Rolling Rains Report:

New Dehli Adds New Low-Floor Busses

Since 2002 the Indian non-profit organization Samarthyam has been working to improve New Dehli's transit accessibility. On April 1, 2008 their work will see the light of day with the launch of a new Bus Rapid Transit System corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand. Recently Anjilee Agarwal and Sanjeev Sachdeva of non-government Samarthyam demonstrated the system at a press conference.

Initiative for the better: A disabled person with reduced mobility demonstrating the use of the new Bus Rapid Transit System in New Delhi on Wednesday that makes it accessible for all on low floor bus.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System, a joint venture of the Delhi Government and the Industrial Development Finance Corporation, is all set to officially roll out the new Bus Rapid Transit System corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand on April 1

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Delhi Transport Corporation officials waxed eloquent about the benefits of BRTS in making the Capital's public transport disable-friendly. A demonstration of how a wheelchair user will be able to easily access the bus queue shelter and the low-floor buses on the corridor was also provided after the conference

This demonstration was carried out by Anjilee Agarwal and Sanjeev Sachdeva of non-government organisation Samarthyam, which has been associated with the project since its inception in 2002.

The new low-floor buses that would be plying on the BRT corridor would be equipped with a ramp to enable people to board and disembark conveniently. The height of the bus-queue-shelter pavement has been raised to synchronise the height of the bus chassis. These buses would also have reserved space to accommodate wheelchairs.

"These features of this corridor make it accessible not just to the disabled but also to persons with reduced mobility such as senior citizens, families with small children, women wearing high heels," said Ms. Agarwal.

The disabled-friendly features in the system include an access ramp for persons using mobility aids, Braille plates and tactile floor tiles incorporated in the bus-queue-shelter in addition to boasting of well aligned street furniture.
The bus-queue-shelters included in the corridor will be located in the middle of the road with traffic marshals employed to help regulate traffic and help bus commuters cross the road. The segregated road design in BRT corridors will allow commuters to cross only at the zebra crossings when the traffic light is red during its normal cycle. A total of six traffic lights will be installed on the 5.6 km stretch of the trail corridor with each bus-queue-shelter located every 500 metres. According to DIMTS Senior Manager (Bus Operations) A. K. Sinha, the four bus routes to ply on the corridor would be 522, 521, 419 and 423. These would be run exclusively by the DTC. Blueline buses will not be permitted to run on them. The buses will ply in the corridor from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Análise da Consulta Nacional: Especificações técnicas para fabricação de veículos para transporte coletivo de passaeiros (Portuguese)

Convidamos V.Sas. para participar da Reunião de Análise da Consulta Nacional do Projeto 00:001.64-001 - Transporte - Especificações técnicas para fabricação de veículos de características urbanas para transporte coletivo de passageiros, da ABNT/CEE-00: 001.64 - Comissão de Estudo Especial Temporária de Fabricação de Veículo Acessível, a ser realizada conforme programação a seguir:

Data: 11 e 12 de fevereiro de 2008

Horário: das 9:00 às 17:00

Local: Av. Paulista, 726 - 10º andar - São Paulo - SP

Pauta: - Projeto 00:001.64-001 - Transporte - Especificações técnicas para fabricação de veículos de características urbanas para transporte coletivo de passageiros - Análise da Consulta Nacional

SOLICITAMOS CONFIRMAR PRESENÇA COM O SR. RODRIGO CANOSA, ATRAVÉS:

- Telefone: (11) 3017-3623
- e-mail: rodrigo.canosa@abnt.org.br

Na certeza de podermos contar com a valiosa e imprescindível presença de V.Sa. ou de seu representante, subscrevemo-nos.

Atenciosamente,

Rodrigo Sansivieri F. Canosa

Gerência do Processo de Normalização

ABNT - R. Minas Gerais, 190 - Higienópolis

01244-010 - São Paulo - SP

( (11) 3017- 3623

* rodrigo.canosa@abnt.org.br

Visite nossos sites: www.abnt.org.br / www.abntnet.com.br

Samartha Travels in Mumbai has Rentals: Do India in a Lift Van!

Prasad Phanasgaonkar of Mumbai runs a car rental agency. He also has Muscular Dystrophy. They built this lift-equipped van.

Check out their web site at http://www.samarthatravels.com/

Consulta Pública: Regulamentos Técnicos da Qualidade Referentes à Acessibilidade no Transporte Rodoviário e Aquaviário

Os Regulamentos Técnicos da Qualidade referentes à acessibilidade no transporte rodoviário e aquaviário encontram-se em consulta pública por 60 dias, tendo os mesmos sido publicados hoje (04/09) no DO - Diário Oficial.

