New buses coming in early 2024 - ECV restrictions

[Evita_W]

Is this conspiracy theory hour? They aren't out to get you.

Honestly, the more I consider it, it is the only thing that would make any sense, I mean, who in their right mind would get busses that open themselves up to this level of a liability and when it is so obvious? I mean seats that fold back up very quickly, lack of places to hold on to and fewer seats all add up to obvious liability issues. Consider the level of lawyers and amount of safety studies they should do before buying a single bus to satisfy the lawyers and what other conclusions are you going to draw at this point?

 

[starlite_]

Honestly, the more I consider it, it is the only thing that would make any sense, I mean, who in their right mind would get busses that open themselves up to this level of a liability and when it is so obvious? I mean seats that fold back up very quickly, lack of places to hold on to and fewer seats all add up to obvious liability issues. Consider the level of lawyers and amount of safety studies they should do before buying a single bus to satisfy the lawyers and what other conclusions are you going to draw at this point?

If they wanted to stop catering to ECV users they would simply not allow them in the parks and would stop renting them. They don't need to create an evil master plan and spend millions on buses to make ECV users look bad.

 

[Debbie Jean]

No conspiracy here. Just a poor decision making process which is in the hands of people who have no personal experience with the actual process… as a driver, passenger, parent or mobility device user. None.

Drivers… and other passengers… were unhappy with the time to load devices and they needed to replace buses. So…. they look at those nifty videos of these new buses… you remember people posting them? Sure looked great… easy in, locks by itself, hot damn we got a winner! Of course, they always showed a highly maneuverable power chair with an experienced user, not a massive ECV with an inexperienced user… but it sure looked good. Nobody is even looking at the other seats. Be honest … when you looked at those videos did you really look at the other passenger seats? The focus was on the new locking system for disability devices.

Not sure what they can do about it now… I’m guessing they can’t cancel the order. But we’ve now got busted locks that can’t take ECVs, passengers falling over, and aggravated drivers.
Maybe they’ll come up with modifications… but not if the same people are making decisions. I’m at least hoping they don’t retire the old buses as quickly as they may have originally planned.

 

[Evita_W]

No conspiracy here. Just a poor decision making process which is in the hands of people who have no personal experience with the actual process… as a driver, passenger, parent or mobility device user. None.

Drivers… and other passengers… were unhappy with the time to load devices and they needed to replace buses. So…. they look at those nifty videos of these new buses… you remember people posting them? Sure looked great… easy in, locks by itself, hot damn we got a winner! Of course, they always showed a highly maneuverable power chair with an experienced user, not a massive ECV with an inexperienced user… but it sure looked good. Nobody is even looking at the other seats. Be honest … when you looked at those videos did you really look at the other passenger seats? The focus was on the new locking system for disability devices.

Not sure what they can do about it now… I’m guessing they can’t cancel the order. But we’ve now got busted locks that can’t take ECVs, passengers falling over, and aggravated drivers.
Maybe they’ll come up with modifications… but not if the same people are making decisions. I’m at least hoping they don’t retire the old buses as quickly as they may have originally planned.

Our local transit authority has some buses that have an autolock system that works for about 95% of mobility devices out there, but it does require the driver to unlock them and verify that they are locked in place. But it works quite well and doesn’t take up extra seats. The bus driver can raise and lower the seats from the driver seat or by physically going back to the seats.

The difference though is they load through the door in the middle of the bus and unload from the front door. This would obviously present some challenges at some of the bus stops as they are presently designed; however, the system would work much better and noo one has to sit facing backwards, try to turn around on the bus or back off the bus.

I think they might be able to cancel the order if they can demonstrate that they are materially different than what they were represented as, which given the issues, I am guessing they are. Alternatively, they may be able to reconfigure the interiors of the busses that haven’t arrived yet.

 

[Evita_W]

If they wanted to stop catering to ECV users they would simply not allow them in the parks and would stop renting them. They don't need to create an evil master plan and spend millions on buses to make ECV users look bad.

Legally, they can’t prohibit them from the parks as they are recognized mobility devices under the ADA, they have to allow ones that are within a specific size (Disney’s limits are actually slightly larger than what they are required to allow) and they can specify that the devices must be able to balance themselves when no one is using it. But they cannot prohibit ECVs or Electric Wheelchairs completely. But they can try to sway the public’s opinion about them.

The could stop renting them though from a legal perspective.

 

[Debbie Jean]

Legally, they can’t prohibit them from the parks as they are recognized mobility devices under the ADA, they have to allow ones that are within a specific size (Disney’s limits are actually slightly larger than what they are required to allow) and they can specify that the devices must be able to balance themselves when no one is using it. But they cannot prohibit ECVs or Electric Wheelchairs completely. But they can try to sway the public’s opinion about them.

The could stop renting them though from a legal perspective.

What do you mean by the bolded from your post?