"Access Systems" wrote:


LT proclaims that their bus fleet will be fully DDA compliant by 2017

2017 is when the fleet *has* to be fully accessible by law.

What they (TfL, as LT's successor) now says is "With the exception of
Routemasters, London Buses expect to reach 100% [wheelchair accessibility]
by 2004/05". This comes from
http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk...lowfloor.shtml, the page that
was linked to earlier in the thread.

What TfL hasn't yet announced publicly is that Routemasters (the
"traditional" front-engined, open-platform double-deckers that need
conductors) will themselves be withdrawn from the entire network by 2004/05.
This withdrawal programme began a few months ago.



and people with disabilities don't need to travel on heritage routes???

Err, no. Nobody *needs* to travel on a heritage route - at least, not the
sort of heritage route that is apparently being considered for London.

We are *not* talking about heritage routes on the US "historic trolley"
model - where, although old vehicles are used, the service often forms an
integral part of the public transport network. Instead, we are talking
about routes run primarily for leisure rather than transport purposes, where
the ride itself is the main reason for travelling - routes that are
*additional* to the public transport network. They would be somewhat akin
to riverboat services on the River Thames, or San Francisco's cable cars -
routes that in theory can be used just for getting from A to B, but in
practice rarely are.



So far, TfL themselves haven't "officially" announced the Routemaster
withdrawal programme, for fear of a public backlash - they prefer to just
quietly get on with the job and hope that no-one will notice until the
process is almost complete. Hence, it is not clear whether the suggested
"heritage" Routemaster routes will actually happen.




--
MetroGnome
~~~~~~~~~~

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