Coach and Bus News .
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LTPC seeks access
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS, split-step entrances, and fewer bench seats will be features of the next generation of London Transport buses if the LT Passengers' Committee has its way, writes ALAN MILLAR.
The committee has cooperated with Ogle Design Consultants in its exercise to help determine the detail specifica tion of the cabs and passenger environment of the buses which will replace Routemasters after 1985. It wants Ogle to look at the feasibility of permitting access for wheelchairs, with tip-up seats being provided on the lower deck. It accepts there could be consequent disadvantages for able-bodied passengers, and has asked Ogle to investigate them.
The step-heights on existing LT buses should be regarded as a starting point for new vehicles, according to LTPC, which supports the principle of South Yorkshire's split-step steps to assist the aged and disabled people.
Passengers' dislike of longitudinal bench seats over wheelarches has prompted the committee to call for their replacement by luggage racks, but not back-to-back seats at the rear (as on the trial fleet of Leyland Olympians) and the repositioning of staircases directly behind the driver.
The staircase should be moved there, it argues, because the central position on Metrobuses and Titans can cause congestion.