Estes podem ser acessados na íntegra, na página do Inmetro, no seguinte endereço: http://www.inmetro.gov.br , na margem direita da página, no item Produtos e serviços - consultas públicas ou da link:

http://www.inmetro.gov.br/rtac/resultado_pesquisa.asp?seq_classe=1&sel_categoria=21

Abaixo segue um extrato do título das Portarias que publicam os dois RTQs.

Portaria INMETRO / MDIC número 339 de 31/08/2007
Regulamento Técnico da Qualidade para Inspeção da Adaptação de Acessibilidade em Embarcações Utilizadas no Transporte Coletivo de Passageiros.

Portaria INMETRO / MDIC número 340 de 31/08/2007
Regulamento Técnico da Qualidade para Inspeção da Adaptação de Acessibilidade em Veículos de Características Rodoviárias para o Transporte Colet ivo de Passageiros

Posted by rollingrains at 08:09 PM

Off the Bus - and into the Courts

The following report from the Washington Post comes via the Justice for All network:

"No dog, no dog," shouted the driver and another worker when District resident Joe Orozco and his guide dog tried to board a Todays Bus from Washington to New York. Orozco protested that the company is required by law to accommodate service animals, but the workers continued to block his entry and laughed, he says, when he threatened to call police. Once he called police, the workers said he could ride if the dog was put in the bottom of the bus with the luggage. They relented after police came.

When Orozco tried to board the return bus the next day, a Todays
Bus employee in New York yanked his ticket away and tried to
return his money, he says.

The bus pulled away. After Orozco called police, workers said he
could take the next bus but ordered him to sit in the back. He
complied, but he is filing a complaint with the Justice
Department, which enforces the Americans With Disabilities Act
(ADA). Todays Bus did not respond to four telephone messages left
for the manager and owner.

The ADA guarantees interstate service to disabled passengers; that
includes providing access, with advance notice, to people in
wheelchairs. But many of the companies that pick up passengers
curbside -- the so-called "Chinatown buses" -- simply ignore the
law. In 2004, regulators checked 14 companies that operate between
Washington and New York, and cited 11 of them for violating the
ADA. The Justice Department launched an investigation in October
2004. "We continue to work on it," spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson
said last week.

Gathering evidence seems quick and easy to CoGo, who recently
called Todays to ask about wheelchair access. The man who answered
refused to give his name, but his answer was clear: "No
wheelchair."

To register a complaint, call the Justice Department, 800-514-
0301.

Source: The Washington Post
________________________________________________________________

For more transportation news issues, see:
http://www.aapd.com/News/transportation/indextrans.php

Catch a Kenguru

The New York Times recently caught up with the wheelchair accessible Kenguru designed by Zsolt Varga.

Most handicapped-accessible automobiles are designed for the general public and only later adapted for wheelchairs, resulting in awkward compromises, like the notoriously sluggish wheelchair lifts seen on public buses. But now there¹s the Kenguru, a snazzy mini-hatchback designed to give total independence to wheelchair users on the go.

The Kenguru¹s hatchback flips open so a wheelchair can roll right in and lock into place, which means the driver doesn¹t have to climb into a driver¹s seat. Because the steering column is a joystick, paraplegics and those with limited arm range can steer. The car is powered by a rechargeable battery and has a peak speed of 25 miles per hour.

Source:
New York Times

Am I the only one seeing a pattern here or is there some sort of meta-message here? Rear entry: Vexel Quovis, Kengaru, Nextide shoe.

Maybe, "Good design is sneaking up from behind."

Further Reading:

Jalopnik

Medgadget

CoolBusinessIdeas

Avis: They Tried Harder!

Somebody at Avis deserves recognition. They went the extra mile in negotiating a package with Scootaround to the benefit of many rental car customers. From their press release:

PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Avis Rent A Car System, LLC today announced a new pilot program that will give customers the ability to rent a mobility scooter and have it waiting in the trunk of their next rental vehicle or delivered to the customer's location. Mobility scooters are four-wheeled, lightweight, battery-operated transportable units that are well suited for travelers up to 250lbs. The program rolls out at two of the nation's most frequented leisure and convention destinations -- Las Vegas and Orlando. Avis is the first rental car company to offer mobility scooters combined with vehicle rentals.

Mobility scooters are most popular with older travelers and those with disabilities and are the latest addition to Avis Access®, the company's suite of products for travelers with disabilities. Avis Access was launched in 2003 and it debuted as the nation's first comprehensive program for travelers with disabilities. Other components of Avis Access are transfer boards, hand controls, spinner knobs, panoramic mirrors and swivel seats.

