SuperShuttle: Carseats are required!

[Alex2kMommy]

I know some of you are thinking, "Duh!"

When I booked my travel package, our agent said we did not need to bring carseats for our kids (ages 5 and nearly 2), and furthermore, SuperShuttle does not charge for the younger child as he would be a 'lap child'. This didn't sound right to me, but since she was the expert, I let it go.

But it bugged me, so I posted a question about it here. I got a lot of feedback, a couple of which said the travel agent was wrong, and I need to bring the carseats anyway. (Others pointed out that, even if CA law permitted it, it's not safe.)

So today I called SuperShuttle to make the reservation, and before I could even ask the carseat question, the gentleman warned me that they will not transport any child under the age of 5 without a carseat, and asked for my assurance that we will bring one as they could not provide them. I assured him we would have carseats, but I was concerned that we did not have a voucher for the youngest. Fortunately, he said they do not charge for transporting children 2/under, so we're OK.

I wanted to post this in case anyone else had read the previous thread and was not planning to bring their child's carseat... Be warned!

 

[mimichan]

Hi,
When we went in March, we traveled with a 14 month old toddler and were planning on taking the Disneyland Express bus into Anaheim from LAX since we were not planning on bringing a carseat and carseats are not required on buses (no way to strap them in since no seatbelts on buses). Anyway, when we arrived at LAX and got our suitcases and were waiting at the area where you catch the bus, a man driving a "Mickey" shuttle van approached us and asked where we were going. When we told him Disneyland, he asked how many of us and then said he could take us there along with another group that was also there. I told him we didn't have a carseat for the infant and he said a carseat wasn't required and that it would be okay for the child to sit on a lap. We ended up going with him and also returned to the airport via the same shuttle service. I know we took a chance going with the shuttle but I'm wondering what the law really is? When I called a taxi company in California to ask if carseats were required in cabs the reply was that they will pick you up and let the infant/child ride w/o a carseat but if they happened to get stopped by an officer, the parent would be fined, not the cab driver. So now does that mean you need to bring 2 carseats for your children? I hope the shuttle will make sure there is enough room since now your children will be taking up seats with their carseats.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

That's very interesting, mimichan! I'm wondering if the shuttle was SuperShuttle, do you remember?

Someone in the earlier post said California law requires carseats for kids (I forget what the cutoff ages and weights are, because both my kids are well under), and what the taxi driver said is true; it is the parents that are required to follow the law, and they will get the fine, not the transportation company.

Even though the guy at SuperShuttle said children 'under 5' need a carseat, I know the law says something like age 8 or 10, so we probably will bring both. I think the shuttle is supposed to be an 8-person van, and that includes the driver, so I'm guessing 3 other people could ride with us. Hopefully that means a quick trip to the hotel.

 

[amw]

Here's the previoous thread on carseats:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1043844&highlight=carseat

The gist of it was 6 years/60 lbs. There was confusion about shuttle requirements, but I'll let you weed through it

 

[mimichan]

The shuttle (van) that picked us up was not the SuperShuttle (blue van). This company was called Mickey's Shuttle Service (or something like that). It was a white van with the name printed on the side. To tell you the truth, I wish we actually went with the bus instead of the van because it was very uncomfortable for us. We were all cramped into this van (our group had 5 adults w/infant) and the other group had 3 adults, so we were really cramped in there. Also, we had so much luggage, along w/stroller that everything barely fit it. All our handcarries were on our laps. Also the air conditioning in the van wasn't very good so it was pretty stuffy in there. My DH wanted to just go with them since they were already there and it was going to be a direct service to the hotel (they dropped us off first). I wish you luck with the SuperShuttle. There's been a lot of good reviews on the SuperShuttle so you should be okay with them. Have fun!

 

[Janomi]

Sorry for not knowing the answer for shuttles, but for normal cars, the minimum cut off for a child out of a car seat is 6 years old AND 60 lbs.

 

[Dukland]

Gosh, I think we went SuperShuttle last year, and no one ever mentioned car seats for us. Since our ds was 19 months, we had a car seat for him, from the airplane ride. But our dd was 4.5 years at the time, and we didn't have a car seat at all for her. When we rode the shuttle, Dd had her own seat, and Ds rode on our lap. They put Ds' car seat in the back with our luggage.

It is a lot safer for children to ride in a car seat. I am glad we are driving this year, so we will have our own seats and won't have to worry about all that.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

It will be interesting to see what happens. DH is convinced the driver will just toss the carseats in with the luggage and not want us to fuss with installing them in a seat... If I have to haul these things through 2 airports, I'm gonna use 'em!

 

[lntsmom]

for the trip back didn't want the seat, either!!! To top it off, we couldn't use it on the airplanes, either, so I hauled a booster cross country for nothing!!!

I know everyone here strongly disagreed with me last time I posted this, but my experience was that unless you have a small child, the booster will just be a pain. Mind you, my son is very large for his age. He was only 4, but he looks at least a couple of years older than he is.

I'd say if you have children who are obviously smaller, the boosters would be worth it. I took the one that is just a seat and arms and even considered just disposing of it at the airport on the way home!