The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : MTC mulling over barrier-free buses

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

MTC mulling over barrier-free buses

Sandhya Soman

Waiting for design specifications from Ashok Leyland and Telco, says official

CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation is mulling over a design for barrier-free buses that will steer clear of speed-breakers and potholes on city roads.

Last month, the MTC got the go ahead from the Madras High Court to purchase new vehicles, provided it runs 10 barrier-free buses for disabled persons. It was hearing a public interest litigation petition from Rajiv Ranjan, a person affected with cerebral palsy.

"We are waiting for design specifications from Ashok Leyland and Telco," said a senior official.

The officials say they are looking at low floor designs for the disabled. They are also looking at how to adapt these designs to cope with speed breakers as well as other impediments on roads.

"Even ordinary buses plying in the crowded Tambaram and other such areas come back with broken foot boards. The 10 low floor buses (A18) that we introduced earlier also get damaged whenever the floor comes in contact with speed breakers," says the official.

The redesigning of the chassis would also mean lesser seating capacity in some of the designs.

"The Bombay Corporation's low floor buses have a seating capacity of 20 plus 2, while it is 48 plus two in our ordinary buses. The chassis itself costs more than Rs. 25 lakh," says the official, reiterating the importance of having buses designed to suit Chennai's traffic and road conditions.

However, the disabled in the city say the MTC has a lot of options to choose from.

Says Meenakshi. B with the Disability Legislation unit of Vidyasagar: "Low floor buses do not necessarily mean barrier-free. To be accessible to persons with a variety of disability, there should not be any steps," she says.

She says that instead of going in for low floor designs, the MTC can think about providing hydraulic lifts or sliding ramps within the existing designs.

"The Corporation website says it runs 2,554 buses. If they make at least 3 per cent accessible, more disabled persons will come out," adds Ms. Meenakshi.

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