How do you attach a car seat in a greyhound

I have a Sunshine Kids 65 lb seat, and wanted to travel on greyhound, but discovered that you're 'welcome to use a child restraint, but provide the webbing/strapping' to attach the car seat to the bus seat?????

Help??

[Patriot201]

In all the buses I have been in, the first row of passenger seats has seatbelts and all the people using carseats have used those first four seats, which all have seatbelts. Could you get one of those seats?

[papooses]

The front seats of the bus may have seatbelts of some sort, but I wouldn't say it's likely (I've never seen it & the policy quoted here doesn't sound like they do) -- I would call the carseat manufacturer for their ideas.... You might be given permission to use a heavy duty ratcheting strap or something, but you might also be warned that anything other than LATCH or approved seatbelt voids liability: in which case, I personally would make the parental decision to resort to a ratcheting strap because in the end the laws of physics require the carseat to be restained in some method (when approved methods don't exist) & I'd rather risk voiding liability than my child's life. More than that I would simply find transportation that allows correct installation of the carseat!

[MomToEliEm]

I looked up the grayhoud website FAQ on carseat use and it says this (I am assuming you have already seeen this, but thought I should post it for others to see):

Child Safety Seats
Customers are welcome to use child safety seats on Greyhound buses. However, the seat space must be purchased at the discounted child fare. You should ensure that your child seat has been approved for use in a motor vehicle, and is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

It is your responsibility to secure the child seat to the bus seat with strapping or webbing that is approved by the child seat manufacturer. You are responsible for providing the strapping or the webbing. You should also secure your child in the child seat with a manufacturer-approved lap and/or shoulder belt/harness. Greyhound does not provide lap and/or shoulder belts/harnesses.

I would recommend calling a local grayhoud bus station and ask them what is standard on the buses. They may be able to tell you what is common and if it is likely that you would be able to get a seat with a seatbelt. The grayhound FAQ doesn't even hint that there are seatbelts at all, but there just might be.

[Kashi]

I have travelled on plenty of busses, sitting in front, middle, back and everywhere in between. I have NEVER seen a seatbelt on anything other than the driver's seat.

[sfeitler]

Originally Posted by MomToEliEm

I would recommend calling a local grayhoud bus station and ask them what is standard on the buses. They may be able to tell you what is common and if it is likely that you would be able to get a seat with a seatbelt. The grayhound FAQ doesn't even hint that there are seatbelts at all, but there just might be.

Or maybe you could go look at a typical Greyhound bus and get an idea of what you'd need to rig, to hold the seat in.

-Sarah

[Momto2whosews]

Originally Posted by MomToEliEm

I looked up the grayhoud website FAQ on carseat use and it says this (I am assuming you have already seeen this, but thought I should post it for others to see):

Child Safety Seats
Customers are welcome to use child safety seats on Greyhound buses. However, the seat space must be purchased at the discounted child fare. You should ensure that your child seat has been approved for use in a motor vehicle, and is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.

It is your responsibility to secure the child seat to the bus seat with strapping or webbing that is approved by the child seat manufacturer. You are responsible for providing the strapping or the webbing. You should also secure your child in the child seat with a manufacturer-approved lap and/or shoulder belt/harness. Greyhound does not provide lap and/or shoulder belts/harnesses.

I would recommend calling a local grayhoud bus station and ask them what is standard on the buses. They may be able to tell you what is common and if it is likely that you would be able to get a seat with a seatbelt. The grayhound FAQ doesn't even hint that there are seatbelts at all, but there just might be.

From that website info, I am interpreting that to mean the bus seats have lower anchors or something similar (probably not tethers, so they can't call it LATCH) and that the parent needs to supply the LATCH strap to secure the seat. But I would call the company and/or go to the station to check it out for sure.

[papooses]

This is very interesting! I know buses are so much less likely to crash than passenger cars, but I am hoping that someday they'll at least have lap belts to prevent people from becomming projectiles in the event of a crash (not that everyone would use them anyway)

[Patriot201]

Originally Posted by Kashi

I have travelled on plenty of busses, sitting in front, middle, back and everywhere in between. I have NEVER seen a seatbelt on anything other than the driver's seat.

Hmm...

When I was in LA last month, we used a lot of charter buses (I think four or five different ones??) and ALL of them had lapbelts in the first row of seats.

When I went to NY, I took a charter bus. The first row of seats had lapbelts.

When I took a field trip with students to JMU a few years ago, our charter bus had lapbelts in the first row.

That's weird. Maybe I have just been lucky each time????

[papooses]

Charter buses are probably different -- like all the shuttle buses I've been in have had ALR lap belts in every seat....

I called the long distance number for greyhound customer service and was told they didn't have seat belts

I was wondering if the LATCH belts built into my car seat are what they're referring to.... shoulda though to ask that,,, after my 20 minute wait on hold

grrrr,,, this is quite frustrating