Too much ag ility The man behind the B15's design, Joe
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McGowan, told me that they had some high-jinks when they got 170 elderly and 120 disabled people to participate in trials with a B15 mock-up and with existing buses. Not all at once, of course.
The participants soon divided themselves into two groups— the easily discouraged and the stop-at-nothing brigade. The latter included 80-year-old gents who, defeated by a high step, were prepared to stand back to get a " running" jump at it !
These indefatigables had to be told gently that while their spirit was wonderful, it was defeating the object of the exercise. In the end they had to get a counsellor accustomed to elderly and disabled folk, to talk them into behaving normally, before tackling each test.
The results of all this, and associated, research, is now available to the world in book form; I understand it is the first definitive work on designing vehicles and systems for the elderly and disabled. Well done, GB. Well done, Leyland.