00771156

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1671-05

http://scholar.google.com...rski&publication_year=1999

The use of auto-engaging mobility-aid securement systems in regular transit operation on high- and low-floor transit vehicles in two cities was investigated in a demonstration project. The two cities were Eugene, Oregon, and Anchorage, Alaska. The impact of the new securement technology on vehicle operators, mobility-aid users, regular passengers, and maintenance and other transit staff was also investigated. Auto-engaging securement provides fast, safe, and independent mobility-aid securement for wheeled mobility aids. The auto-engaging securement systems were retrofitted on a select number of high-floor buses in regular transit service in Eugene, Oregon, and were factory installed on a fleet of new low-floor transit vehicles that were delivered to Anchorage, Alaska, for regular transit operations. Evaluation consisted of written and oral surveys administered to vehicle operators, mobility-aid users, regular passengers, and maintenance and other transit staff before, during, and after the demonstration project. The operational impacts of retrofitted and factory-installed securement systems were also compared. Auto-engaging securement systems show significant promise for use on high- and low-floor transit vehicles. Auto-engaging systems do not delay the transit vehicle dwell time. In all tests the mobility-aid users were delighted with the independence and freedom of travel and felt much more secure in the auto-engaging securement systems than in the traditional belt securement systems.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1671, Accessible Transportation and Mobility 1999.

English

p. 27-33

1999

Transportation Research Record

0309070678

Figures (1) ; References (5)

Acceptance; Before and after studies; Demonstration projects; Dwell time; Low floor vehicles; Securing and joining equipment; Surveys; Technological innovations; Transit buses; Wheelchairs

Auto-engaging securement; Operational impacts

Anchorage (Alaska); Eugene (Oregon)

Highways; Public Transportation; Society

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Oct 13 1999 12:00AM

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