Chennai to get first bus with foldable ramp for disabled

CHENNAI: The city will soon get a Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus with a foldable ramp to help disabled passengers board and get off the vehicle. This is a first in south India.
A team comprising top officials of the MTC and the state department for welfare of differently abled will inspect bus at Chrompet on Friday.
The move comes after courts repeatedly pulled up the state transport corporations for not taking enough initiatives to make government buses disabled friendly.
MTC carried out the modifications in the new red-coloured bus with the help of a private firm that made bus stands in Bengaluru accessible to people with disabilities (PwDs). The project was carried out with an estimated cost of Rs 3 lakh.
MTC sources said special doorway has been created right next to the front door, seats on that row have been removed and a hydraulic ramp has been fitted to the base. The entire system is remote controlled. Once the driver/conductor presses the open button, the ramp will slide out so that the person can enter the bus using wheelchairs. Since there are no seats, they can remain on the wheelchair in the space earmarked for them. After they settle, the operator can close the door using the same remote control and ramps return to the original position, an MTC source said.
Differently-abled rights activists have welcomed the proposal but opined that it will become workable only if other passengers, drivers and conductors coordinate.
Smitha Sadasivan of Disability Rights Alliance (DRA) said, “The bus crew should know how to operate it failing which it will become rusty in a few months.”
Other passengers should be patient till the wheelchair-bound passengers board and settle down or get off. Also, they shouldn’t stand in the space reserved for these passengers, she added.
Besides this, activists demanded proper advertisement by the government so that more PwD passengers start using this facility.
On the flip side, the ramp needs at least three or four feet to slide out. In case of narrow bus bays or streets, this becomes impossible. Also, without making pavements/platforms in bus stands accessible to everyone, ramps alone will not serve the purpose, said a passenger.