People with Disabilities in Ireland
4th Floor Jervis House
Jervis Street
Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 87 21 74 4
Fax: 01 87 21 77 1
Email: info@pwdi.ie
Now that PwDI has established that accessible coaches are available, let us hope that we can get a commitment from Bus Éireann and the Department of Transport that never again will non-accessible coaches be ordered.
Michael Ringrose, PwDI CEO, and Stephen MacWhite, Business Manager, met with a senior Bus Éireann engineer on the company's decision to purchase 60 new coaches, which are not wheelchair accessible. Bus Éireann outlined the difficulties it has with the available accessible coaches. However, the meeting ended on a very positive note.
On the 8th June PwDI was invited by Bus Éireann to visit its Broadstone depot to look at two accessible coaches. They were joined by Pat "the Cope" Gallagher T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Transport, officials from the Department of Transport, representatives from N.C.B.I., as well as officials of Bus Éireann and the Public Transport Advisory Committee.
One was a double-decker coach with an electric ramp coming out from under the front door. It had the added feature of suspension that could be lowered, making access fairly easy, if stopped at a pavement. Without a pavement it was quite steep. Bus Éireann has sought funding from the Department for this type of coach for its urban routes.
The second coach was very similar to those used by Bus Éireann across the country, with the benefit of a larger front door. The first front seat folded away and an electric lift took the wheelchair-user up level with the coach's floor, and with enough floor space to turn around and get into the correct position. It was a simple procedure. The whole operation, from the driver folding up the front seat to being on the coach and strapped in, takes less than four minutes, as good as you are likely to get.
Both coaches had full seat belts for the person and restraint straps for the wheelchair. The double-decker had a space designated for the wheelchair.With the coach you lose one seat for one wheelchair so on both, no business is lost due to the loss of seating. Whilst there is a problem at present with the speed restriction (65 km per hour), in this country, for the double-decker, I am sure that if the will exists this could be addressed. My only reservation is that both coaches can only take one wheelchair user at a time. However, speaking with the Ulster Bus representative, coaches are available to allow for more wheelchair users.
Both these vehicles would prove a great asset and go some way towards providing a public transport system for all
Previous Article >> | Next Article >> | List of Articles | Back To News Page