Passenger News
Page 15
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exander/M-B link N"twing
NATIONAL BUS wants the disabled and elderly to have the maximum possible use of its re gular bus and coach services, its consultant on disability told a conference earlier this month.
Claudia Flanders told the Royal Association for Rehabilita tion and Disability that the company's aim has been to make the disabled feel part of, not apart from the rest of the public.
She said that such recent developments as revised booking arrangements to make provision for special travel needs and the provision of wheelchairs at coach stations had gone a long way towards meeting that need.
Vehicle identification systems are being provided at bus entrances to help the blind or partially sighted, and orientation courses have been arranged to help the visually handicapped become accustomed to the vehicles used regularly on their routes.
She revealed that a retractable step for easier boarding is among the recommendations for the specifications of new coaches, and said that experiments are continuing with kneeling buses. ALEXANDER is launching two new single-deck body designs next year, and has high hopes of developing further double-deck export business in partnership with Mercedes-Benz.
The P-type service bus, which succeeds the 21-year old Y-type design, is a multi-bay body built on a light aluminium structure. It has been developed to be capable of being assembled in Third World countries using semiskilled labour.
Production of this model begins next year, with a batch of Leyland Tigers for Central SMT, a long established Scottish Bus Group customer for the Y-type.
The T-type semi-coach has been restyled with coach market front and rear ends. It will be available in express, coach, and service bus forms, and Alexander anticipates delivery starting from January 1983.
A prototype double-decker on Mercedes-Benz 0305 underframe is on display at the motor Show, and will be shipped to Singapore Bus Services for comparative trials against a similar vehicle with Willowbrook body, and Volvo B55, Dennis Dominator, Leyland Olympian, and Leyland Atlantean double-deckers.
It has a two-door Ft-type aluminium alloy body of semi-integral construction.
Alexander has been working closely with Mercedes in developing the double-decker, and has been impressed by the thoroughness and co-operation displayed by the West German manufacturer.
It hopes that if the 0305 proves satisfactory in Singapore, where there already is a large fleet of Mercedes single-deckers, Mercedes will be able to lead Alexander into some overseas markets closed to it at present. In recent years, it has won several Far East export orders in partnership with Volvo.