Handicapped Service

The BEST has put up signboards at every bus stop which say ‘for the Handicap to board n alight’. These signboards have been there for the last couple of months. The design says that BEST buses will stop right next to those signboards so that it becomes easy for the handicapped. Trust BEST guys to have a heart. Full grown young men like me, have problems sometimes getting into BEST buses simply put because the driver decides that this stop doesn’t look worth stopping at. Hardly the ‘best’ people to provide special service to the handicapped.

Is there any science that goes into designing seats for the handicapped? Those of you who have taken the BEST will realize what I am trying to get at. The only positive that I see about the seats reserved for the handicapped is that it’s right next to the exit. That’s all. Let me try and list the downsides

1. The size of the single seat right upfront is the pits. Its can accommodate kids but not full grown adults
2. Any adult sitting in that seat will have to constantly experience the ‘butt brush’ effect from people getting off. Handicaps are subject to this all the time
3. Ergonomically it has miles to go.
4. I’ve seen handicapped people struggle to get tickets. The conductor usually is in the other end of the bus and by the time he comes around the poor guy/ woman has had enough of crying hoarse
5. The second two seats for the handicapped are hardly respected. They are forever occupied either by women or foolish men who never vacate the seat for them.
6. These seats are a marvel in themselves. The newer model buses have these seats on a raised platform so the old and the handicapped find it extremely difficult to ‘climb’ into their seats. Shorter people literally have their feet hanging while seated.

This was a top of mind listing. Will keep adding on as I notice more nuances.

Comments

Sharan Sharma said…
Yesterday, an old disabled person got into the bus here...roughly this is what happenned:
1) Bus lowers level
2) ramp comes out of bus - since the bus itsef is now at the low level, the angle of the ramp with the ground is not more than 20 degrees
3) Driver gets down - asks lady if she needs help to push the wheelchair in...
4) A separate seat right in front with a special seat belt/fastener - if someone's with a wheelchair the seat is foldable and the wheelchair comes in its place
5) driver sees that lady is comfortable. Takes money from her, buys the ticket for her - comes back and returns change
6) All this takes about 5 minutes, but no one in the bus says "Chalo boss, bahut ho gaya"
September 21, 2006 4:57 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Begs the Question

Beggars are as much a part of Mumbai as the Gateway of India. Over the last 10 years of actively roaming around the city, the no of cars have increased and so have the no of beggars. What has also changed is the kind of beggars in the city. The first kind of beggar that I encountered was the simple woebegone face kinds who would sit by the roadside and keep uttering monosyllables the year round. There was no strategy of any kind in place, and the adage beggars can’t be choosers used to get played out. Most of them seemed fatalistic. As the economy evolved and liberalized, so did beggars. For one, I think even the beggar economy opened up. There were a lot many more beggars because there was a lot many more economic activity (and hence money to be handed out) and a lot many more people. The quality of begging also changed. Some beggars, in order to differentiate their pitch, started to exhibit their skills. So you had harmonium totting kids and adults causing disharmony in trains. Strat
Read more

Plane Truths II

Image
Continuing my series of what happens to me in relation to airplanes, I have a gem to share. The wrestle of the arm rest can be quite irritating especially when both adversaries want it equally badly. The war of course is lost right at the beginning if one of the adversaries has an arm that's armrest size! My Chennai to Mumbai flight was spent in half a seat, with me folded up around an imaginary vertical axis, actually measuring kilometers to Mumbai and counting down time. I thought I was lucky to get a window seat, my luck ended the moment the middle seat next to me and half of my seat got occupied by a gargantuan who was impersonating a human being. Arm rest was the first casualty, I gave it up in the first 5 secs; my midriff also was being molested constantly by the elbow of the beast. Am not slightly built either but I know how to mark my territory out and contain my body within. Land grabbing was being rendered a new meaning by my sizable neigbour and I felt a bit like Papua N
Read more

Footpath- quite pedestrian

Image
I grew up in a Govt. colony in Mumbai. This meant that I had the luxury of a lot of things that were absent in the city outside campus. One of these was the footpath. Right since I was a toddler, I was instructed to keep to the footpath, lest I get in the path of a ‘speeding’ Fiat (that’s an oxymoron). That might sound funny, but the inherent message was clear, steer clear of the motorist. In a city where cars outnumber themselves everyday, it’s become a challenge to find a footpath. Most of you might have noticed this but its worth reiterating. 1. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them also exist a layer called hawkers. This layer is more permanent than pedestrian aspirations and difficult to remove. 2. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them frequently is a mosaic of human excreta, with some dog poo thrown in between. Nearby slums can’t do their bit on the highway can they and there’s nowhere else to go. 3. Footpaths do exist. Just that often the BMC or MTNL or MMRDA or such body
Read more