessible
We’re working with our bus partners to increase this feature’s reach so we can make bus travel accessible to even more people. For example, we’ve investigated in the past if bus travel in the US is accessible, and our partner Greyhound has made great efforts to improve accessibility. We share that information with you in our results directly, highlighting departures that have dedicated passenger space for those traveling in a wheelchair.
Should those departures not be convenient, you can easily switch back to seeing all departures and choose the best one for you and your party. You can also store your wheelchair in the bus’ luggage compartment if you’d rather travel that way.
Other partners offer a more case by case approach, in which case we want to help passengers with information. For example, our partner OUIBUS can help travelers find a bus with a ramp and dedicated seating over the phone. In those cases, you can use Busbud to find the departures that are most convenient for you, and we’ll share the appropriate phone number for you to call in order to have a quick, productive conversation with the bus company.
Why we care about accessibility for all
I recently moved back to Montreal with my wife and two very young children and I’ve become quite familiar with the challenges of driving their giant stroller through the narrow store entrances, bumpy sidewalks and most subways without elevators. When we were looking to find which neighbourhood we’d move into from New York, I came across this article and couldn’t shake the reality that every day commuters face.
Looking back to our time in New York, I feel the American Disabilities Act (ADA) had a huge impact on improving accessibility for people with disabilities, but also for those without. For example, New York City has ramps and elevators to help people access mass transit.
We’re in a unique position at Busbud to help make bus travel between cities more accessible. And with the support of our bus partners, we can make it easier for people traveling with wheelchairs to find buses that can comfortably accommodate them as passengers.
We’re here to help you travel. And as always, your feedback is welcome.
Cheers,
Mike
Co-Founder, CTO, and giant stroller driver
PS If you want to help us make bus travel accessible to an ever increasing number of people, join us! We’re hiring!