Has anyone else had this problem? In the last month, I have been antagonized by a woman who refused to move even though the tram was almost empty, pushed by a man as I tried to reach my 4yo and push the stroller on the tram, and told "F*** You". I find most people here polite, but public transportation can be brutal.
It is not like I have a big choice of locations to put my stroller on the trams in Basel. Why do people not get this??? Give me a break. My German is not so good either which only adds to the frustration. Or let's say, my German can't catch up with my S. Louisiana sassy mouth.

I had this problem plenty of times on the trains here and on the tubes in London. Anger usually doesn't bring you any further. Behave and ask to move down please as nicely as you can. That usually works much better than swearing.

I assume you are using the pram entrance and special tram car when travelling. On the newer Basel trams it is mostly located in the middle, on the older Basel trams it can be impossible. So if using the correct entrance, then I guess they are just being difficult. If you are not using the pram entrance, then indeed some people can get huffed. It always helps to avoid the rush hour periods with a pram if you can avoid it. But generally speaking I've only had good experiences in Basel trams with a pram. Sometimes the pram section gets too overcrowded too, but everyone seems to move to accomodate.

In Zurich people are very fond of standing in the pram section. At the same time, it's usually not a problem and someone always offers or just jumps in to help lift the pram onto the older prams, so I can't complain too much. But, it is annoying when other passengers choose to stand when there are other places they could stand, but not other places you could park a pram! When I encounter difficult people I just muscle in with an "entschuldigung" and don't make eye contact. It seems to work.

As for the f--- you, that is appalling! I'm so sorry!!

Usually everyone is nice. Once was during Messe and again at a busy time so I guess that is the problem. I was using the correct entrance. It happened all at the same time(being pushed and sweared at). I suppose I was annoyed at the man pushing me which set of the guy standing in front of my stroller and not moving. Anyway, it was terrible and I could not express myself in German properly which frustrated me even more.

I was not swearing! I had my children with me. I was annoyed that no one would move and someone pushed me, but I was not overly rude. The guy stared at me for like 15 min. It was creepy!

Personally I just quietly bur firmly push my way in. A stroller's wheels are more solid than most people calves, so they usually give up.

I don't bang into them, mind you, but I say sorry, and sort of push them out of my way.

Reminds me of a couple of months ago when we jumped on a train with 4 bikes. We made sure we got on at the "bike carriage". The area had people standing (and sitting in it) - I said excuse me twice - and sorry a few more times - but still the "young people" didn't seem to get the message that they would have to move.

They began to get the message as I wielded the bikes round and onto the hooks. And the one "youth" who had decided to "occupy" the space finally got up after the third whack of a bike.

Surely you could just have done the same with the pushchair - put it on and ram their legs?? That is what I would have done anyway!

Who used the F*** word then?

It was me, sorry... you know how I get, when I don't have my coffee in the morning.

Oh, oh! Got a solution for this - stare back into his eyes and form a kind of "air kiss" (Mwah!) as you do it. Works every time (tried and tested). They spend the rest of the trip avoiding your eyes...

On the other hand....... it seems to me that there is a chemical transformation in some women`s brain when she has a baby that says, I am priority, I expect you to help, move out of the way, accept me changing my babies dirty nappy in public(which I witnessed in the biz section of a long haul not so long ago while her poor neighbour was trying to eat his breakfast) accept me breast feeding in public etc etc.
Im not saying you are one of those but clearly the average Joe experiences that in publc travel and so on and gets a bit fed up.

I rest my case

And yet no-one bats an eye when some cock gets on a tram with 4 tons of matching Samsonite baggage.

Ahh, caffeine deprivation! That explains everything .

Not Grumpy Git's outburst

Mate, this is the 21st Century - get a grip!

The point is a mum perhaps has to get from A to B in rush hour fully laden with child and work gubbins. Fellow passengers can either gawp and stand around like rabbits caught in headlights and probably cause the tram to be delayed a minute or so while mum is hauling the pram into a minuscule space or they can help a bit and get everything moving a bit more efficiently.

No need for histrionics or herumphing or hard stares. Everyone has a right to be there - why make it any more difficult than it has to be?

Point well made, Sandgrounder, but hope you don't mind that I extended it a little .. after all this thread is not sexist (despite others attempts to make it so), its just a point about the difficulties of getting on crowded trams with a buggy.

No. But I have experienced the opposite... A women smashing a pram against me knee while I was trying to leave the tram. So, just let leave it like this: prams or no prams, people are equally uncivil when going in and out trams and buses.