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ENTRANCE EXAMINATION
Page 72
Page 73
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RECENT advances in science and medicine have brought about two changes in our society:
1) A large increase in the number of people of pensionable age. The Yorkshire Council of Social Service has published a report which estimates that by 1977 three in 15 of the population will be over retirement age.
2) A rise in the number of people whose lives have been saved by modem medicine and surgery but who have been left with permanent disability.
Another change has taken place: the recognition of the human need for independence and that, given the chance, disabled and elderly people can continue to lead, active lives. The days of the invalid who never left home are past. It is frustrating for the disabled person who has worked hard to overcome his disability to find his sphere of activity limited because he cannot climb the steps to the public library, cinema or concert hall, or board a bus.
Campaigns to combat architectural barriers to public buildings are well under way but success in this field will' be limited if public transport remains a barrier.
With whom are we concerned? The disabled from birth. (The "thalidomide" children have now reached school age and wherever possible are being taught in ordinary schools); people of all ages, and particularly young men, disabled by accident; convalescents and pregnant women; those disabled by heart, chest, or rheumatic disease; the ageing; the blind and partially sighted. What are their disabilities? Stiff and unstable joints, unsteadiness caused by poor balance, slowness of reaction, rheumatic hands, nervousness and a fear of burdening others.
Like the Englishman, the disabled need time. We have all witnessed the distress of a flustered, elderly person, struggling to board a bus which has arrived late with an impatient crew anxious to make up time. His chief worry is that he will not have time to reach a seat before the bus moves off, throwing him off balance. Time at a bus stop may save an action in court and will certainly contribute to the passenger's comfort. This fear that the bus will move is often the disabled person's biggest handicap.
Next to time, vision is a problem: the intending passenger should not be faced with a confusion of colour, texture and shining surfaces so that he scarcely knows where to place his foot.
A recent survey estimates that 50 per cent of Londoners over retirement age have difficulty in climbing steps. Steep steps, diagonally set and splayed steps, steps with unequal risers, insufficient going and ramped steps can all cause stumbling.
People with weakness of one side may be unable to board a bus where rails are provided on that side only. Many elderly people like to hold rails on both sides to pull themselves up. No rails inside means groping for a seat and the risk of falling.
The proximity of the high wheel-arch to the entrance and the usual solution of a side-facing bench seat means that either the disabled person has an uncomfortable ride or he struggles to the nearest front-facing seat, a feat demanding the balance of a tightrope walker as it usually has to be accomplished in a moving bus.
A critical assessment, The purpose of this exercise was to assess how easy it would be for a disabled person to board, find a seat and alight from each bus in safety. None of the buses built for British operators completely fulfilled requirements. The Pennine Coachcraft bus for Halifax, with an excellent system of rails, was spoilt by extremely steep steps and very narrow entrance. The AEC Roe-bodied bus for Leeds had a 'spacious entrance spoilt by a disconcertingiy steep ramp and very little to hold on to. The Strachans bus for Hants and Dorset on a Bedford YAM chassis and the Duple on a Ford had perhaps the most difficult entrances of all, while the Hants and Dorset bus had certainly the most dangerous exit. Seven one-man buses had a step into the saloon after the pay-desk, always an added anxiety to passengers and the Sunderland bus had nothing to hold while operating the token machine and very little to hold while paying the driver. The token, attractive as it is, is very small for fumbling fingers to handle.
Double-deck buses score by having extra-wide entrances, and where the wheel arch is used for a luggage rack it can fill the dual purpose of providing extra rails. Only in one single-decker was this device used, the Willowbrook bus for Grimsby—incidentally the only British-bound bus at the Show with front-facing seats before the front wheel arches.
What can be done?
The first condition for solving these problems is that there should be as few visual distractions as possible and a wide entrance with low, well-defined steps. Ramps, where used, should not be too steep. The relative advantages of steps and ramps need careful study: a flat-floored entrance loses its value if it means a struggle on to, or beyond, high bench seats. Could not an extra step be designed to lower automatically when the doors are opened to reduce that first high step? Steps with risers of a iifferent colour and white nosings are more easily seen.
Plentiful, well-designed, rails are needed on both sides of the mtrance or exit and where rails are, fitted to doors the passenger nust be protected from the door's moving unexpectedly (the comiaint of one elderly passenger). There must be no danger of hands ving trapped between rail and screen; the minimum space rewired is 1-lin. and 2-2-tin. is preferred. A non-slip floor covering :an be assumed.
Disabled people would greatly benefit from the inclusion of brward-facing seats reserved for their use and near the driver
he can see they are comfortably seated. The bell needs to be vithin reach and the disabled passengers should have the privilege if alighting at the front. A disc worn on the wrist as used in 7..dinburgh can be shown to the driver to indicate their need for xtra time.
3tockholm answer Undoubtedly the best vehicle at the Show from the passenger's riewpoint was the Stockholm bus with its wide entrance, shallow leps and numerous rails. A seat such as that just described is ncluded, with a protective arm-rest and low bell-pull. The wide ;angway and well designed interior add to the passengers' corn fort. The "rear deck" seems a good solution, providing as it does an almost level floor in the front saloon of the vehicle. The pushchair space is wide enough to take a wheel-chair and a ramp could easily be carried.
Most of the drivers' mirrors gave a poor view of central exits, making it difficult for him to see if all passengers are clear of the bus before closing the doors. Significantly, the Stockholm bus was fitted with larger than usual mirrors.
Where automatic doors are used, the photo-electric cell is preferred. Doors which close before the passenger is clear of them (as on the Olympic X) are frightening. Many elderly people prefer to descend backwards and need time to turn round and regain their balance.
The disabled and elderly request the privileges of ordinary citizens. Their number is not small—possibly 15 per cent of the population. By 1969 there will be 7m. people over 65. Their activity is restricted, not by their disability but by the barriers they encounter, and it has been generally found that designing with them in mind benefits us all.