Light rail systems are slowly increasing in number in the UK and all planned new systems will use low-floor vehicles. According to the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), limited design guidelines exist for buses and for public transport infrastructure and interchanges. The latter, valuable as they are, include street-running light rail, but do not really take into account low-floor trams or deal with vehicle design. There has thus been a gap in the provision of design guidelines for rail vehicles and associated infrastructure. This gap has been filled by complementary access guidelines derived by CILT during its study of the potential for street-running trams in London (which was assisted by London Transport's Unit for Disabled Passengers). The guidelines were informed by discussion with disabled people, experience of existing light rail systems both in the UK and on the continent, and a survey of the state of the art of low-floor tram technology (Wood, 1994). This paper describes and expands upon the guidelines and the background to them, with reference to existing good practice. Both mobility and sensory disabilities are covered.
Samenvatting