Wheelchair accessible bus services for disabled
passengers
SINGAPORE : Disabled passengers can now take buses on 29
bus routes island-wide on Wheelchair Accessible Bus (WAB)
services.
And there are plans to expand these services to meet the goal of
having 40 per cent of all buses on the service by next year.
It isn't just about having a wheelchair accessible bus; the service
has to make travel seamless for commuters from the very start of
their journey.
At the bus interchange, the passenger calls the duty officer on the
intercom at a special bus berth.
The passenger's bus number will then appear on a sign, and that is
the bus driver's cue to come pick up the passenger.
This service has made life easier for Palanisamy Avaday, who has
had to rely on the wheelchair since contracting polio as a
child.
The operations executive at Bizlink Centre Singapore said: "I am
very comfortable with the safety because there is a safety belt
which goes to my waist. So when the bus moves around it (my
wheelchair) doesn't move around very freely."
SMRT runs seven of the 29 wheelchair accessible routes, and plans
to add 67 more such buses by the end of the year.
It sees about five wheelchair-bound users daily on its WAB
services.
Kang Huey Ling, vice president, SMRT Buses Limited, said: "WAB
services have to do with the bus routes, and that has to take into
consideration the infrastructural accessibility, that means the bus
stops...the interchange must be also wheelchair accessible."
So bus stops and interchanges plying the WAB service routes will
have to be equipped with lower kerbs, rail guards and ramps.
The Land Transport Authority is working on making all bus stops
wheelchair friendly by next year.
- CNA/ms