Source:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060606/nytu130.html?.v=52

Crip Chronicles

Teri Adams, who lives just up the road and who, to my embarrasment, I have still not met, recently published this reflection on Universal Design in an essential location -- at the gas pumps. See Universal Design at the Gas Pump over at Crip Chronicles.

I like her taste in heroes also -- " Sage Words from One of My Heroes"

Weaving Usability and Cultures

UI Garden generally concerns itself with issues of inclusivity in the design of online information. As such it is a valuable resource. Here however they have forayed into the area of universal design in vehicles in a discussion that lends itself to note in the Rolling Rains Report on Inclusive Travel.

UI Garden has reprinted the 1997 article, A Car for All - or Mobility for All? Part I, by Universal Design expert Roger Coleman and Dale Harrow iin both English and Chinese.

A lecture given at the ‘Car Design for All’ Conference by: Roger Coleman, DesignAge, and Dale Harrow, Transportation Design. Royal College of Art, London SW7 2EU Institute of Mechanical Engineers – London 3/12/97 © IMechE & the authors Abstract

Population ageing and environmental concern are two important factors that will effect the design of vehicles in the future. In response to the potential conflict between them, the authors propose a shift in focus from individual vehicles to transport services, from ‘A Car for All’ to ‘Mobility for All’, and offer strategies, scenarios and case studies of how this might be achieved. New service and vehicle typologies are introduced and discussed, and an area of future research and development is identified.

Keywords-Transportation, Mobility, Service Design, Vehicle Design, Ageing, Disability.

Background

The world is growing older. Europe, Japan, North America and other developed countries demonstrate this population ageing in its most extreme form, and there is compelling evidence of the same process taking place in less developed areas. This is a radical and unprecedented change in the age structure of modern societies that we are only beginning to come to terms with. It will change our perception of what disability is and who is disabled. Peter Laslett of Trinity College Cambridge has set out the background to this in his book ‘A Fresh Map of Life: the Emergence of the Third Age’. He identifies this ‘secular shift in ageing’ as beginning in the UK some 150 years ago, and suggests that within 50 years it will be substantially complete with half the adult population aged 50 or over, and with considerable increases in the number of people aged 65+ and in particular those aged 80+.

Population ageing is closely associated with industrial development (although that is not the only driving factor) and has been accompanied by the development of the motor car. Driving is almost universal in the UK, as is car ownership, and increasingly seen as a necessity and a basic right. The average age of a new car buyer is now about 45 and, with a large growth in the 65+ population, accessibility will be an increasingly important factor in purchasing decisions of which vehicle manufacturers should take note. Social realities are also changing. We no longer live in large family units, many older people live alone and public transport is not readily available in country areas. People therefore increasingly depend on cars for essential and social journeys. The growth in the number of older people brings with it a change in the nature and prevalence of impairments, especially reduced mobility (c. ten times as common in Europe as wheelchair usage), which make people even more dependent. At the same time there are more people with reduced vision or hearing, who find driving increasingly difficult, and who present a potential danger on the roads.
Argument

Perhaps the most important desire of older people is to retain their independence for as long as possible, and independence and car ownership are closely linked. Mobility is a key factor in life-quality, in the sense of being able to make the many different types of journey that are necessary for older people. Meeting friends and visiting relations, shopping, recreational and educational activities, are all essential parts of an active life, and visits to doctors and hospital are likely to increase with age.

So, the number of older drivers is likely to rise, with vehicle accessibility just one of a whole range of needs. But, with the likelihood of measures to reduce the environmental impact of traffic and the possibility of regular driving tests for safety reasons, there is a potential mismatch between the mobility needs of an ageing population and environmental, amenity and safety considerations. This could mean large numbers of older people being denied the use of their own cars. The knock-on effect would be a rise in dependency, particularly in rural areas, and therefore in consequential costs to the state, and the price of health-care insurance. From the perspective of car design alone this seems an intractable problem, and is therefore more likely to be ignored than addressed. However, if we take a step back from the car and think instead about people’s mobility needs and how to satisfy them the problem becomes more manageable.

More:

http://www.uigarden.net/english/a_car_for_all_1

Call a Cab

What can you expect to encounter if you travel in a wheelchair and you want to use a taxi?

Terry Moakley writes about the New York experience in Accessible Taxis 101

Marc Krizack writes about London in Access Law is Catalyst for Entirely New Taxi Design in London

Here is the Australian document Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Inquiry Report: Findings and Directions

The European Conferene of Ministers of Transport published a memo in 1994 RESOLUTION No. 94/2 ON ACCESS TO TAXIS FOR PEOPLE WITH
REDUCED MOBILITY