No, you can't. Your next sentence ...
> (NYC subway stroller parents please don't ram in a Humvee size stroller during peak hour).
... is a nice demonstration of your selfish, thoughtless, demanding, lack of understanding.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12305558 and marked it off-topic.
Calm down sir those are some harsh words. Subways are dangerous disgusting disease-prone place anyway for young infants. Maybe parents should use cabs often. Cab fares should be included as part of child-care costs which most parents include in their detailed plan before they decide to raise a child.
> Cab fares should be included ... detailed plan before they decide to raise a child.
You simply don't have the necessary perspective here. Come back to this conversation when you're a NYC parent.
Let's say a family owns one stroller. It is large (one of those top-of-the-line models), and it was a gift from a registry. The family usually stays in Brooklyn, but occasionally rides the subway into Manhattan.
You want a family to buy a second stroller just to save a few inches on those occasional trips?
Or let's say you're a parent or nanny responsible for watching a child. You don't want to stay home all day, so you pack the supplies necessary to travel around and do stuff. Which requires space to hold things.
You want that caregiver to travel in a taxi all day instead of the subway?
It's easy to judge from afar. Life with kids is hard and expensive and complicated. Becoming a parent changes your perspective.
Just because you're a parent doesn't mean everyone should bend over backwards for you.
The attitude of "I have a legitimate use of public transport, and fuck those parents for daring to use it at the same time as me" sucks.
By "NYC parent" you mean people who actually live here especially in Manhattan and I am excluding tourists as NYC parents as it is beyond me that why in the world would anyone want to bring their young kids on a trip to the New York City! Why did you never think about moving to somewhere peaceful as in New Jersey to raise a family? A lot of my coworkers moved there the moment they decided to have kids. I will move there or to some outer borough or outside of NYC eventually if I decide to have kids of my own one day.
I have seen parents fighting with homeless people on the subways when they try to interact with their kid. I have seen parents using twin-strollers just for one kid. Confirmed by my own neighbor, this is actually a “trick” that most young parents use in NYC. It apparently gives them more room on the walk path or in the subway and they can use the secondary space for groceries etc.
I hear you, but there is no substitute for actually being a parent, with all the struggles and rewards that come with it.
Have you ridden the New York subway, or taken care of an infant? They're not crawling on the floor, putting random things in their mouth. And other subway riders aren't spitting at my child when I take her on the subway, either.
> Maybe parents should use cabs often. Cab fares should be included as part of child-care costs which most parents include in their detailed plan before they decide to raise a child.
In your magic world where cab fare is paid for, sure, I agree. But in the real world, there are people who can't afford cabs, but still need to take their child to the doctor, or to daycare, or to a family member, or wherever.
When we picked out our stroller, we definitely picked a smaller one - both as a courtesy to everyone around us, but also as a convenience for us. You think it's fun being bumped by a stroller in a subway car? Imagine how fun it is trying to negotiate a stroller through one. And onto a elevator. And on the street.
Fair enough; poor people during winter should just push their kids in a stroller 30 blocks through snow to the pediatrician.
> Heard of crazies pushing onto the subway lane?
Yup. Happens so rarely that my kid is in more danger when I'm pushing her across a crosswalk.
> Or the extreme humidity these days that make the subway atmosphere like a baking oven where your child is constantly crying in agony and discomfort.
That is a definite concern in the stations, but the trains themselves are air conditioned.
But the end point is that it's public transit, and it's ridiculous to suggest that certain members of the public are assholes for daring to use it just because they have children.