Automated wheelchair ramps being considered for public buses

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) told The Straits Times earlier this week that it was studying the feasibility of automated ramps, while weighing 'operational, practicality and cost considerations'. Currently, wheelchair-accessible buses in Singapore have ramps, which have to be manually deployed by bus captains. This requires bus captains to get out of their cabins to open the ramp, which is on the floorboard at the rear door. These ramps form a bridge between the bus floor and the kerb at the bus stop.

The LTA is believed to be in discussions with Singapore Technologies Kinetics, the sole distributor for the Man brand of buses here, to explore producing a bus with an automatic ramp. Since 2006, public buses have been fitted with manual ramps to make them wheelchair-friendly. As of October, about 91 percent of the 5,330 public buses have them, the LTA said. By 2020, the authority aims to make the bulk of public buses wheelchair-accessible. While automated ramps are already used on buses in cities such as London, they are non-existent here.

Cost may be an issue - industry players say automatic ramps for buses cost about two to three times more than manual versions. SBS Transit said on its website that 'based on the experience of overseas operators, the frequency of (a) manual ramp failing is much lower as compared to the automatic ramp'. With the bus sector's complete transition to a contracting model in September, the LTA now owns and buys all public buses, enabling it to review and upgrade their design. For example, the new Man A95 double-deckers - the first 10 of which were launched in September - feature USB ports for commuters to charge their mobile devices. Another 137 of these buses are being rolled out progressively.