On the Double Stroller Shortlist – Baby Jogger City Select

I first caught sight of the Baby Jogger City Select when my friend Ulrika had one for her twins. It has a million different configurations, but it’s a double lengthwise, not side-by-side, so it is really as narrow as any single stroller.

As I’ve said before, I’m not crazy about the look of some lengthwise double strollers where one child is pretty much sitting underneath the other other. The City Select I think is a lot better on that front. Obviously the “back seat” child doesn’t have the same view as the front seat, but it’s not at all as cramped as some other strollers. I see a lot of these around our neighborhood and they look pretty comfy all-round. I’ve also heard that many children actually prefer the back seat.

The City Select offers a ton of flexibility. It only takes one little click to remove the second seat and use the stroller as a single stroller which would be a huge plus for us. We could leave the second seat at nursery school when we drop Alec off, and then continue our day with just one baby in a single stroller. There are car seat adapters and a bassinet option to take the children from newborn to toddler. And the bassinet looks like it would actually fit in our elevator which would make some logistics a whole lot easier!

I also love how flexible it is in terms of seating arrangements. Both seats can be turned both ways individually, so we could have both children rear-facing or front-facing, and when Alec is front-facing and Baby#2 is sitting rear-facing, they could potentially be facing each other, which is nice. On the downside, if both children are facing the same way, they will not have much contact with each other.

Alec tried out the second seat (rear-facing with a bassinet in the main seat) at Bonti the other day and seemed very very comfortable in this stroller. I was expecting him to be a lot more squirmy (he was having sort of a fussy morning and suddenly found himself trying strollers in a store with all his overall and everything on), but he actually seemed more content in this stroller than in the Donkey which he tried first. But I had trouble seeing him properly. I am pretty (ok, very) short and with the bassinet up top, I was mostly seeing Alec’s little hat and forehead. So I would really have to pop around the side to talk to him (this was definitely not a problem for my husband), which I think is a shame. I like chatting with Alec as we are out and about. And with all the adjustments and dropped pacifiers etc etc that you do with a baby, I wouldn’t want to have the bassinet in the second seat position either.

I also have some concerns about the length. I realize that a side-by-side has it’s disadvantages in an urban environment (I am already feeling the annoyed glances I am going to get from people in our teeny local grocery store when I pop in for milk with both kids at rush hour), but the Bugaboo just feels easier to maneuver to me since I can see the whole thing in front of me. The length of the City Select makes me wonder how I would manage on the bus or even just pulling the stroller through our front door (which involves pulling it up over a step while holding the door open and then swiveling around to get into the foyer).

But the price is right – it is a lot more affordable than the Bugaboo Donkey for sure. All in all a very compact and flexible solution and I think it is a very good double stroller. Is it the one for us? Stay tuned!