New types of buses, with low floors and accessible to passengers in wheelchairs, are now in service in several areas in the United Kingdom. Early trials included five London bus routes, and one service in North Tyneside, all of which have been the subject of monitoring and evaluation by TRL. The services were introduced during 1994 and have all been running for between two and three years. The trials have involved some 65 single-decked "Pathfinder 320" vehicles built by Robert Wright and Son on Dennis Lance or Scania chassis. The buses can "kneel" to reduce the step height at the entrance or exit to 240 mm above ground level, and ramps can be extended to bridge the gap between floor and kerb or ground for wheelchairs. All the services were previously run using double-decked vehicles. Research methods have included video recordings of passengers boarding and alighting, interviews with passengers on buses, home interviews with wheelchair users, ambulant disabled passengers, and passengers with children in pushchairs, boarding and alighting time measurements, interviews with operators and drivers, and examination of operating, maintenance and financial statistics. This has provided the means to assess the relative ease of access to old and new bus types by different categories of passenger, establish their preferences and the extent to which the new vehicles stimulate bus use and improve personal mobility, identify problems associated with the low-floor services, and make an economic evaluation.
Abstract