6.1 Introduction
Urban passenger transport's role is to provide/offer mass transport for both the able bodied and passengers with disabilities. However, there are practical limitations to the scale of disability that can be accommodated for design, safety and affordability reasons on an urban bus without introducing unacceptable limitations to bus capacity, boarding and alighting time etc which impact on the overall running times of the service, or the loss of passenger capacity (seated and standing) due to both weight and space requirements.
The aim of this standard is to provide for the majority of those with a disability or other limitations be they the elderly, parents with young children, people with mobility and/or sight or hearing impairment and those who may need to use wheelchairs for part or all of their daily movement requirement.
6.2 Provision
Provision is to be made as follows for passengers with a disability:
- Priority seating area(s) well to the forward end of the saloon with at least four preferably all forward facing seats identified for passengers with disabilities.
- These seats may be of the folding type in order to facilitate wheelchair access and stowage.
- A separate space to accommodate at least one wheelchair (see para 6.3).
- Signage to indicate the area and request to vacate seats for use by passengers with disability/mobility needs along the following lines:
'Priority seating area - Please vacate these seats for the elderly or disabled passengers or mothers with small children.'
Minimum front door and aisle widths, initial step heights and fare paying areas have been already specified in section three and make due allowances for wheelchair and stroller/pram access.
6.3 Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs are described as both manual self/caregiver propelled or powered versions of preferred dimension as follows:
- Weight <220 kg including passenger.
- Footprint to be provided for forward or rearward facing stowage 700 mm width x 1200 mm length.
- For transverse stowage with handles and foot rest capable of being folded or stowed 700 mm width x 900 mm length.
These criteria should provide for the greater proportion of wheelchairs users.
Note: this standard specifically excludes 'powered motor scooters' on the grounds of weight, size and manoeuvrability as well as their independent greater range capability of up to 30 km.
Some overseas transport operations give different wheelchair standards, eg AS 1428.2 (1992) stipulates a larger footprint requirement of 800 mm x 1300 mm whereas ISO S7193 requires 700 mm x 1200 mm.
The NZTA is aware and accepts that forward- or rearward-facing stowage has an impact on the overall seat capacity and seat design as well as speed of loading and provision of other seats within the priority seating area.
Space must be provided, preferably adjacent/opposite to the priority seating area, for the carriage of an occupied wheelchair/pram as specified above as follows:
| Small bus (SB) | to carry one wheelchair, forward or rearward facing |
| Medium bus (MB) | to carry one forward- or rearward-facing wheelchair |
| Large bus (LB) | to carry a minimum of one forward- or rearward-facing wheelchair preferably on the nearside, and desirably a second wheelchair that may be transverse facing utilising the space designated as 'priority seating area'. See possible Options Drawings Annex A. |
The space may be provided using fold-up seats that can be used by able passengers when the wheelchair facility is not in use, but the design must be such that where inward-facing fold-up seats are provided in conjunction with forward- or rear-facing wheelchair positions, the wheelchair footprint must not significantly encroach into the aisle space beyond the normal bench seat width and thus create a potential hazard to other passengers.
First line security is provided by wheelchair users applying the wheelchair brakes whenever in position on a bus. Rearward, forward and inward facing wheelchair users must be restrained either by a full passenger and wheelchair lap seat belt or using their own chair lap restraint and a wheelchair frame restraint. AS 2942- 1994 Amendment 1 - 1998 refers.
Any wheelchair provision must provide a 'backrest/ironing board' as per the requirements in section 8.4 of the Passenger Service Vehicles Rule 1999, Amendment 2007.
Wheelchair symbols in the floor material are required and signage requiring vacation of any seats in the wheelchair-designated areas to enable the area to be used by a wheelchair occupier. This may be part of the priority seating area signage.
Externally two international wheelchair symbols for accessibility are required on the front left and side of the bus by the front door entrance as well as on the bus internal wall in the designated wheelchair area.
6.4 Boarding or alighting
In sections 2.3 and 3.2, the requirement for kneeling at the front door is specified as this can be of benefit to many passengers whether on foot, with or without a disability, in a wheelchair or accompanied by one or more small children.
MB/LB are required to have a kneeling capability.
Because of the time taken to kneel and recover as well as the extra air and therefore fuel used, the capability shall be on request rather than at every stop.
The following will be provided on the exterior of the bus adjacent to the front door:
- A sign stating 'this bus kneels on request'.
- A kneel/wheelchair ramp request call button.
6.5 Ramp
A manually operated flip-over style ramp is required at the front door that will be deployed and recovered by the driver on request from either wheelchair, pram users or any other mobility-disabled passengers where the kneeling facility proves to be insufficient.
In the unlikely event that the driver fails to deploy the ramp, wheelchair passengers can use the 'kneel/wheelchair request call button'.
While drivers may be requested to provide additional boarding and alighting assistance to manual or powered style wheelchair passengers, or caregivers with prams etc the driver is not obliged to and may decline due to his or her own personal physical ability. Therefore it is highly preferable that occupants are sufficiently able to load and secure themselves or ensure they have the support and assistance of a caregiver when they travel.
