Editor;
I refer to an article in your paper perhaps two weeks ago. It was mentioned
there, that Mayor Boonlert intends to put into service buses for this city.
Twenty-four are to be purchased. In America, there has been an act passed, (Americans
with Disablements Act year 1990) which places on people and companies
offering transport, an obligation to provide for people who can not get onto
present public transport.
As it is, with arthritis and on crutches, I can manage to
get on board the Paw Aw Sip. But it is difficult. It would be impossible for
a person in a wheelchair to use the bus.
In Perth, Western Australia, buses have bladders above
the suspension springs. When the bus comes to a curb, the driver can lower
the side of the bus, by pressing a button or pulling a lever, so the air
goes out of the bladder on one side of the bus, and the bus step is at the
same level as the curb. After the passenger boards the bus, again the driver
can inflate the bladder, to put the bus on an even keel.
There is also a ramp which the driver can extend to come
onto the curb. A person in a wheelchair, or an electric cart, can move up
the ramp into the interior of the bus, and there is a space reserved for the
person to park his wheelchair or electric cart.
It might be a good idea for people to clip this out and
send the clipping to the mayor, so that he may consider buying buses which
provide for disabled people.
Leonard Levine
