This paper describes how, in the mid-1970s research commissioned by the Transport Road Research Laboratory (TRRL) showed that about four million people in the United Kingdom (UK) had difficulty in using, or were unable touse, typical buses then in service. A recent household survey of elderly people (1982) showed that nine percent of people over 65 were unable to use buses solely because of physical difficulties and a further 16 percent did so only with great difficulty. Even though the elderly and less able are an important subset of all bus users, they are a minority. From the operatorÆs point of view, any modifications to bus design or operation have bemade in such a way that they do not work to the disadvantage of the able-bodied majority of passengers.
Samenvatting