ah
don't think so
it seems that the capacity for the ADL is less than the Wrights
...
and SMRT is trying to put a lower density than SBST
According to http://publictransportsg.wordpress.com/,
"the Volvo B9TL Wright has a licensed capacity for 131 passengers,
comprising of 55 upper deck seating, 27 lower deck seating, 49
standing passengers and a single wheelchair."
Comparing to B9TL Wright, Enviro500 MMC/NG has the same number
of seats at upper deck, two less seats at lower deck and can
accomodate 9 less number of Standing passengers; Enviro500 MMC/NG can accomodate 11 less
passengers than B9TL Wright.
It may seem that Enviro500 MMC/NG has a smaller capacity than
B9TL Wright, but if you noticed, there is no mention about how many
wheelchair users can be on Enviro500 MMC/NG at the same time.
The smaller capacity at lower deck could be due to Enviro500
MMC/NG having the capacity to accomodate one more Wheelchair user.
The wheelchair space might have been counted into the figures, thus
the capacity is smaller.
Nonetheless, if you commute on the buses during peak hours, you
would know that most of the Wheelchair users do not commute on the
buses during peak hours. On the assumption that two people can
stand at one wheelchair space during peak hours when the Wheelchair
users usually do not commute on the buses, there can be four more
people standing at the lower deck of Enviro500 MMC/NG (if it has
space for two wheelchair users) during peak hours - the bus
actually has capacity for 128 people, which is quite similar to the
capacity (131) of BTL9 Wright.
Besides the provision for wheelchair users, the smaller seating
capacity at lower deck could also be due to other reasons, such
as
By the way, I would like to know how the Standing capacity is
measured. As the size of
human beings is different across the world, the standing capacity
indicated may not be the same as the number of people that can
actually stand at the lower deck.
If the standing capacity of Enviro500 MMC/NG is measured
differently than how that of B9TL Wright is measured, we are not
able to compare the standing capacity of these two bus models using
the figures provided, and the only way to compare is to wait for
Enviro500 MMC/NG to enter service in Singapore and physically board
the bus during peak hour to count the number of people standing
when the bus is packed, while we do the same for B9TL Wright.
Anyway, the capacity of Enviro500 MMC/NG that we know could
indicate a few possible features of the bus, such as having space
for two wheelchair users, being 100% step-free and having a
staircase of smaller gradient. This may mean that Enviro500 MMC/NG
is more user-friendly than B9TL Wright.
