Not familiar with your area.
I've seen a solo wheelchair user happily* travelling on the 111, so it
can be done!

(* Looking less miserable than the rest of us bus travellers, at
least)

On 20 Nov, 21:52, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
....
I sat in the chair waiting for the bus. When it came, the driver did not
offer use of the ramp and my partner struggled to push me through the
front doors. At Cricklewood Bus Garage, we were instructed to alight and
join another bus, which was driven by the same driver. Again, there was
neither offer of a ramp or any mention of one. The same was true when we
alighted at Burnt Oak.

Do we have to demand a ramp?

I've no idea what the official guidance is, but I'm pretty sure I've
seen marked bell-pushes on the outside of some buses, suggesting
that you're expected to request the ramp. At the first stop, was it
obvious you wanted to board that particular bus ? (sounds harsh, but
if
it serves several routes and there was a rush of other passengers
then
he may simply not have realised. After that he's got a bit less of an
excuse!).

All the on-board wheelchair bays seem to have a special blue
bell-push with a wheelchair symbol; it would seem a good idea to
always use that as a matter of course, so that even friendly
drivers know to pull in to the stop such that they can deploy the
ramp.

My partner looks young and fit.

You lucky thing - maybe the driver just wanted a closer look

....
I suspect the drivers are reluctant to deploy the ramps...

Quite likely - it *seems* to take ages even when the ramp works,
and if it fails then it really can take several minutes by the time
the
driver's got out and applied his boot to it a couple of times.
It probably depends on the depot to some extent - if the local routes
have the ramps regularly used, the drivers are more likely to trust
them.

I agree that you should raise this with TfL but in practice I suspect
the best thing would be to always ask for the ramp, at the earliest
opportunity.

Hth

Henry