It is the law...plain and simple. I fail to understand why it's such a huge issue for some. Here's the problem. Let's say there are 25 people in the line, waiting for the MK bus. In that line are a wheelchair (and several family members) and an ECV (with their family members). The wheelchair group is about 10 people down, the ECV group is at the end of the line.
Well, people board the bus, then the wheelchair has to load, be tied down, and the occupant either seated in the disability seats or in the wheelchair. Then their family members. Then others board. Then, the ECV group comes along...now that ECV has to be driven onto a half full bus....possibly injuring others as it moves around to get into place to be tied down. And those that may have decided to take a seat where the ECV would be tied down will now have to find new seats..possibly standing, which may not make them very happy. Then, what happens when you get to the park??? Do all the able bodied folks now just jam past the disabled??? Pushing in order to get off before the slowpokes in wheelchairs and on ECVs???
The system works just fine. Those on ECVs wait in a different spot than the regular line. That way the driver can see them as he/she arrives at the bus stop. If there is no room for them onboard, they will be told to wait for the next bus..each bus can accommodate only a set number of ECVs/wheelchairs/etc. If they can board, they ride around, board first so as to not hurt anyone else. Their family members get on with them (it's supposed to be limited to 6 or fewer). Then everyone else boards. When the bus gets to the park, everyone gets off, and the ECV is unloaded last.
The system, as it stands now, says that the ECV has to be waiting there, as the bus drives up...no more rush to get there just as it arrives!!! That truly did cause issues. Again, it is the law that the ECV boards first...this is not Disney law!! It's the state.
I have chatted with a nice elderly couple at MK bus stop going back to BW. We arrived at the stop as the bus was leaving..so knew we had a 20 or so minute wait ahead of us. Well, we got talking to this couple who had been sitting in the proper area for ECV riders. I asked why they hadn't gotten on the bus that had just left. They had been told that the ramp was broken!!! But, the nasty thing was that they had been told the same thing by the driver of the previous bus!!!! They had been sitting there, in the midday sun of August, for about 45 mins already. When our bus finally came, they were told that the bus would accommodate just one of the ECVs..that one of the tie down systems was broken, so two units couldn't be put on the bus!!! I felt so badly for those people. They just sat there and got hotter and hotter. All they wanted to do was to get back to their room.
I did stop at the front desk at BW and told the CM how disappointing it was to know that an elderly ECV bound couple had to sit for an hour in the summer heat waiting for a ride back to their resort due to poorly maintained buses!!! It probably made no difference but I felt better having reported it.
It really doesn't take more than 5 mins to load ECVs. Are we all in such a rush??? Is it going to ruin your stay if you don't get right on that bus??? Walk a mile in the ECV guest's shoes. I know my eyes were opened after spending an evening with a friend in an ECV!!!