Buses with three wheelchair spots!

[clkelley]

I am on a brand new bus that has three wheelchair spots! Pictures later!!

 

[SueM in MN]

Cool!
I am really anxious to see the pictures and get a full report!

 

[Nanajo1]

I look forward to your report.

 

[clkelley]

Here are some pictures. According to the driver, they got 17 new buses. The GPS text and music system have not even been added, but they have been painted and the outside signs are on them.

(These are cell phone pictures, so excuse the quality).

The normal two spots as before

The third spot

Another view of the third spot in relation to the door:

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the pictures.
I'm looking at them on my iPod, so the quality looks great to me.
So you have any review for us on how easy it was to get on and manouver into place?

 

[clkelley]

We were the only ones on the bus, so we just used the traditional first spot. It is the ramp with the the flip over. Fairly simple to board.

We rode one of these buses one other time, and the bus does seem to be more picky about all the systems being started and stopped in a certain order. After loading the ECV, and shutting everything up, she could not get the bus to move. She went back to the ramp controls and cycled everything, but still couldn't get the bus to move, so had to totally shut the bus off to get it to reboot.

The driver did say these buses were wider than the other buses.

However, as much as a pain as the older lift buses are to load wheelchairs he stated those are true workhorses engine wise and will probably outlast the newer ones.

 

[Nanajo1]

Thanks for the Pix. I'm excited to see how the third spot works out.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I've put a question about this on another board where there are several WDW bus drivers. I will post what response I get.

 

[selina4disney]

WOW! How wonderful! That means the bus driver I had on our February trip that told me they were considering no longer letting ECV's on the buses at all was, as I suspected and hoped, WRONG! YAY!

 

[SueM in MN]

WOW! How wonderful! That means the bus driver I had on our February trip that told me they were considering no longer letting ECV's on the buses at all was, as I suspected and hoped, WRONG! YAY!

That would be against the law, so don't worry about it.

There are a few 'bad apple' bus drivers who would probably like it, but it would not be legal.

 

[toocherie]

this is so exciting! If the busses are wider, was it easier to get the ECV in position on the bus?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I got a response from one driver that some of the new Gillig buses have tiedowns for three chairs/ECVs. And there is one bus running around the system with capacity of four.

 

[selina4disney]

That would be against the law, so don't worry about it.

There are a few 'bad apple' bus drivers who would probably like it, but it would not be legal.

I figured that for wheelchairs, but I use an ECV and I wasn't sure that they were considered the same category. He said that the Orlando metro buses will not take ECVs only wheelchairs. Do you know if that is true?

 

[SueM in MN]

I figured that for wheelchairs, but I use an ECV and I wasn't sure that they were considered the same category. He said that the Orlando metro buses will not take ECVs only wheelchairs. Do you know if that is true?

The US Department of Transportation has responsibility to meet the ADA for bus transportation. Here is a link to what is required as far as the accessibility of buses.

The specifications for transportation name wheelchairs "or other mobility aid", not specifying exactly what that means. It just that they must be able to fit in the space that is provided, which is a "a clear floor area of 30 inches by 48 inches."

 

[retired and happy]

This is great news for us!!! We usually have three wheelchairs and sometimes a special needs stroller. We used to use the special busses that could handle 5 wheelchairs, but last year they were down to one of those and it usually wasn't available. We resorted to splitting our group in two and using two regular busses, which caused long delays in geting everyone to the Studios and AK. MK and EPCOT were ok because we use boats and monorails from FW. Thanks for another plus for Disney.