ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses vehicle design elements associated with the interrelated steps associated with boarding, use, and disembarking (B/D), which include: negotiating a level change from grade or platform to vehicle floor at ingress, fare payment, interior circulation down a primary aisle, finding and taking a seat, exiting the bus, and navigating a level change at exit. It includes options for minimizing vertical height differences between vehicle and environment to achieve ramp slopes no steeper than 1:8, use of electronic fare payment systems instead of cash payment systems, and increased securement area space to accommodate the dimensions of larger wheelchairs and users. Manual fare payment systems may also require floor space that can further compound the design of the entry. The prevalence of high-floor buses for local public transit is thus declining and will continue to decline with the proliferation of low-floor designs that offer more efficient entry and egress with access ramps.
