Equipment and Maintenance Requirements for Bus Operations Serving the Elderly and Disabled

The field of transportation with light-weight accessible buses is a relatively new one, and the entire state of the art is in an early stage of development. This means that while further research and development is needed in the design of vehicles and components, operators must gear their services to the equipment currently available. At the present time, the skill, ingenuity and good judgment of the people operating and maintaining the vehicles may count for as much as the exact specifications of the vehicles themselves in determining the success or failures of a light-weight bus transportation project. Optimum performance of the equipment depends upon optimum performance by drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, and supervisors, whatever the type of vehicle in service.