A carseat convenient enough for use on transit bus?

Hello everyone,
I have a question, and I was hoping someone here could help me out.

I do not have a car or a license, so my 3 year old daughter and I have to take the local transit bus wherever we go. My daughter was rear faced until her 3rd birthday, And I had no choice but to front face her with a new carseat because I couldn't afford a $250+ carseat to rearface her longer. So because of this, I bought a Safety 1st seat for $120- Which was as much as I could afford. BUT front facing is better than nothing especially since she's safe. Heck, our bus driver told us we're the only family that uses a car seat on the entire route (this includes newborn babies who are just plopped on the seat like a sack of groceries)- Which seems absurd because the parents just don't feel like carrying a carseat with them. Our buses are fully equipped with regular lap belts, so a carseat is easy to install. There's no excuse in my opinion.

Now, Her carseat is 25 lbs, and I don't mind carrying it around with us because I know she's safe, and that is all that matters. It's hard lugging it, and my daughter and groceries, but at least I don't have to worry about her safety. I would however like a lighter carseat....But I can't find ANYTHING online about this type of situation. It seems that public transit buses are totally neglected when it comes to safety in seats for children. I wrote the company for the Safeguard STAR seat and they said it was only to be used on school buses....And they didn't know of any seats that were usable for regular transit buses that were lightweight AND foldable, etc

If I can't find a lightweight/travel friendly seat to buy, it's okay, I'll just continue lugging the 25 pounder everywhere we go LOL, But I would still like to see if there are any other options out there
Thanks!!!!

Great job on keeping your daughter RF until 3- that's awesome!

How much does she weigh, and what's her torso height? Sit her against a wall cross-legged and measure from bum to shoulder to get torso height.

Thank you

Almost 14" torso length, and she is 30.5 Lbs

I think for her size, your best bet would be an Evenflo Maestro. It harnesses to 50 pounds and has approximately 18" top harness slots. According to the spreadsheets here the seat weighs 10 pounds.

I believe all "portable" or "foldable" car seats require either a lap/shoulder belt or a top tether, which it doesn't sound like your bus has.

How about an Evenflo Maestro? It should last her quite a while and it is super light.

Thank you I just looked it up, it sounds like a good option for us!!! When I bought the Safety 1st seat, I didn't realize that in order for it to be used as a booster, it needed the shoulder belt, and our bus doesn't have that! I was so disappointed, so once she outgrows the regular carseat weight/height limit, I won't be able to use our current carseat as a booster....so disappointing. So I need to get a replacement fairly soon.

No boosters work with just a lap belt. Harnessed car seats may be installed with lap belts, but they're no good for boosters.

Once your daughter has reached the harnessed limit of her car seat, she'll have to switch to either just the lap belt or nothing. I'll let a tech clarify which would be the preferred option for a transit bus, but that's years away at this point.

That's true, I was just hoping there were other options. I hope by that point I will have a car but there is no guarantee....But at least she's safe for now. Would the Maestro be usable without a shoulder belt? I never see any specifications for that type of thing, I guess it's not very common to have ONLY a lap belt these days. I just don't want to buy it only to find that we cannot use it.

I wrote evenflo about the Maestro, To see if it can be used with JUST a lap belt...I don't think so though judging by the installation video....

Are there any other lightweight carseats available that only use the lapbelt, but have a decent height/weight limit? I'm sorry if I'm asking so many questions haha, this situation is just very difficult lol

You can install the Maestro with just a lap belt in harness mode. If you ride in a car/taxi/other non-bus/train vehicle, attach the top tether if possible.

That's wonderful! Sounds like that's the seat for us I'll order one this week. Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

Do the seatbelts on your transit bus lock? I've never hear of a public transportation bus having seatbelts, so this whole discussion is an eye opener to me!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the GoGo Kidz Travelmate. It's a little more expensive than a Maestro, but you could pop it off for install. It doesn't work with every carseat, but it's another option to consider.

mdsvc89 said:

Do the seatbelts on your transit bus lock? I've never hear of a public transportation bus having seatbelts, so this whole discussion is an eye opener to me!

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Unless they are belts with a sewn-on latchplate and non-locking retractor, which is unlikely on a bus, lap-only belts lock.

Speaking of belts- are there always/almost always extra seatbelts around? If there's one in the row behind, temporary tethering is an option (tethering to the seatbelt behind.) It could significantly increase safety and later open up some options...