Low-floor bus
Being low-floor improves the accessibility of the bus for the public, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities, including those using wheelchairs and walkers.
In North America, both types are commonly called low-floor, as the majority of the vehicle has a low floor, without steps at the doors.
Some manufacturers use the initials LF or L in their model designations for fully low-floor models (or in the case of German manufacturers, NF or N, based on the German word Niederflur, which means low floor), and in North America buses that are partially low-floor are often also designated LF.
Many low-floor buses, including the Irisbus Citelis (also in Skoda 24Tr trolleybus version), have the engine in a vertical cabinet at the rear of the bus.
Accessibility was previously achieved in paratransit type applications, which use small vehicles with the fitment of special lifts.
Low floors can be complemented by a hydraulic or pneumatic 'kneeling device', which can be used when the bus is not in motion, tilting it or lowering it at the front axle even further, often down to normal curb height.
Many vehicles are also equipped with wheel-chair lifts, or ramps which, when combined with a low floor, can provide a nearly level entry.
An implementation of the low floor design exists in Australia where custom coaches make a "hybrid" variant of its CB60 bodywork.
Another drawback is the arrangement means the section of the bus that is at curb height is very short—consisting of enough space to house the wheelchair area and then rising up, to accommodate the luggage bin.
Specially raised sections of curb may also be used to achieve accessibility with lesser low floor models, although this is more expensive for the operator, and only attractive for regular busy scheduled routes.
The corporation also had tried Mercedes-Benz Low-Floor buses as well as Ashok Leyland ULE coaches, but chose to stick to the Volvo offering.
The Delhi Government decided to expedite this process and procured 6,600 low floor buses for the DTC before commonwealth games in 2010.
Under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, air conditioned buses have been included as a part of travel comfort to commuters.
Calcutta State Transport Corporation (CSTC) also run AC Volvo Bus & Ashok Leylan JanBus.
The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) mandates the use of low-floor or low-entry buses on city bus routes in the Philippines since 2016.
Buses used on the EDSA Busway are usually equipped with 1-2 doors on the left side for boarding at the median stations, although not all units currently have them installed.
In 2007, SBS Transit procured 1101 units of low-entry Scania K230UB buses bodied by Gemilang Coachworks of Senai, Malaysia.
Low-floor buses are first adopted in Germany in 1989, and to make them easier to use for wheelchairs and strollers, the minimum ground clearance of the entire vehicle is lowered and the floor is proportionately raised by 30 centimetres (12 in) above the road surface.
The Optare Solo introduced in 1997 marked another step change with inroads into smaller usages traditionally served by minibuses.
The final phase came with low floor double-deckers the Dennis Trident 2 and Volvo B7TL entering the mass market, even though they were introduced after the Optare Spectra.
[6] Following withdrawal of older, high-floor vehicles such as the AEC Routemaster, the bus fleet became fully accessible at the end of 2005, 10 years ahead of the national requirement.
[8] Due to the deregulated nature of the public transport system in the UK, adoption of the higher cost low floor buses was usually in conjunction with some sort of grant or quality partnership with a local authority, as the profitability of many routes was not high enough to justify conversion based purely on increased revenue.
[11] While another widely stated benefit of low floor buses is quicker boarding for able-bodied passengers due to the lack of steps, studies have found the opposite effect in the UK.
This is apparently due to the prevailing system of operation where passengers enter and exit through one single front door.
It has been suggested that the previous 1980s/90s high floor step entrance buses which featured a centre rail, encouraged a bi-directional flow of entering and exiting passengers simultaneously.
In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act is credited with motivating the development of low-floor buses,[15] directly affecting the standardized design of the Transbus Program, which concluded with the introduction of so-called 'interim' Advanced Design Buses with a lower floor height but which required lifts to board passengers in wheelchairs.
Within Paraguay's public transit system, it was not until 2012 that the first low-floor bus in the country were added to its fleet, being a 1999 Marcopolo Viale imported used from Argentina.
