Buses for everyone : a European perspective on changing attitudes and designs.

Traditionally the bus industry has not regarded disabled people as part of its passenger market. That attitude is fast changing. People with disabilities represent some 12 per cent of the population and demographic trends indicate a significant growth in the coming decades in the proportion of elderly and very elderly people, many of whom will have mobility problems. The bus is an essential component of an accessible transport chain. Its technical and operational development over the next few years will have a profound effect in political, economic and social terms on the mobility of this significant and growing part of the travelling public. (A)