The Need

The design need was identified through a project to develop a system to meet the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) legislation. The Act involved the access requirements for wheelchair users to be able to embark and disembark a coach, while remaining in their wheelchair. This has been a difficult problem in the past as most coaches are at a raised level. And the coaches have needed additional doors to get the users on and off, or the wheelchair user is on a lower deck, neither of these approaches are ideal.

Obviously, the need or want for the disabled to use public transport is just as great as that of the able-bodied public but in the past this has not necessarily been regarded as important as it should have been. Whilst transport statistics suggest that use of coach travel by wheelchair users is low, this could also be effected by the realisation by the users that the facilities are simply not there to accommodate them.

During 2004, the government introduced the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in order to re-regulate and define the way in which this subject is approached and more specifically, wheelchair access systems for P2 rated raised level coaches.

In line with this new legislation, many of parts of which began jurisdiction at the start of 2005, numerous products centered around disabled access systems required re-design and the inclusion of new considerations which may not have been realized previously.

The company’s attention was brought to this area of product design as part of an initiative created by the University of Strathclyde, the Product Development Partnership allowed the group to combine forces with a Transport Logistics consultancy, Transportation Management Solutionan (an external party from outside the university environment). Transportation Management Solutions are now technical advisors to Elevated Design.

Whilst there are many wheelchair access solutions currently available in the market, we at Elevated Design felt that many of those currently available do not address the most important issues of the users. Our approach to this project keeps in line with the ethos of Elevated Design that we strive to provide the most efficient and simple solution to product design.