EC makes room for the disabled
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• Virtually all buses built after 1994 will have to have at least one of their doors and their gangways wide enough for wheelchairs, if the EC Commission gets its way.
The Commission's directorate of employment, industrial relations and social affairs wants PSVs to be better equipped for the disabled. Its proposal covers all buses used for journeys to work, and if accepted would cover existing vehicles from December 1997.
Access could be by wheelchair lifts, but the directorate prefers low-floor buses. A certain number of seats would have to be set aside for the disabled and spaces for wheelchairs would have to be made.
The Department of Transport, while welcoming moves to make public transport more accessible, says this proposal is "not very practicable". If passed, it would require a drastic redesign of all UK bus industry products.