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Wheelchairs
A lot is said about having wheelchairs on buses. It does try to give equality however I believe there are much better ways of providing this service than useing regular buses to meet a specialist service. To make the bus suitable to carry wheelchairs is very expensive and reduces bus capacity. There is no point of having the buses wheelchair friendly if all bus stops are not wheelchair friendly. Eg the Maud St stop is a set of steps. The increase in distance from 400m to 500m (and 1000m at night) makes it much harder for wheelchair patrons to get to and from bus stops. I would like to see wheelchairs prevented from normal bus travel and their very very important needs met by a specialised free on call service operated by specially trained derivers using specially designed vehicles.
Comment 1 10 Dec 2007, 11:41 AM
Disability friendly buses are good. People change throughout their life, and are not always permanently disabled. I think you are missing the point in providing for those who need the disability friendly access.
Some people use crutches for only a short period of time, or are in and out of wheelchairs depending on functionality, and there are some which are totally dependent on wheelchairs for getting around. Or they maybe on meds, where they are not allowed to drive. So, it is a bit inconvenient to say, oh well, now that you are sick, you can also look up an extra service, even though you are dealing with your illness and seeing doctors and specialists. Come on, fair go.
Now you will probably say its a 'free on call service', but what paperwork do you need to be entitled? More paperwork! When you are sick! And in the end, does the passenger 'qualify', or not? And if not, they then WOULD have to use the bus (as they can't drive because they are on meds, or because they are not very mobile, or any other of a hundred reasons).
We ALL get sick sometime!
Comment 1.1 11 Dec 2007, 2:15 PM
You have badly missed my point and thrust.
What I was saying is that we all get sick and that the current bus provisions are very expensive and of a very low overall standard. What I was saying is that it may well be cheaper and far better to provide a special free on call service operated by specially trained drivers using specially designed vehicles to meet this need. The specialist vehicles would be free and without paperwork. They would be oncall and provided by Newcastle buses. They would service the needs of people who would normally wish to catch a bus. They would operate door to door along normal bus routes. (disabled taxis are different)
Comment 1.1.1 20 Dec 2007, 12:44 PM
I do understand your point! I think you missed mine. No FREE service would ever run anywhere without paperwork. Otherwise it is open to abuse. However, it is a very nice idea! If it was practical, I'd be open to your suggestion!
And on the point of a free service, I do know that the inner city has a free service; but this the has to be policed by bus drivers to note people who get on in the city, and need to disembark at the end of the free zone, or pay a fare. I don't envy bus drivers having to police this.
Comment 1.1.1.1 30 Dec 2007, 11:19 AM
It does not need paperwork any more than a normal service. The patron would make a phone call and advise of their travel needs. the operator would advise the estimated time. The special bus would turn up and the trip would be recorded as a ticket just like any other service. The service provision would be for wheelchairs and other people with special needs.
The aim of the service would be for Newcastle buses to better and more cheaply meet the needs of disabled people.
As suggested the funds could be transfered to the taxi service to make their system better however Newcastle buses does have an obligation to provide for disabled people. But dont forget disabled buses without disabled bus stops are absolutely useless. Just as wheeling a wheelchair at night 1000m plus to your home from the bus stop is not providing a disabled service.
Comment 2 25 Dec 2007, 11:18 PM
There are wheelchair accessible taxis available on call 24 hours a day with specially trained drivers to cater for wheelchair bound passengers.Passengers are given a 50% discount on their fare to a maximum of $30 paid for by the state government. Why should Newcastle buses provide the same service which is already being well catered for by Newcastle taxis and the state government. As for providing a free service costs need to be met by someone and a 50% subsidy is adequate.If a free service were to be provided the burden would have to be met by already ever increasing fares.
Comment 2.1 30 Dec 2007, 11:28 AM
The cost of providing disabled bus stops, wheelchair buses etc is huge. The bus has to be bigger and this is very environmentally expensive.
I believe that the cost of meeting the needs of the disabled would be far less than the current provision.
The "burden" would be less thus allowing for a fare reduction!
I agree that it would be reasonable for users of the service to pay normal bus fares.
Dont forget the service provision has beed reduced to at best providing a bus route (thats not a bus stop) within 500m of 90% of households in weekday day times. (I was 95% and 400m). That is a major disadvantage to the diabled.